Abstract
A strain of the seawater species Synchaeta littoralis, isolated from a Spanish Mediterranean coastal salt marsh, was cultured in the laboratory and fed with the alga Tetraselmis sp. The effect of three salinities (25 per thousand, 30 per thousand and 35 per thousand), two temperatures (20 degrees C and 25 degrees C) and two food levels (75,000 and 150,000 cells ml(-1)) on demographic parameters was studied using a life table approach. Average lifespan (LS) ranged between 4.0 and 7.3 days, net reproductive rate (R(0)) between 4.2 and 9.1 offspring per female, and intrinsic growth rate (r) between 0.50 and 0.95 day(-1). Salinity and temperature had a significant negative effect (***p<0.001) on both average lifespan (LS) and net reproductive rate (R(0)). Nevertheless, S. littoralis grew adequately at 35 per thousand (average value of r=0.67 day(-1)). Intrinsic growth rate also increased with temperature due to the lower value of the generation time (ranged between 2.3 and 3.8 days in all assays). Food level only had a significant negative effect (***p<0.001) on R(0). The experiments designed allowed us to know the basic demographic parameters of S. littoralis.
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