Contribution to Book
Grazing by a dominant rotifer Conochilus unicornis Rousselet in a mountain lake: in situ measurements with synthetic microspheres
Rotifera IX. Developments in Hydrobiology
(2001)
Abstract
Grazing rates of zooplankton were analysed in the summer of 1999 in Yellow Belly Lake, an oligotrophic system in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho (U.S.A.). The colonial rotifer Conochilus unicornis was a dominant species in the epilimnion, with densities reaching 20 colonies 1−1 (ca. 400 ind. 1−1). Clearance rates were measured with an in situ Haney Grazing chamber and synthetic microspheres 5, 9 and 23/μm in diameter. At epilimnetic temperatures of around 14 °C, mean clearance rates for 5µm particles ranged from 30 to 65 µ1 ind.−1 h −1. Clearance rates were 2–9 times higher on the 5µm spheres than on the 9 µm spheres, and C. unicornis almost never fed on the 23 µm spheres. Grazing rates did not change over the diel cycle. Clearance rates declined more than 10-fold as temperatures declined from 14 °C in the epilimnion to 7 °C in the metalimnion. In the epilimnion, grazing by C. unicornis was more important than grazing by crustaceans in the community, at least on particles ≤9µm. The results show the importance of grazing by rotifers in lakes, and the significance of spatial variations that influence grazing rates.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2001
Editor
Sanoamuang L., Segers H., Shiel R.J., Gulati R.D. (eds)
Publisher
Springer
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0756-6_16
Citation Information
Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh. "Grazing by a dominant rotifer Conochilus unicornis Rousselet in a mountain lake: in situ measurements with synthetic microspheres" DordrechtRotifera IX. Developments in Hydrobiology Vol. 153 (2001) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/wayne_wurtsbaugh/238/