ABSTRACT
The knowledge of population effects of food on tropical, filter-feeding cladocerans is scarce because a reduced number of species has been extensively studied. Ceriodaphnia rigaudi Richard 1894, a small-sized cladoceran distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, was studied. The aim of this study was to contribute to the knowledge of the reproductive biology of a poor-known Cladoceran; for this we assessed the effect of feeding and temperature on the reproduction and life cycle of this species. Three microalga species (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Ankistrodesmus falcatus, and Chlorella vulgaris) were supplied as food each at a concentration of 12 mg l-1 (dry weight, equivalent to 1.3X106, 0.4X106 and 1.35X106 cell ml-1, respectively, and equivalent to 7.80 Eg C ml-1), at two temperatures (20 and 25oC). We evaluated, among other responses, longevity, total progeny, survival, life expectancy at birth and fecundity. Organisms fed with the microalgae A. falcatus and P. subcapitata presented both higher longevity (30.7± 5.91, 26.6 ± 3.59 days, respectively) and total progeny (45 ± 13.80, 40.7 ± 0.66 neonates female-1) values than those organisms fed C. vulgaris (13.5± 4.63 days and 17.6 ± 6.19 neonates female-1, respectively). On the other hand, temperature affected significantly the population parameters of C. rigaudi, recording maximal longevity values (56.1 ± 9.41 days) at 20oC in organisms fed A. falcatus; however, age at first reproduction and total progeny were negatively affected by this temperature: sexual maturation of the females was delayed until the age of 16 days and the number of neonates produced was smaller (9.8 ± 3.45 with C. vulgaris; 24.7±6.01 with P. subcapitata, and 35.5 ± 8.59 neonates female-1 with A. falcatus). The best reproductive responses for C. rigaudi in this study were obtained with A. falcatus at 25oC.