Abstract
Freshwater zooplankton species differ in their consumption of live and dead algal cells when tested in situ. Using isotopically-labeled living and heat-killed Chlamydomonas reinhardti as models for phytoplankton and detrital seston, respectively, we tested differential feeding on these foods by 3 rotifers and 2 microcrustaceans. Keratella cochlearis selectively feeds on ‘detrital’ materials while 2 sympatric rotifer species, Conochilus dossuarius and Kellicottia bostoniensis show no ability to discriminate between the living and dead foods. Both the copepod Diaptomus spatulocrenatus and a cladoceran, Bosmina sp., differentially consume living cells.
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Starkweather, P.L., Bogdan, K.G. Detrital feeding in natural zooplankton communities: Discrimination between live and dead algal foods. Hydrobiologia 73, 83–85 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00019430
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00019430