Ref ID : 4622
John J. Gilbert and Kenneth G. Bogdan; Rotifer Grazing: in Situ Studies on Selectivity and Rates. In: Trophic Interactions Within Aquatic Ecosystems, edited by Dewey G.Meyers and J.Rudi Strickler, The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1984, p.97-133
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Use of a variety of tracer cells shows that suspension-feeding rotifers may differ greatly from one another in the types of cells they choose or are able to ingest. Polyarthra spp. and Synchaeta pectinata select relatively large, flagellated cells, while Kellicottia bostoniensis, Conochilus dossuarius, and especially Keratella cochlearis ingest many kinds of cells, including relatively small, aflagellate cells. The functional morphology of the coronae of the "generalist" rotifers differs markedly from that of the "specialist" rotifers, suggesting that food-niche breadth may be closely related to corona morphology. In both Polyarthra and Keratella, subgeneric taxa with large body sizes eat relatively large food items more efficiently and relatively small food items less efficiently than those with small body sizes. This fact may at least partially explain the observation that co-occurring congeneric taxa often have different body sizes. The clearance rates of Polyarthra and Keratella increase monotonically with water temperature. In addition, those of Keratella decrease as particle density increases. P. dolichoptera is a cold-water adapted species, having a clearance rate at 7 degrees C similar to that of P. vulgaris at 20 degrees C. On the alga Chlamydomonas, the clearance rates of Keratella per unit dry weight are 4.6-13.5 times those of Bosmina longirostris. Analysis of the relative grazing activities of Keratella and Bosmina populations on Chlamydomonas-like cells over a one-year period shows that the former is the more important grazer.