Background: The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is the predominant model organism in biological research, being used by a huge number of laboratories worldwide. Many researchers have evaluated life-history traits of C. elegans in investigations covering quite different aspects such as ecotoxicology, inbreeding depression and heterosis, dietary restriction/supplement, mutations, and ageing. Such traits include juvenile growth rates, age at sexual maturity, adult body size, agespecific fecundity/mortality, total reproduction, mean and maximum lifespan, and intrinsic population growth rates. However, we found that in life-cycle experiments care is needed regarding protocol design. Here, we test a recently developed method that overcomes some problems associated with traditional cultivation techniques. In this fast and yet precise approach, single individuals are maintained within hanging drops of semi-fluid culture medium, allowing the simultaneous investigation of various life-history traits at any desired degree of accuracy. Here, the life cycles of wild-type C. elegans strains N2 (Bristol, UK) and MY6 (Münster, Germany) were compared at 20°C with 5 × 10 9 Escherichia coli ml -1 as food source.

The life cycle and somatic growth of two bacterivorous nematodes, Panagrolaimus sp. and Poikilolaimus sp., isolated from chemoautotrophic microbial mats in Movile Cave, Romania, were studied in monoxenic cultures at 20°C with Escherichia coli as the food source. A method is described that allows simultaneous investigation of the somatic growth pattern, age-specific fecundity, and age-specific mortality of single individuals with high accuracy. Somatic growth curves of the species are presented. During juvenile development, both species showed a strict linear increase in body length, whereas body weight increased exponentially. Growth was continuous without lag phases. The relationships between fresh weight, W (μg), and body length, L (mm), were W = 1.6439L2.7672 for Poikilolaimus sp. and W = 0.2085L4.0915 for Panagrolaimus sp. Life tables and fecundity schedules for the two species are presented. In addition, demographic parameters were calculated. For Panagrolaimus, the intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm), calculated according to the Lotka equation, was 0.309, the net reproductive rate (R0) 64, the mean generation time (T) 13.8 days and the minimum generation time (Tmin) 9.5 days. The corresponding values for Poikilolaimus were rm = 0.165, R0 = 108, T = 26.2 and Tmin = 19.5. Panagrolaimus produced fewer progeny than Poikilolaimus during its life but exhibited faster population growth due to its faster maturation. It showed a distinct post-reproductive period, whereas Poikilolaimus remained fertile until death.

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The potential of copepods as predators of free-living nematodes was tested by presenting Diacyclops bicuspidatus, a common holarctic cyclopoid copepod, with Panagrolaimus sp. as prey in the laboratory. Diacyclops bicuspidatus readily fed on nematodes of all size classes, including prey longer than itself. No size preference was observed. Handling times varied between a few seconds and several minutes, depending on the size of the prey. At different prey densities, the feeding rates of D. bicuspidatus followed a type II functional response. Starved D. bicuspidatus consumed up to 45.1 nematodes in 2 h, equivalent to 43.5% of the copepod's body mass. Indications that nematophagous nutrition is common among freshwater copepods are discussed.

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