Skip to main content
Log in

Morphology, flow regimes, and filtering rates of Daphnia, Ceriodaphnia, and Bosmina fed natural bacteria

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Body size is the best overall indicator of the abilities of the cladocerans Daphnia magna, D. parvula, Ceriodaphnia lacustris and Bosmina longirostris to filter natural bacteria (<1.0 μm). However, species differences exist which cannot be inferred from differences in size, behavior, or morphology alone. The relationship between filtering rate (FR in ml animal-1h-1) and body length (L in mm) for the cladocerans studied can be described by the power function:

$$\begin{gathered} FR = 0.538 L^{1.545} \hfill \\ (r^2 = 0.88, F = 168.54, P < 0.001). \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$

In D. parvula, algal filtering rates are higher and increase more rapidly with increasing body size than do bacterial filtering rates which are 26 to 33% of algal rates. This suggests that different processes may be involved in the capture of these ultrafine particles and that ultrafine particle capture efficiency decreases with increasing body size within a species. Weight specific filtering rates (in μl μg dry wt-1h-1) have a strong negative relationship to body size and show species specific differences. Appendage beat rates intersetular distances, setule diameter, appendage, area, % open space on the filtering appendage, Reynolds number, and boundary layer thickness do not provide simple predictions of bacterial filtering rates for the cladocerans studied. Filtering rates on cultured laboratory bacteria and algae may not indicate filtering rates on natural bacterioplankton because of differences in bacterial size, motility, and surface properties. Uptake of ultrafine particles may be enhanced by the presence of larger, more readily filtered particles through a “piggybacking” phenomenon.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Berman MS, Richman S (1974) The feeding behavior of Daphnia pulex from Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. Limnol Oceanogr 19:105–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Bitton G, Marshall KC (1979) Adsorption of microorganisms to surfaces. John Wiley Brisbane

    Google Scholar 

  • Bottrell HH, Duncan A, Gliwicz ZM, Grygierek E, Herzig A, Hillbritch-Ilkowsa A Kurasawa P, Larsson P, Weglenska T (1976) A review of some problems in zooplankton production studies. Norw J Zool 24:419–456

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd CM (1976) Selection of particle sizes by filter-feeding copepods: A plea for reason. Limnol Oceanogr 21:175–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns CW (1969) Relationship between filtering rate, temperature and body size for species of Daphnia. Limnol Oceanogr 14:693–700

    Google Scholar 

  • Crisman TL, Beaver JR, Bays JS (1982) Examination of the relative impact of microzooplankton on bacteria in Florida lakes. Verh Int Ver Limnol 21:359–368

    Google Scholar 

  • DeMott WR (1982) Feeding selectivities and relative ingestion rates of Daphnia and Bosmina. Limnol Oceangr 27:518–527

    Google Scholar 

  • Egloff DA, Palmer DS (1971) Size relations of the filtering area of two Daphnia species. Limnol Oceanogr 16:900–905

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellington CP (1975) Non-steady state aerodynamics of the flight of Encarsia formosa. In: TY-T Wu et al. (eds) Swimming and Flying in Nature Vol 2 Plenum pp 783–796

  • Frost BW (1972) Effect of size and concentration of food patticles on the feeding behavior of a marine planktonic copepod Calanus pacificus. Limnol Oceanogr 17:805–979

    Google Scholar 

  • Fryer G (1968) Evolution in the Chydoridae (Crustacea, Cladocera): A story in comparative functional morphology and ecology. Phil Trans R Soc London Ser B 254:221–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Geller W, Muller H (1981) The filtration apparatus of Cladocera: filter mesh-sizes and their implications on food selectivity. Oecologia (Berlin) 49:316–321

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerritsen J, Porter KG (1982) Fluid mechancs, surface chemistry, and filter feeding by Daphnia. Science 216:1225–1227

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert JJ, Bogdan KG (1981) Selectivity of Polyarthra and Keratella for flagellate and aflagellate cells. Verh Int Ver Limnol 21:1515–1521

    Google Scholar 

  • Gliwicz ZM (1969) Studies on the feeding of pelagic zooplankton in lakes with varying trophy. Ekol Pol A 17:663–708

    Google Scholar 

  • Gophen M, Cavari BZ, Berman T (1974) Zooplankton feeding on differentially labeled algae and bacteria. Nature 247:393–394

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadas O, Cavari BZ, Kott Y, Bachrach U (1982) Preferential feeding behavior of Daphnia magna. Hydrobiologia 89:49–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Haney JF (1973) An in situ examination of the grazing activities of natural zooplankton communities. Archiv Hydrobiol 72:87–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie JE (1979) Activity and bacterial biomass. Arch Hydrobiol Beih Ergebn Limnol 12:59–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Koehl MAR, Strickler JR (1981) Copepod feeding currents: food capture at low Reynolds number. Limnol Oceanogr 26:1062–1073

    Google Scholar 

  • LaBarbera M (1978) Particle capture by a Pacific brittle star: experimental test of the aerosol suspension feeding model. Science 201:1147–1149

    Google Scholar 

  • Lampert W (1974) A method for determining food selection by zooplankton. Limnol Oceanogr 19:995–997

    Google Scholar 

  • Malovitskaya LM, Sorokin YI (1961) An experimental study of the feeding of Diaptomus (Crustacea, Copepoda). Tr Inst Biol Vodokhr 4:262–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall KC (1976) Interfaces in Microbial Ecology. Harvard Univ Press Cambridge Mass

    Google Scholar 

  • McMakon JW, Rigler FH (1965) Feeding rates of Daphnia magna Straus in different foods labeled with radioactive phosphorus. Limnol Oceanogr 10:105–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Monakov AV, Sorokin YI (1961) Quantitative data on the feeding of Daphnia. Tr Inst Biol Vodokhr 4:251–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Pace ML, Orcutt JD Jr (1981) The relative importance of protozoans, rotifers, and crustaceans in a freshwater zooplankton community. Limnol Oceanogr 26:822–830

    Google Scholar 

  • Pace ML, Porter KG, Feig YS Differential utilization of bacterial resources by two co-occuring cladocerans Daphnia parvula and Ceriodaphnia lacustris. Ecology (In press)

  • Peterson BJ, Hobbie JE, Haney JF (1978) Daphnia grazing on natural bacteria. Limnol Oceanogr 23:1039–1044

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter KG, Feig YS (1980) The use of DAPI for identification and enumeration of bacteria and blue-green algae. Limnol Oceanogr 25:943–948

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter KG, Gerritsen J, Orcutt JD Jr (1982) The effect of food concentration on swimming patterns, feeding behavior, ingestion, assimilation, and respiration by Daphnia. Limnol Oceanogr 27:935–949

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter KG, Orcutt JD Jr (1980) Nutritional adequacy, manageability, and toxicity as factors that determine the food quality of green and blue-green algae for Daphnia: In: Kerfoot WC (ed) ASLO Special Symposium III: The Evolution and Ecology of Zooplankton Communities. Univ Press of New England, NH

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulet SA, Marsot P (1978) Chemosensory grazing by marine calanoid copepods (Arthropoda, Crustacea). Science 200:1403–1405

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigler F (1971) Methods of measuring filtering and feeding rates. In: Edmondson WT, Winberg GG (eds) Secondary Productivity in Fresh Waters. IBP Handbook, No 17 Blackwell Scientific Pub Oxford, England pp 230–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubenstein DI, Koehl MAR (1977) The mechanisms of filter feeding: some theoretical considerations. Am Nat 111:981–994

    Google Scholar 

  • Spielman LA (1977) Particle capture from low-speed laminar flow. Ann Rev Fluid Mech 9:297–319

    Google Scholar 

  • Starkweather PL, Gilbert JJ, Frost TM (1979) Bacterial feeding by Brachionus calyciflorus: Clearance and ingestion rates, behavior, and population dynamics. Oecologia (Berlin) 44:26–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Tezuka Y (1971) Feeding of Daphnia on planktonic bacteria. Jap J Ecol 21:127–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanderploeg HA, Ondricek-Fallscheer RL (1982) Intersetular distances are a poor predictor of particle-retention efficiency in Diaptomus sicilis. J Plankton Res 4 (in press)

  • Zar JH (1974) Biostatistical Analysis. Prentice-Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This research was supported by NSF grant DEB 8203254. Contribution No. 16 of the Lake Oglethorpe Limnological Association

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Porter, K.G., Feig, Y.S. & Vetter, E.F. Morphology, flow regimes, and filtering rates of Daphnia, Ceriodaphnia, and Bosmina fed natural bacteria. Oecologia 58, 156–163 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399211

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399211

Keywords

Navigation