Rotifers play a major role in freshwater ecosystems, their abundance and ubiquitous occurrence rank them as one of the most basic building blocks of aquatic foodwebs. Within these webs, they are not only numerous but occupy a diversity of trophic levels. Currently the state of rotifer taxonomy suffers in comparison to the ecological importance of these organisms. Rotifer taxonomy in the classical sense has been characterized as incomplete and confused, while the modern concepts and techniques of molecular systematics have just begun to be applied to the phylum. Furthermore, the two styles need to be integrated if rotifer taxonomy is to be brought into the modern era. We feel that the current state of rotifer systematics is compromising the effectiveness of studies undertaken in the fields of aquatic ecology, foodwebs, ecotoxicology, and related disciplines. Until the Rotifera are better understood taxonomically and until this knowledge is more accessible to workers in related fields, these fields will suffer for the lack of certainty of the identity among their study subjects. To remedy this situation, we propose a project consisting of three main emphases, which will begin the process of providing a modern understanding of rotifer taxonomy, and will provide a stable base from which to expand our inquiries in the future: (1) development of a Rotifer Systematic Database using visualization technologies, and available via the Internet, (2) development and revision of select monogonont rotifers of the U.S., and (3) training a new generation of taxonomists while simultaneously improving our own taxonomic expertise.





project overview   rotifer information   rotifer anatomy   phylogeny
biogeography   new species   references   systematic database