Ref ID : 4617
Craig E. Williamson and John J. Gilbert; Variation among Zooplankton Predators: The Potential of Asplanchna, Mesocyclops, and Cyclops to Attack, Capture, and Eat Various Rotifer Prey. In: Evolution and Ecology of Zooplankton Communities, edited by W.Charles Kerfoot,The University Press of New England, 1980, p.509-517
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Observation of different freshwater invertebrate predators reveals the presence of a diversity of attack, capture, and ingestion behaviors. The rotifer prey in turn may have a wide variety of morphological and behavioral defense mechanisms. These complex interactions are largely overlooked by the "black-box" approach of enclosure experiments. Reduced ingestion rates of the invertebrate predators may result from problems in handling prey at different levels of the encounter, attack, capture, and ingestion sequence. Direct observation is needed for a better understanding of predator-prey interactions and of the potential influence of different invertebrate predators on the population dynamics of rotifer communities. Results of the interactions investigated suggest that: Cyclops bicuspidatus cannot be an important predator of Asplanchna; A. girodi can only rarely capture Polyarthra vulgaris; A. girodi is likely to be a more efficient predator of Keratella cochlearis than Mesocyclops edax; M. edax could be an important predator of P. vulgaris; M. edax readily preys on A. girodi and so may greatly reduce predation by this rotifer on K. cochlearis.