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Ecological Study of Rotifers

Undergraduate #266
Discipline: Ecology Environmental and Earth Sciences
Subcategory: Ecology

Raisa Kellen Roxas - Norfolk State University
Co-Author(s): Brandise Little, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA



Two species of rotifers, Philodina and Brachionus, were collected in the field, brought into the lab, cultured, and three experiments were conducted to determine population growth, desiccation, and dispersal via aquatic insects. Results observed over a period of twelve weeks indicate that Philodina populations increase and plateau. Increasing the initial population size (10, 20, 30, and 50 rotifers) also led to a plateau. However, the plateau is reached at a faster rate. Rotifer populations following desiccation showed a rise and decline. From these two results, it can be inferred that Philodina sp. competes for resources including food and/or space. Chironomid larvae, pupae, and adult flies were used to test the dispersal, or mechanism of transfer, of rotifers. Data collected could not confirm whether Chronomid sp. is a vector for rotifer dispersal. It was concluded that desiccation and dispersal factors regulate population dynamics in rotifers.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant #F2040013).

Faculty Advisor: Joseph D'Silva, jdsilva@nsu.edu

Role: I was involved in every aspect of our research: preliminary observations, experimental design, setup, and execution, data collection, oral and poster presentation preparation, and technical report writing.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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