Gilbert John J, Williamson Craig E
Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, 03755, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.
Oecologia. 1978 Jan;37(1):13-22. doi: 10.1007/BF00349987.
The predatory copepod Mesocyclops edax preys effectively on the rotifers Asplanchna girodi and Polyarthra vulgaris but not on the rotifer Keratella cochlearis. It readily captures individuals of this latter species but usually releases them unharmed, being unable to remove the soft parts within their loricae. The predatory A. girodi regularly eats K. cochlearis but cannot catch P. vulgaris. When P. vulgaris is contacted by the corona of A. girodi, it immediately escapes by elevating its paddles and jumping away a distance up to about ten times its own body length. In experimental communities of these predator and prey species the survival of Polyarthra and Keratella is significantly affected by the species of predator present and by predator-prey interaction between the two predators when both are present.
掠食性桡足类动物中型中剑水蚤能有效地捕食轮虫吉罗德晶囊轮虫和普通多肢轮虫，但不能捕食耳蜗臂尾轮虫。它很容易捕获后一种轮虫的个体，但通常会将它们毫发无损地放走，因为它无法吃掉它们兜甲内的柔软部分。掠食性的晶囊轮虫会经常捕食耳蜗臂尾轮虫，但无法捕捉普通多肢轮虫。当普通多肢轮虫被晶囊轮虫的触手冠碰到时，它会立即抬起桨叶并跳出自身长度约十倍的距离逃脱。在这些捕食者和猎物物种的实验群落中，多肢轮虫和臂尾轮虫的生存受到存在的捕食者种类以及两种捕食者同时存在时的捕食者 - 猎物相互作用的显著影响。
