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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 700

Robert Lee Wallace and Peter L. Starkweather; Clearance rates of sessile rotifers: In situ determination. Hydrobiologia 104:379-383, 1983

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Clearance rates of three sessile and four free-swimming rotifer species from a small acid bog-pond were measured using in situ techniques. Three radioactively labeled cell types, an alga (Chlamydomonas), a bactrium (Enterobacter=Aerobacter), and a yeast (Rhodotorula) were used as tracers. Clearance rates (using yeast) ranged from <1.0 to >250 ul/animal.hr. depending on species. Ptygura crystallina, Ptygura pilula, Floscularia conifera, and an unidentified bdelloid ingested all three foods with substantial variation in clearance rates among species and cell type. There was an insignificant error (under 0.3%) in clearance rate associated with non-ingestive uptake of radioactivity. Among the free-swimming taxa, Lecane sp. had a clearance rate of <0.5 ul/animal.hr. on yeast, while another Lecane sp. and Trichotria tetractis did not ingest that cell type.