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JPR Advance Access published online on September 27, 2006
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbl052
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received April 12, 2006
Accepted September 26, 2006

Article

Chemical induction of mixis in the rotifer Synchaeta tremula

Nadine Timmermeyer 1 and Claus-Peter Stelzer 2 *

1 Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Münster, Hüfferstr. 1, 48149 Münster, Germany; Animal Evolutionary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
2 Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Münster, Hüfferstr. 1, 48149 Münster, Germany; Institute for Limnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Mondseestrasse 9, 5310 Mondsee, Austria

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Claus-Peter Stelzer, E-mail: claus-peter.stelzer{at}oeaw.ac.at


  Abstract

In rotifers of the genus Brachionus, a chemical factor that accumulates during population crowding is necessary and sufficient to trigger sexual reproduction (mixis). In other monogonont rotifer species, field data and some laboratory studies indicate that mixis is density-dependent, however to date it is unknown whether this reaction is chemically mediated as in Brachionus. Here we provide experimental evidence that mixis in the rotifer Synchaeta tremula is both density-dependent and chemically mediated. S. tremula cultured at high population densities (10 ind. mL-1) produced 15.4% mictic offspring, whereas those cultured at low population densities (0.25 ind. mL-1) produced only 0.3% mictic offspring. Conditioned water isolated from exponentially growing mass cultures induced significantly higher levels of mixis in the offspring of individually cultured females, when compared to untreated control medium (15.7% vs. 1.4% mixis). In S. tremula the propensity of females to respond to the mixis chemical decreased strongly with age. The highest proportion of mictic offspring (up to 63%) was produced by females of the youngest adult age class (~24-48h old). Females older than 3 days were virtually unresponsive to the mixis stimulus.

Communicating Editor: RP Harris


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