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Gut evacuation rate and grazing impact of the krill Thysanoessa raschii and T. inermis

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Abstract

Gut evacuation rates and ingestion rates were measured for the krill Thysanoessa raschii and T. inermis in Godthåbsfjord, SW Greenland. Combined with biomass of the krill community, the grazing potential on phytoplankton along the fjord was estimated. Gut evacuation rates were 3.9 and 2.3 h−1 for T. raschii and T. inermis, respectively. Ingestion rates were 12.2 ± 7.5 µg C mg C−1 day−1 (n = 4) for T. inermis and 4.9 ± 3.2 µg C mg C−1 day−1 (n = 4) for T. raschii, corresponding to daily rations of 1.2 and 0.5 % body carbon day−1. Clearance experiments conducted in parallel to the gut evacuation experiment gave similar results for ingestion rates and daily rations. Krill biomass was highest in the central part of the fjord’s length, with T. raschii dominating. Community grazing rates from krill and copepods were comparable; however, their combined impact was low, estimated as <1 % of phytoplankton standing stock being removed per day during this late spring study.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from The marine climate monitoring program “MarineBasis-Nuuk,” part of the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (www.G-E-M.dk), Government of Greenland (IIKNN), the European Union Seventh Framework Programme project EURO-BASIN (ENV.2010.2.2.1-1) under Grant Agreement No. 264933 and the Greenland Climate Research Centre (project 6505 and 6514). We would like to thank the captain and crew on board RV Sanna for good cooperation and our colleagues who helped and supported the project. A special thanks to Professor Andrew Hirst for constructive advice and proofreading of the manuscript, and to anonymous referees for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Section of Marine Ecology and Oceanography, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergården 6, 2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark

    Frederik Wolff Teglhus, Mette Dalgaard Agersted & Torkel Gissel Nielsen

  2. Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Kivioq 2, PO Box 570, 3900, Nuuk, Greenland

    Kristine Engel Arendt & Torkel Gissel Nielsen

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  1. Frederik Wolff Teglhus
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  2. Mette Dalgaard Agersted
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  3. Kristine Engel Arendt
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  4. Torkel Gissel Nielsen
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Correspondence to Torkel Gissel Nielsen.

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Communicated by A. Atkinson.

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Teglhus, F.W., Agersted, M.D., Arendt, K.E. et al. Gut evacuation rate and grazing impact of the krill Thysanoessa raschii and T. inermis . Mar Biol 162, 169–180 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2573-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2573-9

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