Ecology: Habitat: Rotifers live mainly among aquatic vegetation in the littoral zone of lakes, ponds, rivers, canals, pools, and other small water bodies. Due to the absence of respiratory organs, this species uses its entire body surface to respire and is therefore unable to live in anaerobic conditions (Sládecek 1983). Most communities contain 50 to 500 individuals per liter, with the densest population reported in unpolluted water reaching 5,800 individuals per liter (Smith 2001). Brachionus leydigii filter feeds on small material such as bacteria and detritus and is able to selectively filter particles by size with a corona of cilia surrounding its mouth (Wallace 2002). Experiments on the rotifer composition among different lake types suggest that Brachionus spp. thrive primarily in eutrophic environments and are largely absent from oligotrophic and mesotrophic areas (Maemets 1983, Sládecek 1983; Sarma et al. 2019). Brachionus leydgii showed preference for high chlorophyll a and total phosphorus concentrations in the Scheldt river basin (France/Germany) (Le Coz et al. 2018). Food Web: With large population sizes and high turnover rates, rotifers are significant contributors to lake food webs (Herzig 1987; Starkweather 1987; Walz 1997). Additionally, rotifers are the first food of fish fry and are eaten by a variety of invertebrate predators, leading to the assimilation of their energy into higher trophic levels (Wallace 2002). Rotifers may also play a role in microplankton community structure, although the magnitude of their importance is unknown (Arndt 1993; Berninger et al. 1993; Rublee 1998). The study of rotifer population dynamics is challenging, as annual species abundance across a variety of habitats can vary greatly (Herzig 1987).
Life History: Rotifers’ annual reproductive cycle involves both sexual and asexual stages. The asexual phase involves amictic (parthenogenic) females who produce mictic haploid eggs in autumn, from which males hatch without fertilization. Males typically only live for a few hours, dying immediately after reproduction (Sládecek 1983). The sexual phase results in resting stage “winter eggs” that develop with a thick protective cover resistant to desiccation and extreme thermal conditions (Clement and Wurdak 1991, Sládecek 1983, Wurdak et al. 1978). After production, these diapausing eggs sink to the sediment where they can remain viable for several decades (Marcus et al. 1994; Kotani et al. 2001). When favorable conditions return, eggs complete their development; however, a fraction will remain viable and accumulate in the sediment, forming resting egg banks (Garcia-Roger et al. 2005). These egg banks may help to ensure survival through unfavorable environmental conditions as well as possibly act as a dispersal device (Templeton and Levin 1979; Fryer 1996; Hairston 1996, 1998; Ortells et al. 2000; Garcia-Roger et al. 2005). Anoxia or low oxygen levels in the sediment, however, may lead to low viability of diapausing eggs (Uye et al. 1984; Lutz et al. 1994).
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