Cost and speed of locomotion for rotifers

Summary The hypothesis that the ciliary locomotion of rotifers is size limited and that it accounts of a significant portion of the energy budget was investigated using the genera Brachionus and Asplanchna. Speed of movement was measured among clones of different size in Brachionus, which shows little size variation through development. The same tests were done among individuals of different size within a clone of Asplanchna, which shows significant postembryonic size increase. In both cases, relative speed (body lengths per second) decreased significantly as body size increased. On this basis, and ecologically limiting size for ciliary locomotion is proposed. The actual cost of locomotion was measured for Brachionus; it is 62% of total metabolism, even though the theoretical (calculated) power requirements are well below 1% of total metabolism. Ciliary locomotion in the Rotifera thus appears to be extremely inefficient (low ratio of theoretical to actual power requirements). This hypothesis is supported indirectly by the sensitivity of speed to total metabolic rate in Brachionus: both plateau over the temperature range 20–32°C and decline in parallel outside this range. Unexpectedly high actual cost of locomotion is proposed as an important disadvantage of the Rotifera, partly offsetting the advantages accruing to them from small body size.     

Cryopreservation of monogonont rotifers

Development of techniques to maintain viable rotifer clones in a frozen state would preserve the genotype and reduce routine maintenance for those clones not being actively studied. To this end we have frozen Brachionus plicatilis in dimethyl sulfoxide at concentrations ranging from 6% to 18%. Survival rates decreased as the endpoint temperature was reduced from ?20 °C to ?45 °C, but did not decrease when the temperature was further reduced to ?196 °C (liquid nitrogen). Only 2% of the individuals survived freezing in liquid nitrogen.     

The rotifers of Lake Peipus

In the northern part of Lake Peipus, 140 taxa of rotifers were identified, with species of Anuraeopsis, Conochilus, Keratella, Polyarthra and Synchaeta dominating. Two main periods of sexual reproduction occur, in the spring and autumn. Different life cycle patterns are represented. Rotifer number and biomass have two maxima between spring and early autumn. The contribution of rotifers to total zooplankton production varies from 13.6% (Oct.) to 89.8% (May). The average production of grazing rotifers is 485.1 kJ m^–2, while that of predatory rotifers (Asplanchna) is 10.0 kJ m^–2.     

Culturing of some bdelloid rotifers

A method for culturing 19 species of Bdelloid Rotifers is described. The most suitable food for bdelloids are bacteria and yeast. Algae do not seem to be an adequate food. Some specificity, in terms of different growths on different diets, can be observed. Food concentration is very important when determining growth capacity of a species.     

Seasonal abundance of psammon rotifers

Zonation and abundance dynamics of interstitial rotifers in a semilotic beach of the North Sea island of Sylt were studied in 1975/76. The 13 species investigated prefer the damp sand of the beach slope. The sand flat is only sparsely inhabited. Rotifers only live in oxygen-rich sands. Neither the black sulphite layer in the sand flat nor the groundwater in the beach slope is populated. The family Colurellidae prefers warm temperatures in mid-summer, the family Proalidae colder temperatures in spring and autumn. In contrast to these two families that can be found in different frequencies all year round, the family Dicranophoridae occurs only in the cold seasons and disappears in mid-summer. Possibilities of maintaining the life cycle during these months are discussed.     

Some rotifers from Republic of Korea

The author gives account of rotifers found at ten locations in the Republic of Korea, and elaborates some detail of specimens encountered with remarks and drawings. Thirty-seven different rotifer species were found, mostly belonging to the Order Monogononta. Twenty-two are new to the species list compiled by Yamamoto (1953). Keratella hiemalis was found for the first time in Asia. To date, one-hundred and two species of rotifers have been found in Korea.     

Parallelism in the evolution of rotifers

The carbon uptake by the roots of three common submersed macrophytes, Myriophyllum spicatum, Heteranthera dubia and Vallisneria americana, was measured in situ under a range of pH and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations. After 4–8 weeks of growth in ¹⁴C labelled sediments, less than 1.5% of the total C found in the shoots originated from root uptake. Between species, significant differences in C uptake by the root were found and root development alone could explain most of the observed variance (84%). C uptake by the roots of aquatic macrophytes thus appears to be restricted to small, rosette-shaped plants growing in poorly mineralized waters.     

Dormancy patterns in rotifers

Dormancy is common among rotifers: monogononts produce resting eggs (diapause) commonly after switching to mictic phase, and bdelloids enter anhydrobiosis (quiescence) at any time during their life cycle. Monogononts are short-lived and inhabit coarse-grained environments; their dormancy is a long-lasting diapause, commonly initiated by indirect remote cues. Bdelloids live 3 times as long, live in fine-grained environments and enter short-lasting quiescence as a direct response to changing environment. The two dormancy forms of the rotifers can be related to the temporal variation of their environments and seem to represent diverse responses to disturbance occurring at different rates. The two strategies are alternative and mutually exclusive, as no single rotifer species seems capable of both diapause and quiescence. Dormancy has great ecological significance: it can carry the population through stressful conditions, promote species coexistence and serve as a biodiversity bank providing reliable colonization source.     

Grazing by rotifers and crustacean zooplankton on nanoplanktonic protists

Predation on nanoflagellates by metazoan zooplankton was investigated using a radioactively labeled flagellate, Poterioochromonas malhamensis, as a tracer cell in laboratory incubations of freshly collected plankton assemblages. Experiments conducted in the fall, winter and spring indicated that rotifers dominated the grazing on nanoflagellates by metazoans in the winter (68%) and spring (92%). Rotifer grazing was not determined in the autumn. It is likely that the greater impact of rotifer grazing in the spring was due to the occurrence of abundant filamentous cyanobacteria and gelatinous colonial phytoplankton which selectively depressed feeding rates of crustaceans compared to rotifers. Crustacean predation on nanoflagellates was highest in the autumn when cladocerans (primarily Daphnia spp.) were abundant. Predation by metazoan zooplankton in this lake appeared capable of removing the total standing stock of heterotrophic and phototrophic nanoplankton in < 1 d. Impacts of ciliated protozoa on nanoplankton, calculated from abundances and literature feeding rates, ranged from approximately one-third to four times that of metazoan predation depending on season and method of calculation. The relative importance of the different groups of predators appears to vary seasonally which is expected to alter the transfer of energy, carbon and nutrients from bacteria to higher trophic levels.     

基于 rDNA ITS 1序列探讨臂尾轮属轮虫的系统发生关系

本文通过对剪形臂尾轮虫、矩形臂尾轮虫、十指臂尾轮虫、红臂尾轮虫、角突臂尾轮虫、双棘臂尾轮虫、裂足臂尾轮虫和萼花臂尾轮虫等八种臂尾轮虫rDNAITS 1序列分析,并以西氏晶囊轮虫为外群,使用PAUP和贝叶斯软件分别构建臂尾轮属轮虫系统发生树( MP树、NJ树、ML树和贝叶斯树) ,以探讨臂尾轮属的系统发生关系,并解决其中的一些分类问题。结果表明:本研究所涉及的轮虫rDNAITS 1平均序列差异百分比较高,为29 %;海水和淡水臂尾轮虫被明显分为不同的进化枝;除双棘臂尾轮虫外,在淡水臂尾轮虫中具有三对前棘刺且营附着生活的种类与前棘刺少于三对且营浮游生活的种类聚在不同支系中,这与以形态特征为主所进行的系统发生研究结果基本一致;所有的系统树均支持将十指臂尾轮虫作为一个独立的支系分离出来,裂足臂尾轮虫应归入臂尾轮属。     

Planktonic rotifers and temperature

The influence of temperature (t) upon rotifer embryonic development rate (D_e) has been analysed using data from the literature, and the author's own results from experimental and natural populations. For Keratella cochlearis (Gosse), within the temperature range of 1–28°C, this relationship is best expressed by the equation: 1/D_e = 0.002 + 0.00025t + 0.000065t².For Brachionus calyciflorus Pallas, between 8°C and 35°C, the best relationship is given by the equation: 1/D_e = 0.005 + 0.00013t + 0.00013t².Increasing the incubation temperature to 37–40°C resulted in a decrease in development rate and a sharp reduction in life length.Analysis of the relationship between respiration rate and temperature in experimental and natural populations of Brachionus calyciflorus and Hexarthra mira (Hudson) showed that the maximum rate of oxygen consumption occurred at 32–33°C.The effects of temperature upon the ingestion rates of rotifers is greatly influenced by food concentration. Consequently, this factor also influences the secondary production of experimental populations at different temperatures.     

Dwarf males in monogonont rotifers

The main characteristics of the monogonont rotifer males are haploidy, dwarfism, progenesis and gut vestigialization to varying extents. Although these traits co-occur, they are probably unlinked from the evolutionary point of view. Commonly, all of these characteristics are directly related to the small size of the male egg, equipped with a reduced amount of yolk. A more ecological approach can, however, provide additional insights. Haploidy acts as a sex determining mechanism, dwarfism and progenesis derive directly from the egg size, while gut reduction is more evident in planktonic species than in benthic ones. This discrepancy suggests that the rotifers in the two habitats are exposed to different selection pressures.     

The rotifers of Warri River, Nigeria

The rotifer assemblage of the dendritic tidal Warri River wasinvestigated at four sampling points from July 1981 to July1982. Forty-one species of Rotifera were identified. Five ofthese — Anuraeopsis racenesi Berzins Keratella cochlearismacracantha Lauterbom, Monostyla lunaris Pawlowsky,M. stenroosiMeissner and Trichocerca similis grandis Hauer — are beingrecorded for the first time in West Africa. The Warri Riverrotifers are 65% cosmopolitan and 20% pantropical although therewas no species limited to African waters only. The dominantrotifers in the Warri River were Keratella tropica and K. cochleariswhich were found in the predominantly freshwater sampling stationat Udu Bridge to Warri and Orugbo Creek where low brackish watersalinities and conductivities are observed from December orJanuary to April each year. The preponderance and longitudinaldistribution of these two well-known cyclomorphic rotifers providesan opportunity to study their salinity tolerance and the effectof salinity and conductivity on their cyclomorphosis by samplingalong the length of the river from Udu Bridge to Forcados wherethe Warri River joins the Atlantic Ocean.     

Parasites in rotifers from the Volga delta

Internal parasites were recorded in more than 20 species of rotifers from water bodies of the Volga delta. The most abundant species, Asplanchna priodonta Gosse and Brachionus calyciflorus Pallas, were infested every year. The infestation was usually recorded in May and June during the spring-summer maximum in abundance. B. calyciflorus was usually infested by Microsporidium asperospora (Fritsch, 1895), while A. priodonta was more often infested by Pythium sp. and bacteria. At times, the incidence of infestation was as high as 20–40%. The main developmental stages of some parasites were examined and photographed on living material.     

Bdelloid rotifers and nematodes in a small Italian stream

SUMMARY. The bdelloid rotifers and nematodes of a small clean watercourse in the area surrounding the Po river near Parma have been studied. The samples were collected at two sites 400 m apart. The species found in twelve collections of benthos between May 1977 and June 1978 were eighteen belonging to Bdelloidea and forty-seven to Nematoda (Tylenchida have not been considered). Nearly all the bdelloid species were oligosaprobic or beta-mesosaprobic; the Shannon index of diversity was 3.0 at the first site and 2.4 at the second. Among the Nematoda the dominant species were Paraplectonema pedunculatum and Paraphanolaimus anisitsi which were not previously recorded for Italy. Nearly all nematodes are microphagous; predators represent only 10% of collected specimens. Polluted water indicator species (Secernentia group) were only 3.5% of the total nematodes recorded. Most rotifers and nematodes did not show seasonal fluctuations in numbers. The two sampling sites do not seem to have substantial differences in the taxocoenosis of Rotifera and Nematoda; their percentage of similarity is 69% and 79% for the two classes respectively.     

Clearance rates of sessile rotifers: in vitro determinations

We measured laboratory clearance rates of 10 rotifer and one unidentified bryozoan species from 3 different lakes using ³²P labeled algae (Chlamydomonas) or yeast (Rhodotorula). Clearance rates for all rotifers fed yeast ranged from < 2.0 to > 260 µl · animal^–1 · h^–1 depending on species. The in vitro clearance rates of two sessile rotifers (Ptygura crystallina and P. pilula) were not significantly different from previously measured in situ rates (Wallace and Starkweather 1983). Clearance rates for 5 rotifers fed algae ranged from < 5.0 to > 90.0 µl · animal^–1 · h^–1. Ptygura beauchampi, P. crystallina, P. pilula, Floscularia conifera, and F. melicerta ingested both cell types but their clearance rates varied substantially among species and between cell types. There was a substantial time-dependent loss of 32P from formalin-fixed animals (Sinantherina socialis) awaiting processing. This loss stabilized at approximately 20 hours and was estimated to be about 40% of the initial ingested label. Clearance rates for the bryozoan fed yeast or algae were highly variable, ranging from < 1.0 to > 3 000 µl · animal^–1 · h^–1.     

Culture of rotifers with reference to some physico-chemical properties of water in nursery pond

Rotifers were cultured with five different organic and inorganic fertilizers in nursery ponds. Of the fertilizers used, mustard oil cake gave significantly (p < 0.01) higher production of rotifers than that of mohua oil cake followed by cow-dung, wheat bran, mixture of NPK and control. The higher production of rotifers was directly related with the higher doses of fertilizers. Among the rotifer species identified, the abundance of Brachionus caudatus and B. forficula were significantly (p < 0.01) higher than others. Available N, available P, exchangeable K and exchangeable Ca and exchangeable Mg were generally higher in ponds where organic fertilizers were used. Proximate composition of rotifers varied depending on the kinds of fertilizers. The multiple correlations of physico-chemical properties were highly significant (p < 0.01) with the growth and production of B. caudatus (R = 0.995), B. forficula (R = 0.932), Trichocerca capucina (R = 0.917), B. patulus (R = 0.901) and B. angularis (R = 0.892) and simply significant (p < 0.05) in the case of Keratella tropica (R = 0.880), Hexarthra intermadia (R = 0.875), B. calyciflorus (R = 0.864) and Filinia spp. (R = 0.856) contributing 91.20%, 86.86%, 84.09%, 81.18%, 79.57%, 77.44%, 76.56%, 74.65% and 73.27% of total effect of water properties on the growth of these species, respectively. The residual effect of nine different physico-chemical properties of water on the production of rotifers was 78.92% which indicates that these properties of water had only 21.08% influence on the production of rotifers.     

A perspective on aging in rotifers

Most research on aging in rotifers has been performed with populations, not with individuals. As a consequence, the dependent variable in these studies is usually either mean lifespan or rate of survivorship. After a brief consideration of the literature published since the last major review (King, 1969), the results of a series of experiments are presented. Males and females of three genetically distinct clones of Brachionus plicatilis were used for a factorial life table analysis at three different temperatures. The results of these experiments indicate several potential problems in using populations to study the aging process of individuals. These problems derive from the fact that lifespan is only one component of fitness, and its relative duration may not reflect the evolutionary success of the clone. That is, lifespan is free to vary in response to both stochastic and deterministic events without significantly reducing fitness. Under these conditions, neither mean lifespan nor pattern of survivorship will provide meaningful data on the determinants of individual senescence.We gratefully acknowledge the aid and advice of William R. Rice in conduct of the regression analysis. This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to CEK.     

Relation to habitat in rotifers

Rotifera should be especially suited for an analysis of habitat relations because this group contains such a high number of species, inhabiting diverse environments. Furthermore, rotifers are to a large extent cosmopolitan, implying that ecological barriers, rather than geographical, are decisive of their distribution. In this review a short characterization of the rotifer fauna in different habitats is given, whereby macroenvironments and microenvironments are reported separately. The macroenvironments are classified as follows: harmonious lakes and ponds, arctic and antarctic waters, hot springs, hypertrophic-saprobic environments, mires, strongly acidic waters, saline waters, temporary water bodies, subterranean waters, running waters, oceans, terrestrial environments. The following microenvironments are distinguished: macrophytes (housing periphytic rotifers), open water (with planktic forms), minerogenous sediments (with psammon and hyporheos), organogenous sediments, other organisms (i.e. parasites and epizoans).Many rotifers are more or less euryecious, while relatively few are strongly restricted in their choice of habitat. In extreme environments a low number of species is found, but often a high number of individuals within these species. These rotifers are usually primary consumers, and for natural reasons extreme environments are characterized by a low number of trophic levels.In environments with a high species number the separate species differ very much in their morphology, making it difficult to find common traits which may be interpreted as adaptations to the respective habitats. The most apparent adaptations ought to be found among the planktic rotifers, and these adaptations seem to constitute largely a protection against predators. Rotifers in extreme environments are usually not very apart in a morphological or taxonomical respect, with their most close relatives living in normal habitats and sometimes euryecious (an apparent exception from this rule is formed by the class Seisonidea). Adaptations to deviating chemical and physical environments may develop relatively rapidly (seen from a geological perspective), while the more fundamental changes (occurring during a longer period of time) seem to be a response to biotic factors (e.g., the development of different types of trophi for facilitating food collection).     

Cholinergic neurotransmission in rotifers

The presence of acetylcholinesterase and choline acetyltransferase, enzymes involved in acetylcholine metabolism, has been shown in twelve species of rotifers. Both enzymes have been visualized by histochemical staining in live animals, and acetylcholinesterase was also isolated by acrylamide gel electrophoresis. All the known ganglia of rotifers as well as some sensory nerve endings have been found to contain these enzymes. Preliminary experiments aimed at the detection of norepinephrine and tyrosinase, an enzyme involved in catecholamine metabolism, were unsuccessful.