Effects of Food Quality and Temperature on life History Traits of Moina macrocopa Reared in Laboratory

Life table experiments were performed in order to examine the effects of food quality on Moina macrocopa fed with four kinds of algal foods, Botryococcus sp., Scenedesmus subspicatus, Selenastrum capricornutum, and Chlorella sp., at $20^{\circ}C$ . The temperature effects on M. macrocopa were also assessed, feeding Chlorella at $17^{\circ}C$,$20^{\circ}C$,$25^{\circ}C$, and a combination of $28^{\circ}C$ (light) and $25^{\circ}C$ (dark). The cartilaginous Botryococcs cells were Inappropriate food for Moina. Among the foods tested, Chlorella was the food of the best quality in all accounts of life history traits. Moina grown on Chlorella showed higher net reproductive rate ($R_0$), longer mean and maximum longevities, earlier mean age at maturity, longer mean carapace length at maturity, larger mean clutch size, and shorter mean time interval between clutch productions than those grown on Selenastrum and Scenedesmus. An optimal temperature for Moina was $20^{\circ}C$ . When Moina were grown on Chlorella at $20^{\circ}C$, they showed the highest r, the highest $R_0$, the shortest T, the longest mean longevity, the earliest mean age at maturity, the longest mean carapace length at maturity, and the largest mean clutch size. The results of life table experiments showed that the individual and population growth patterns were much more affected by low temperature $17^{\circ}C$, than by high temperature ($\geq 20^{\circ}C$). In the optimal condition, the r value was very high, 5.1 in $d^{-1}$. In conclusion, the food quality and the temperature are the most important factors to govern the size and continuity of Moina population, by which the individual growth rates and reproductivity of members in the population can be controlled to survive in their environment such as small and temporary water bodies in nature.