Microzooplankton are grazers that are less than 200 um. They are important in regulating population levels of bacteria and other microorganisms in the ocean. Also they have an important role in the microbial loop transferring dissolved organic carbon and they are an important food source. Violacein pigment is a toxic pigment produce by bacteria as a chemical defense and it has shown to kill freshwater microzooplankton. We experimentally investigated study how the violacein-producing bacteria affected microzooplankton grazing and phytoplankton growth in estuarine plankton communities. Our results show that the addition of VPB has a negative effect on growth of some phytoplankton but little effect on growth than microzooplankton grazing.

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