Growth, Reproduction, and Mortality of Daphnia pulex Leydig: Life at Low Food

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Abstract
Food dependence in growth, development, reproduction and survivorship are important components in modelling the interaction between an organism and its food supply, and may help to explain demographic patterns observed in laboratory and field populations. In the field, the freshwater zooplankter Daphnia appears to live for extended periods at very low food levels. While Daphnia is one of the most well-studied organisms, there are few data on the performance of individuals receiving food supplies that resemble field levels. We present results from experiments on a single clone of D. pulex Leydig that illustrate the food dependence in growth, development, reproduction, and survivorship. These results show that allocation among competing processes of reproduction and growth can be modified by the pattern of food supply and that food dependence in maturation delays provide support for the hypothesis that cycles in the abundance of Daphnia field populations are ''single-generation'' cycles.

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