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An Experimental Analysis of the Acid Sensitivity of the Common Planktonic Rotifer Keratella cochlearis |
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| Authors: | Karl Havens John Decosta |
| Institution: | Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Salem, Ohio, USA Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Karl Havens, Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Salem Regional Campus Salem, OH 44460, USA John Decosta, Department of Biology West Virginia University Morgantown, WV, USA |
| Abstract: | An in situ mesocosm experiment was performed at neutral pH Lake O'Woods, West Virginia, to assess the impacts of acidification on the common planktonic rotifer Keratella cochlearis. This rotifer is typically replaced by K. taurocephala during the acidification of North American lakes. Despite a rapid pH reduction in this experiment (from 7.0 to 4.8 in 14 days), the abundance, mean body length and egg ratio of K. cochlearis did not decline in the acid treatment as compared to the untreated control. These results support the hypothesis that K. cochlearis is acid-tolerant, and suggest that its disappearance from acid lakes is the result of biotic interactions within the plankton, rather than the result of toxic effects of altered water chemistry. |
| Keywords: | acidification rotifer Keratella cochlearis |