Ref ID : 1678
M. Pozuelo and L.M. Lubian; Asexual and sexual reproduction in the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis cultured at different salinities. Hydrobiologia 255/256:139-143, 1993
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Two strains of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis (L-type) differing in the levels of mictic female and male production, were grown in batch cultures with the alga Nannochloropsis gaditana as food, at two low (2.5 and 10 0/00), and two high (40 and 50 0/00) salinities. While both the low (strain S-1) and the high (strain S-3) sexual reproducing strains developed similar growth cycles at 2.5 and 10 0/00, the population growth response at 40 and 50 0/00 showed that; 1) in strain S-1, mixis can be suppressed in conditions that still allow asexual reproduction, and 2) in strain S-3 mictic female and male production are possible at nearly zero asexual population growth rates. In strain S-3, a double log linear relationship between the densities of males and females was found. These results show that mixis can occur over a wide ranges of female population density, and support the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is a strain dependent component of the general reproductive response.