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Flexible feeding patterns of copepod Centropages tenuiremis in fluctuating conditions: a possible survival strategy to cope with disturbance

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Abstract

Centropages tenuiremis is a species with a wide distribution range in disturbed coastal waters. However, due to a lack of dietary information, it remains unclear as to how they maintain such dominance in fluctuating conditions. In this study, C. tenuiremis was collected from the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant both in inlet and outfall regions at 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 on April 27, 2011 and their in situ diet was analyzed using a PCR protocol targeting 18S ribosomal genes. Thirty-four species of prey organisms were identified totally, including Dinophyta, Baciliariophyta, Viridiplantae, Rhizaria, Apicomplexa, Chordata, Mollusca, Arthropoda and Fungi, indicating an obvious omnivorous feeding habit of C. tenuiremis. Centropages tenuiremis obviously exhibited spatial and temporal variations in diet composition. More plant prey (land plants and phytoplankton) were consumed in the morning (~50%), while more animal prey (metazoans and protozoans) were ingested at midday and night (60%–70%). Furthermore, a more diverse diet was detected in the outfall region (10–11 taxa), where the temperatures were relatively higher and more fluctuating, than in the control region (5–10 taxa). This finding indicated that C. tenuiremis could potentially expand its food spectrum under stressful condition. Specifically, C. tenuiremis exhibited phytoplankton preference (58.62%–67.64%) in the outfall region with a lower omnivory index (0.27–0.35) than in the control region (0.51–0.95). However, phytoplankton density was lower than that in the control region, suggesting a possible herbivorous tendency of C. tenuiremis under elevated temperatures to balance the energy acquirement and feeding effort. The flexible food choices of C. tenuiremis observed here could effectively buffer environmental fluctuations and might be an important survival strategy in coastal ecosystems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Cuilian Xu, Simin Hu, Zhiling Guo, Tao Li, Hui Huang & Sheng Liu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Cuilian Xu & Zhiling Guo

  3. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Zhiling Guo

  4. Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China

    Tao Li & Hui Huang

  5. Shenzhen Key Laboratory for the Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity, Research Centre for the Oceans and Human Health, City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Leo Lai Chan

  6. State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Leo Lai Chan

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  1. Cuilian Xu
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  2. Simin Hu
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  3. Zhiling Guo
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  4. Tao Li
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  5. Hui Huang
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  7. Sheng Liu
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Correspondence to Sheng Liu.

Additional information

Foundation item: The Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under contract No. XDA13020100; the National Key Research and Development Project of China under contract No. 2016YFC0502800; the Science and Technology Planning Projects of Guangdong Province, China under contract Nos 2015A020216013 and 2017B030314052.

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Xu, C., Hu, S., Guo, Z. et al. Flexible feeding patterns of copepod Centropages tenuiremis in fluctuating conditions: a possible survival strategy to cope with disturbance. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 39, 59–68 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-020-1553-9

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