Relations between growth rate, cell size, and DNA content in colpodean ciliates (ciliophora: Colpodea).

Optimal conditions for growth of 9 strains from 7 species of colpodean ciliates were determined using a factorial experimental design. Estimates of maximal growth rate were higher than those previously obtained for similar-sized ciliates. Using published cell size estimates, the slope of a cell size-growth rate relation was found to be not significantly different from zero, either when maximal growth rates were used or when all growth rates were scaled to 20°C, a suboptimal temperature.