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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 694

William D. Hummon and Darlene P. Bevelhymer; Life table demography of the rotifer Lecane tenuiseta under culture conditions, and various age distributions. Hydrobiologia 70:25-28, 1980

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The rotifer Lecane tenuiseta, found contaminating an unpolluted culture water reservoir, was cultured in a dilute baker's yeast suspension using the same water. Ova, cultured individually in 10 ul wells at 20 degrees C, were observed at half day intervals for hatching, daughter ova and death. Data were subjected to life table demographic analyses. With a stable age population of parthenogenic females, laying 6.8 ova per lifetime and increasing at 0.23 per individual day, mean life expectancy of a newly laid ovum was 26 days, generation time was 8.4 days and 11% of the population appeared as developing embryos. With a stationary age population calculated by the Leslie-Ranson method, there would be no change in life expectancy but a decrease in embryos to 9%; a stationary age distribution calculated by the Hummon method would show a decrease in life expectancy to 4.9 days and increase in embryos to 46%. Calculation by the latter method is more consistent with available field data for species of planktonic rotifers.