Rotifer

=Rotifer =


 * LITZ, GABRIELLA ||
 * FINKLE, SAMARA ||
 * DWYER, HELEN ||
 * ALBRIGHT, HAROLD ||
 * MEYER, CEAIRA ||
 * MINNITTI, CHRISTINE ||
 * GORDON, SKYLAR ||
 * SCHLANSKER, KELLY ||

Basic Structure

 * Rotifers are very small
 * They are multi-celled organisms
 * There is a crown of hair-like cilia at the front of a rotifer's body
 * Rotifers have bilateral symetry are a lot of different shapes. The body of a rotifer is divided into a head, trunk, and foot, and is cylindrical. There is a cuticle, which may be thick and rough, giving the animal a cube shape or flexible shape, giving the animal a small shape, such rotifers are called loricate and illoricate. Rigid cuticles often have of a lot of plates, and may have spines or ridges.


 * You can see through a rotifer's body
 * Rotifers have sensitive eyes
 * The male rotifer is less common than the female
 * Rotifers live in both freshwater and saltwater
 * You can find rotifers everywhere
 * ==Approximate size of phylum (total # of species)==
 * There are 2000 species throughout the world and the Range in size is around 3mm in length. Some of those species are 
 * freshwater inhabitants, marine, terrestrial, epizoic, parasitic, and bethic.
 * **Classes of Animals included in the Phylum**
 * Parasitic Rotifers (also known as seisonidea), Bdelloid Rotifers and Monogonontid Rotifers
 * Parasitic Rotifers (also known as seisonidea), Bdelloid Rotifers and Monogonontid Rotifers


 * == Phylogenetic Tree of Classes included in your phylum ==
 * Rotifers are evolutionarily related to Acanthocephalans
 * in the Rotifer phylum, there are different classes within it. There is Bdelloidea, Monogononta, Eurotatoria and Seisonidea
 * Like Rotifers, they are all found in mostly freshwater.
 * Their Domain is Eukaryota, and their Kingdom is Animalia.

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 * == Color Pictures and Scientific Species Names of 5 Examples of Phylum ==
 * [[image:rotifer.gif width="263" height="308"]](
 * [[image:rotifer_2.gif width="315" height="503"]]( []
 * [[image:rotifer_4.jpg width="230" height="272"]] ([])
 * [[image:rotifer_5.jpg width="346" height="211"]]([])
 * == Geographic Distribution ==
 * == Feeding Mechanisms ==
 * == Geographic Distribution ==
 * == Feeding Mechanisms ==


 * Rotifers eat protists, bits of vegetation, and microscopic animals, such as young larvae, which they suck into their mouths with the vortex generated by their cilia. Their jaws are hard and their pharynx is muscular, allowing them to grind up their food
 * Rotifers eat algae, single celled //organisms//, debris, //bacteria// and other //zooplankton//
 * Different species have different feeding methods. Filterers feed by taking in relatively large volumes of water using their trophi to filter out the food particles. Graspers will hold on to their food with their corona and chew it with their trophi. The last group, the capturers, will trap their food using their corona and then chew it up
 * Rotifers tend to be primarily //omnivorous//, so they eat both plant and animal material


 * == Reproductive Mechanisms ==
 * Mostly made up of females
 * Females produce eggs, which are diploid, meaning they do not need to be fertilized be a male to develop
 * parthogenesis
 * Some eggs are haploid meaning there are both male and female offspring
 * Develop parthogenetically within female parent
 * Males don't live for long and only live to fertilize the female
 * Diploid zygotes that become resting eggs become capable of surviving in the harsh enviorment until conditions improv
 * Males are smaller (size)
 * Females have two germovitellaria
 * Worm-like body, elongate and composed of 16 telescoping rings
 * Mastax is adapted for grinding


 * Rotifers include spieces that reproduce in two different ways.
 * Some reproduces be apomictic female parthogenesis
 * Other speices which which alternate this asexual with normal sexual reproduction
 * The transfer between sexual and asexual is determind by the enviorment


 * == Ecological Niche (as a member of the environment) ==
 * food for larger organisms
 * predator of protists/bacteria
 * predator of protists/bacteria


 * Bullet your responses! **

** Include references!!!! **
[|www.angelfire.com]. “Rotifers”. Updated: 2011. February 15 2011. [] [|www.answers.encyclopedia.com]. “What do rotifers eat?” Answers Encyclopedia. HighBeam™ Research, Inc. 2011 [] Baqui, Aisha. "Introduction to the Rotifera." Introduction to the Rotifera. 1 May 2000. Web. 16 Feb 2011. []. Birky, C. William Jr and John J. Gilbert. “Pathernogenesis in Rotifers: Control of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction”. oxfordjournals.org. [] Fox, Richard. “Invertebrate Anatomy Online”. 2001. [] Garey, James R. "The Evolutionary Relationships of Rotifers and Acanthocephalans ." N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb 2011. [|http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~garey/rotacanth.html]. Howey, Richard L. “Welcome to the Wonderfully Werid World of Rotifers”. 1999. @http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov99/rotih.html [|http://jrank.org]. “Rotifers: Rotifera - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, No Common Name (asplanchna Priodonta): Species Accounts, No Common Name (seison Nebaliae): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET, ROTIFERS AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATION STAT”. Net Industries. 2011. [] Rotifers "Rotifers.". Web. 16 Feb 2011. []. seattleu.edu. “Rotifer Reproduction”. [] W., Candice. “Facts about Rotifers, the Freshwater and Saltwater Creatures.” [|www.associatedcontent.com]. February 14 2011. [] ZipCodeZoo.com. "Rotifers (Phylum).” BayScienceFoundation Inc., 26 April 2010. Web. 16 Feb 2011. [|http://zipcodezoo.com/K][|ey/Animalia/Rotifera_Phylum.asp].