Diversity, distribution and biogeography of testate amoebae in China: implications for ecological studies in Asia.

Testate amoebae are a group of shelled protozoa that occur in high density populations in wet environments. More than 1900 testate amoebae species or subspecies have been reported in published literature over the last 200 years, from many regions of the world. Testate amoebae are classified as Lobosea or Filosea respectively, according to the presence of lobose or filiform pseudopodia.

Is there a size limit for cosmopolitan distribution in free-living microorganisms? A biogeographical analysis of testate amoebae from polar areas.

A long-standing debate in microbial ecology is the extent to which free-living microorganisms exhibit cosmopolitan distributions. We use a comparison of testate amoebae communities in cold "polar" locations (Arctic, Antarctic, and Tibet) to investigate how a microorganism's size affects its probability of having a cosmopolitan distribution. We show that the probability a given taxa being reported in all three locations increases as testate size decreases.