Survival Strategies of the Rotifer Brachionus rotundiformis for Coexisting with the Copepod Apocyclops borneoensis in Laboratory Culture

Interspecific relationship between a euryhaline rotifer Brachionus rotundiformis and a cyclopoid copepod Apocyclops borneoensis was investigated in the laboratory culture. In a mixed culture of B. rotundiformis and A. borneoensis, population growth of B. rotundiformis was suppressed from day 10, while growth in a monoculture population continuously increased throughout the experimental period. However, the population growth of A. borneoensis in the mixed culture did not markedly differ from that in a monoculture population. Suppression of B. rotundiformis growth coincided with a decrease in the numbers of both non-egg-bearing and egg-bearing females, and increasing resting egg formation. Growth of A. borneoensis was not affected by the presence of the rotifer. However, relative growth index of ovisac bearing females in the mixed culture was 1.62 times higher than that in the monoculture. Presence of the copepod did not greatly reduce the food available to the rotifer population. The rotifer B. rotundiformis responded in a unique way, to stresses such as physical damage (filtering by A. borneoensis) with the production of many resting eggs to increase its chances of survival.