Protistan grazing impacts microbial communities and carbon cycling at deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Significance Heterotrophic protists are ubiquitous in all aquatic ecosystems and represent an important ecological link in food webs by transferring organic carbon from primary producers to higher trophic levels. Here, we quantify the predator–prey trophic interaction among protistan grazers and microbial prey within hydrothermal vent fluids from the Gorda Ridge spreading center in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Estimates of protistan grazing pressure were highest at sites of diffusely venting fluids, which are an oasis of biological activity in the deep sea. Our findings suggest that elevated grazing activity is attributed to a diverse assemblage of heterotrophic protistan species drawn to the hydrothermal vent habitat and demonstrates the important ecological roles that protists play in the deep-sea carbon cycle.