Differences in life table demography among eight geographic populations of Brachionus calyciflorus (Rotifera) from China

Eight geographic populations of Brachionus calyciflorus collected from China in August 2007 were cultured at 18 °C, 23 °C and 28 °C with 3.0×106 cells mL−1 of alga Scenedesmus obliquus to investigate their differences in life table demography. The results showed that the response in each of the life table demographic parameters (age-specific survivorship and fecundity, life expectancy at hatching, generation time, net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate of population increase and proportion of sexual offspring) to increasing temperature differed with geographic population. Life expectancy at hatching, generation time, net reproductive rate and intrinsic rate of population increase were all significantly influenced by temperature, geographic population and their interaction and indirectly affected by the changes in body size and egg volume of the rotifers; however, the proportion of sexual offspring produced by the rotifers was markedly influenced only by geographic population. Among all the combinations of temperature and geographic population, the generation times of Guangzhou and Hainan populations at 18 °C were the longest, and the intrinsic rate of population increase of the Tai’an population at 18 °C was the lowest. Among all the eight geographic populations, the proportion of sexual offspring produced by Xuzhou population was the highest. Although the higher proportions of sexual offspring produced by all the geographic populations of rotifers (9.7–41.1%) might lead to higher resting egg productions, and thus to wide spread of the rotifers among the eight geographic populations, their differences in life table demography might be regarded as the results of adaptation to the different environmental conditions faced by them in the field.