Spatial niche partitioning in epibiont rotifers on the waterlouse Asellus aquaticus

Abstract

Habitat partitioning is assumed to allow coexistence in natural communities. We analyzed the spatial partitioning in the species assemblages of epibiont rotifers living on the waterlouse Asellus aquaticus. We defined the spatial localization of individual rotifers on each waterlouse host, controlling for differences between waterlice and within and between waterbodies. Using hierarchical linear models on the whole species assemblage and on each species separately, patterns of spatial segregation were found for rotifers. Different species partition the available space on the waterlouse consistently within and between waterbodies. Both habitat selection and interactions between species seem to be the mechanisms driving the observed patterns.

Multiple horizontally acquired genes from fungal and prokaryotic donors encode cellulolytic enzymes in the bdelloid rotifer Adineta ricciae

“…R. sordida also contains homologues of all licheninases present in A. ricciae, which are absent in the other Rotaria species (data not shown). R. magnacalcarata and R. socialis have quite different lifestyles, however: they are epibionts of the waterlouse Asellus aquaticus (Fontaneto and Ambrosini, 2010), and therefore are likely to experience desiccation infrequently, but no data is available on their diet. The epibiontic bdelloid transcriptomes contain the fewest examples of cellulolytic enzyme sequences, with ten in R. magnacalcarata and seven in R. socialis.…”

4. Rotifera

“…Among the freshwater crustaceans inhabited by rotifers are Branchiopoda, Copepoda, Isopoda, Amphipoda, and Decapoda. The freshwater louse Asellus aquaticus serves as substrate for at least 10 rotifer species, of which the bdelloids Embata commensalis, E. laticeps, E. parasitica, Philodina convergens, Rotaria magnacalcarata, R. murrayi, and R. socialis, and the monogononts Encentrum hofsteni, E. kulmatyckii, Testudinella caeca, and T. elliptica are among the most typical (e.g., Budde 1924, Wiszniewski 1953, May 1989, Cook et al 1998, Fontaneto & Ambrosini 2010. Brachionus rubens, B. sessilis, and to a lesser extent B. variabilis and Epiphanes daphnicola are commonly reported as epibionts of several species of the different orders of Cladocera; the latter species is also the only epibiotic rotifer recorded from copepods (Cyclops).…”

“…Brachionus charini is a commensal reported from the gills of the clam shrimp Caenestheria (Spinicaudauta) (Koste 1978), and B. rubens may be found on the gills of Brachinella (Anostraca) (Sharma 1979). Both species richness and individual numbers of rotifer proved highest on the ventral surface of the Asellus (Cook et al 1998, Fontaneto & Ambrosini 2010. Epiphanes daphnicola is feeding on the sessile unicellular euglenaceans (e.g., Colacium vesiculosum) and ciliates living on the carapace of their host (Matveeva 1989).…”

Epizoic rotifers on Dreissena polymorpha in relation to biotic factors

“…Among the species also found on their carapaces are Proales daphnicola Thompson, 1892 (Hollowday, 1949) and Brachionus variabilis (Hempel, 1896) (Ahlstrom, 1940). Species of the genus Testudinella [T. elliptica (Ehrenberg, 1834), T. truncata (Gosse 1886), and T. caeca (Parsons, 1892)] were found on abdominal appendages and the branchial plates of Asellus aquaticus (Linnaeus, 1758) (May, 1989;Fontaneto, & Ambrosini, 2010). The rotifer fauna found in the branchial cavities of Astacus, Potamobius, and Cambarus include multiple species, primarily of the genus Lepadella (L. astacicola Hauer, 1926;L.…”