Does the temperature-size rule apply to marine protozoans after proper acclimation? [Dataset]

The temperature-size rule hypothesized that there is a negative relationship between the size (volume) of an organism and the temperature. This applies to both unicellular and pluricellular organisms. Here, we question this hypothesis for the particular case of protozoans, because in these organisms the volume is directly related to the consumption of prey, and on most of the occasions the true volume of the cell is unknown. To prove our arguments, we designed a series of experiments with the heterotrophic dinoflagellate O. marina, including functional and numerical responses, time-dependent acclimation responses, and estimation of the protozoan volume during long periods of starvation. Our data showed that, in fact, the observed temperature-size rule in unicellular grazers results from anabolic and catabolic imbalances, and that the relationship between size and temperature weakens after proper thermal adaptation. We also showed that once prey are fully digested, the protozoan??? size is the same irrespectively of the temperature. Finally, we set the basis for proper acclimation during short-term temperature experiments, which specifies that at least 3 days should be allowed for proper temperature acclimation. We also suggest that, for trustable experiments, the grazer should be incubated at the target prey concentration for at least 24h before conducting the experiments. The ecological implications of a lack of correlation between microzooplankton size and temperature are also discussed