Population growth, body size, and egg size of two different strains of Brachionus calyciflorus Pallas (Rotifera) fed different algae

Y.L. Xi, G.Y. Liu, H.J. Jin-2002 

Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 17(2): 185-190  (from Current Contents)

Abstract:

Laboratory populations of two Brachionus calyciflorus strains (WH and GZ strains) collected respectively from Zhujiang River and Changjiang River basins of China were cultured on 0.3 mg/ml of Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Scenedesmus obliquus or on a 1:1 mixture (wet weight) of the two algal species. The population growth rates of the WH and GZ strains fed C. pyrenoidosa were markedly higher than those fed on S. obliquus, but the body size (lorica length) and the egg size (egg volume) of both strains fed C. pyrenoidosa were significantly smaller than those fed on S. obliquus. When fed the same type of alga, the population growth rate of the WH strain was significantly higher than that of the GZ strain. However, the body size and the egg size of the WH strain were markedly smaller than those of the GZ strain. These results indicated that both strains were capable of varying their reproductive patterns, according to the algal food type, to maximize their reproductive rates; and, under the same culture condition, different rotifer strains possessed different reproductive strategies.

(Anhui Normal Univ, Dept Biol, Anhua 241000, Peoples R China)

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