Ref ID : 1965
George William Salt; The components of feeding behavior in rotifers. Hydrobiologia 147:271-281, 1987
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Feeding behavior of a rotifer can be broken into two classes of activities: the rate of successful search and the handling process. The former consists of the following components: Perceptual field (in planktonic rotifers the area of the corona) swimming rate, and attack rate. The second class consists of capture rate, handling time, rejection rate, ingestion, digestion, and assimilation. All evidence indicates that the perceptual field cannot be varied by the rotifers. Swimming rate is variable and under rotifer control, but does not appear to vary with degree of starvation. Attack rate is also under control of the rotifer, at least in the genus Asplanchna. Capture rate vary with the species of food item from zero to 100%. Handling times are longer than one would expect, as are rejection times. Digestion and assimilation appear to vary inversely with rate of ingestion. There is some suggestion in the literature that feeding behavior on very small particles differs from that on larger ones.