Nutrient content of plants is low relative to that of herbivores. Dietary nutrients can limit the growth and reproduction of herbivores. We studied life history consequences and starvation resistance for a common planktonic rotifer, Keratella cochlearis, feeding on algae grown on nutrient-limited media. A strain of Cryptomonas was grown on three types of growth medium with nitrogen (N) and phos...

DNA sequencing has shown individual bdelloid rotifer genomes to contain two or more diverged copies of every gene examined and has revealed no closely similar copies. These and other findings are consistent with long-term asexual evolution of bdelloids. It is not entirely ruled out, however, that bdelloid genomes consist of previously undetected pairs of sequences so similar as to be identical ...

Rotifers due to their relatively short lifespan, high fecundity and high rate of population growth are ideal for chronic toxicity tests. The aim of this research was to determine the lethal concentrations (LC50 24 h) of deltamethrin and imidaclopride and their impacts on the reproduction and growth of the freshwater rotifer, Brachionus calyciflorus. Experiments were carried out based on the gui...

BACKGROUND In spite of considerable efforts over past decades we still know relatively little regarding the biogeography of rotifers of inland waters in México. To help rectify this we undertook an extensive survey of the rotifer fauna of 48 water bodies in the Chihuahuan Desert of México. RESULTS Of the sites surveyed, 21 had salinities >or= 2000 microS cm-1 and in these we found 57 species ...

Juvenile hormone (JH) and serotonin (5-HT) were previously shown to enhance mictic (sexual) female production of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis in batch cultures. To explore the basis of these effects, experiments were conducted on isolated individuals. JH treatment of maternal rotifers with 5 and 50 µgml(-1) (18.8 and 187.7 µM) resulted in significantly higher (P<0.05) mictic female product...