Abstract
Egg resistance against the digestive process of a predator is an effective strategy for zooplankton to compensate population loss due to predation. Parthenogenetic eggs of the rotiferan Brachionus urceolaris, which were ingested by the predatory cladoceran Leptodora kindtii, were expelled from the feeding basket of the predator without digestion. We found a negative correlation between the unconsumed ratio of eggs after ingestion and body length of the predator. As high as 75% of the unconsumed eggs successfully hatched and the hatch ratio was independent of body length of L. kindtii. Our results indicate that the rotifer has an effective strategy to maintain its population in the environment with abundant invertebrate predators.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the staff of the NIES, especially Y. Ogamino and S. Karube, for their kind assistance in preparing the specimens. This study was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid to M. Sakamoto (216739) from a JSPS Research Fellowship for young Scientists and Grants-in-Aid to T. Hanazato (no. 17201012) from the Japan Society for the promotion of Science.
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Nagata, T., Sakamoto, M., Tanaka, Y. et al. Egg viability of the rotifer Brachionus urceolaris after ingestion by the predatory cladoceran Leptodora kindtii . Hydrobiologia 665, 263–266 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0613-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0613-8