title: Life cycle traits of Philodina roseola Ehrenberg, 1830 (Rotifera, Bdelloidea), a model organism for bioassays.
abstract: This paper describes experimental results on the life cycle of the rotifer Philodina roseola cultured in the laboratory. Detailed information on life-cycle parameters of a certain species provides a deep understanding and contributes to a better knowledge of the role of the species in the community, besides providing data that are basic to other ecological investigations such as secondary production estimates and knowledge for applications such as its utilization as test-organism in ecotoxicological studies. The average duration of embryonic development of P. roseola was 23.88 h, the age at maturity of primipara was 3.5 days and the maximum lifespan was 23 days. The average size of the rotifer neonate was 198.77 µm, the mean size of primipara was 395.56 µm and for adults 429.96 µm. The average fecundity was 1.22 eggs per female per day and the mean number of eggs produced per female during the entire life was 22.33. The deceleration of somatic growth from the start of the reproductive stage represents a trade-off between growth and reproduction that is often seen in micrometazoans. The life history of P. roseola follows the strategy of other bdelloid species characterized by a rapid pre-reproductive development and canalization of most assimilated energy to reproduction after reaching maturity. The differences observed in total fecundity and longevity between our P. roseola cultures and those from previous studies were probably due to differences of intrinsic adaptation of this species ecotypes to the conditions of their natural environments.
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduate Program of Ecology and Natural Resources, Federal University of São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Raquel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduate Program of Ecology and Natural Resources, Federal University of São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Adrislaine S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mansano
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduate Program of Ecology and Natural Resources, Federal University of São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos SP , Brazil.|Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Biological Sciences and Health Center, Federal University of São Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Federal University of São Carlos, Biological Sciences and Health Center, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, São Carlos SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Odete
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rocha
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D005260:Female; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D012098:Reproduction; D012403:Rotifera / Q000254:growth & development*; D013997:Time Factors