Global diversity of rotifers (Rotifera) in freshwater |
| |
Authors: | Hendrik Segers |
| |
Institution: | (1) Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Freshwater Laboratory, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium |
| |
Abstract: | Rotifera is a Phylum of primary freshwater Metazoa containing two major groups: the heterogonic Monogononta and the exclusively
parthenogenetic Bdelloidea. Monogononta contains 1,570 species-level taxa, of which a majority (1,488) are free-living fresh
or inland water taxa. Bdelloidea contains 461 “species,” only one of which is marine, but with many limnoterrestrial representatives
or animals of unknown ecology. Actual numbers may be much higher, considering the occurrence of cryptic speciation in Monogononta
and the unsatisfactory nature of taxonomic knowledge. Rotifers, mostly monogononts, occur in all types of water bodies, worldwide.
They are particularly diverse in the littoral zone of stagnant waterbodies with soft, slightly acidic water and under oligo-
to mesotrophic conditions. The rotifer record is highest in the Northern hemisphere, which may be due to the concentration
of studies in those regions. Diversity is highest in the (sub)tropics; hotspots are northeast North America, tropical South
America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Lake Baikal, endemicity is low in Africa (including Madagascar), Europe, the Indian
subcontinent, and Antarctica. Although the lack of fossil evidence and of molecular phylogenetic studies are major hindrances,
contrasting hypotheses on the origin and evolutionary history of Brachionus, Macrochaetus, and Trichocerca are presented.
Guest editors: E. V. Balian, C. Lévêque, H. Segers & K. Martens
Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment |
| |
Keywords: | Monogononta Bdelloidea Freshwater Biodiversity Zoogeography Review |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|