Abstract
We measured ingestion rates of Calanoides acutus on different microbial components of the Gerlache Strait (GE) and Bellingshausen Sea (BE) waters during December 2002. At the time of the study the abundance of both zooplankton (42–133 ind m−3) and phytoplankton (0.76–1.5 µg chlorophyll a l−1) were low, indicating that the spring phytoplankton bloom was still not fully developed. C. acutus showed high clearance rates along the study (up to 432 ml ind−1 day−1), selecting for large motile organisms such as ciliates and the dinoflagellate Gyrodinium spp., although their feeding impact was always <0.1% of the standing stock of any of their prey. The total daily rations were low (∼2% body carbon per day), mostly the result of phytoplankton consumption (except for station GE3 in which heterotrophic flagellates contributed to 73% of the diet), and barely enough to cover metabolic demands. Based on the relationship between oxygen (carbon) consumption and ammonia excretion (considered as indicative of the metabolic substrate) it seems that standard metabolic demands were supplied, apart from the diet, by the use of their own non-structural proteins, whereas the remaining reserve-lipids were used to produce eggs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alcaraz M, Saiz E, Fernandez JA, Trepat I, Figueiras F, Calbet A, Bautista B (1998) Antarctic zooplankton metabolism: carbon requirements and ammonium excretion of salps and crustacean zooplankton in the vicinity of the Bransfield Strait during January 1994. J Mar Syst 17:347–359
Atkinson A (1991) Life cycles of Calanoides acutus, Calanus simillimus and Rhinclanus gigas (Copepoda: Calanoida) within the Scotia Sea. Mar Biol 109:79–91
Atkinson A (1994) Diets and feeding selectivity among the epipelagic copepod community near South Georgia in summer. Polar Biol 14:551–560
Atkinson A (1995) Omnivory and feeding selectivity in five copepod species during spring in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica. ICES J Mar Sci 52:385–396
Atkinson A (1998) Life cycle strategies of epipelagic copepods in the Southern Ocean. J Mar Syst 15:289–311
Atkinson A, Shreeve RS (1995) Response of the copepod community to a spring bloom in the Bellingshausen Sea. Deep Sea Res II 42:1291–1311
Atkinson A, Shreeve RS, Pakhomov EA, Priddle J, Blight SP, Ward P (1996) Zooplankton response to a phytoplankton bloom near South Georgia, Antarctica. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 144:195–210
Atkinson A, Schnack-Schiel SB, Ward P, Marin V (1997) Regional differences in the life cycle of Calanoides acutus (Copepoda: Calanoida) within the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 150:99–111
Berggreen U, Hansen B, Kiørboe T (1988) Food size spectra ingestion and growth of the copepod Acartia tonsa during development: implications for determination of copepod production. Mar Biol 99:341–352
Børsheim KY, Bratbak G (1987) Cell volume to cell carbon conversion factors for a bacterivorous Monas sp. enriched from seawater. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 36:171–175
Broglio E, Jonasdottir SH, Calbet A, Jakobsen HH, Saiz E (2003) Effect of heterotrophic versus autotrophic food on feeding and reproduction of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa: relationship with prey fatty acid composition. Aquat Microb Ecol 31:267–278
Cabal JA, Alvarez Marqués F, Acuña JL, Quevedo M, González Quirós R, Huskin I, Fernández D, del Valle CR, Anadón R (2002) Mesozooplankton distribution and grazing during the productive season in the Northwest Antarctic Peninsula (FRUELA cruises). Deep Sea Res II 49:869–882
Calbet A (2001) Mesozooplankton grazing impact on primary production: a global comparative analysis. Limnol Oceanogr 46:1824–1830
Calbet A, Garrido S, Saiz E, Alcaraz A, Duarte CM (2001) Annual zooplankton succession in coastal NW Mediterranean waters: the importance of the smaller size fractions. J Plankt Res 23:319–331
Calbet A, Alcaraz M, Atienza D, Broglio E, Vaqué D (2005) Zooplankton biomass distribution patterns along the western Antartic Peninsula (December 2002). J Plankt Res (in press)
Cowles TJ, Olson RJ, Chisholm SW (1988) Food selection by copepods: discrimination on the basis of food quality. Mar Biol 100:41–49
DeMott WR (1986) The role of taste in food selection by freshwater zooplankton. Oecologia 69:334–340
Fransz HG, Gonzalez SR (1997) Latitudinal metazoan plankton zones in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current along 6 degree W during austral spring 1992. Deep Sea Res II 44:395–414
Frost BW (1972) Effects of size and concentration of food particles on the feeding behavior of the marine planktonic copepod Calanus pacificus. Limnol Oceanogr 17:805–815
Gallienne CP, Robins DB (2001) Is Oithona the most important copepod in the world’s oceans?. J Plankt Res 23:1421–1432
Hansen HP, Koroleff F (1999) Determination of nutrients. In: Grasshoff K, Kremling K, Ehrhardt M (eds) Methods of seawater analysis. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim pp 159–228
Hewes CD, Sakshaug E, Reid FMH, Holm-Hansen O (1990) Microbial autotrophic and heterotrophic eucaryotes in Antarctic waters: relationships between biomass and chlorophyll, adenosine triphosphate and particulate organic carbon. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 63:27–35
Hopkins TL (1971) Zooplankton standing crop in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. Ant Res Ser 17:347–362
Hopkins TL, Lancraft TM, Torres JJ, Donnelly J (1993) Community structure and trophic ecology of zooplankton in the Scotia Sea marginal ice zone in winter (1988). Deep Sea Res 40:81–105
Huntley M, Escritor F (1991) Dynamics of Calanoides acutus (Copepoda: Calanoida) in Antarctic coastal waters. Deep Sea Res 38:1145–1167
Ikeda T, Mitchell AW (1982) Oxygen uptake, ammonia excretion and phosphate excretion by krill and other Antarctic zooplankton in relation to their body size and chemical composition. Mar Biol 71:283–298
Ikeda T, Kanno Y, Ozaki K, Shinada A (2001) Metabolic rates of epipelagic marine copepods as a function of body mass and temperature. Mar Biol 139:587–596
Jónasdóttir SH, Kiørboe T (1996) Copepod recruitment and food composition: do diatoms affect hatching success? Mar Biol 125:743–750
Jonsson PR, Tiselius P (1990) Feeding behaviour, prey detection and capture efficiency of the copepod Acartia tonsa feeding on planktonic ciliates. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 60:35–44
Kiørboe T, Saiz E, Viitasalo M (1996) Prey switching behaviour in the planktonic copepod Acartia tonsa. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 143:65–75
Klein Breteler WCM, Schogt N, Baas M, Schouten S, Kraay GW (1999) Trophic upgrading of food quality by protozoans enhancing copepod growth: role of essential lipids. Mar Biol 135:191–198
Le Borgne RP (1979) Influence of duration of incubation on zooplankton respiration and excretion results. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 37:127–137
Lopez MDG, Huntley ME, Lovette JT (1993) Calanoides acutus in Gerlache Strait, Antarctica. 1. Distribution of late copepodite stages and reproduction during spring. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 100:153–165
Mayzaud P (1976) Respiration and nitrogen excretion of zooplankton. IV. The influence of starvation on the metabolism and the biochemical composition of some species. Mar Biol 37:47–58
Mayzaud P, Razouls S, Errhif A, Tirelli V, Labat JP (2002a) Feeding, respiration and egg production rates of copepods during austral spring in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean: role of the zooplankton community in carbon transformation. Deep Sea Res 49:1027–1048
Mayzaud P, Tirelli V, Errhif A, Labat JP, Razouls S, Perissinotto R (2002b) Carbon intake by zooplankton. Importance and role of zooplankton grazing in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Deep Sea Res II 49:3169–3187
Menden-Deuer S, Lessard EJ (2000) Carbon to volume relationships for dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protist plankton. Limnol Oceanogr 45:569–579
Nejstgaard JC, Naustvoll LJ, Sazhin A (2001) Correcting for underestimation of microzooplankton grazing in bottle incubation experiments with mesozooplankton. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 221:59–75
Pakhomov EA, Verheye HM, Atkinson A, Laubscher RK, Taunton-Clark J (1997) Structure and grazing impact of the mesozooplankton community during late summer 1994 near South Georgia, Antarctica. Polar Biol 18:180–192
Parsons TR, Maita Y, Lalli CM (1984) A manual of chemical and biological methods for sea water analysis. Pergamon, Oxford
Pasternak AF, SchnackSchiel SB (2001) Feeding patterns of dominant Antarctic copepods: an interplay of diapause, selectivity, and availability of food. Hydrobiologia 453:25–36
Putt M, Stoecker DK (1989) An experimentally determined carbon: volume ratio for marine “oligotrichous” ciliates from estuarine and coastal waters. Limnol Oceanogr 34:1097–1103
Rodriguez F, Varela M, Zapata M (2002) Phytoplankton assemblages in the Gerlache and Bransfield Straits (Antartic Peninsula) determined by light microscopy and CHEMTAX analysis of HPLC pigment data. Deep Sea Res II 49:723–747
Sieracki ME, Johnson PB, Sieburth JMcN (1985) Detection, enumeration and sizing of planktonic bacteria by image analyzed epifluorescence microscopy. Appl Environ Microbiol 49:799–810
Rollwagen Bollens GC, Penry DL (2003) Feeding dynamics of Acartia spp copepods in a large, temperate estuary (San Francisco Bay, CA). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 257:139–158
Schnack-Schiel SB, Hagen W, Mizdalski E (1991) Seasonal comparison of Calanoides acutus and Calanus propinquus (Copepoda: Calanoida) in the southeastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 70:17–27
Skjoldal HR, Bamsted U, LKlinen J, Laing A (1984) Changes with time after capture in the metabolic activity of the carnivorous copepod Euchaeta norvegica Boeck. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 83:195–210
Stoecker DK, Capuzzo JM (1990) Predation on protozoa: its importance to zooplankton. J Plankt Res 12:891–908
Strickland JDH, Parsons TR (1972) A practical handbook of seawater analysis. Bull Fish Res Board Can 167:310
Thor P (2003) Elevated respiration rates of the neritic copepod Acartia tonsa during recovery from starvation. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 283:133–143
Urban-Rich J, Dagg M, Peterson J (2001) Copepod grazing on phytoplankton in the Pacific sector of the Antarctic Polar Front. Deep Sea Res II 48:4223–4246
Vaqué D, Guixa-Boixereu N, Gasol JM, Pedrós-Alió C (2002) Distribution of microbial biomass and importance of protists in regulating prokaryotic assemblages in three areas close to the Antarctic Peninsula in spring and summer 1995/96. Deep Sea Res II 49:847–867
Verity PG (1985) Grazing, respiration, excretion and growth rates of tintinnids. Limnol Oceanogr 30:1268–1282
Ward P, Grant S, Brandon M, Siegel V, Sushin V, Loeb V, Griffiths H (2004) Mesozooplankton community structure in the Scotia Sea during the CCAMLR 2000 survey: January–February 2000. Deep Sea Res II 51:1351–1367
Ward P, Shreeve RS, Atkinson A, Korb R, Whitehouse MJ Thorpe S, Pond D, Cunningham N. (2005) Plankton community structure and variability in the Scotia Sea: austral summer 2003. Mar Ecol Prog Ser (in press)
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the crew of the R/V Hespérides and the colleagues that helped us with the sampling during the cruise. We also thank M. Loli, V. Ignacio and L. Arin for their help on the analysis of microscope samples, and M. Segura for conducting the nutrient analyses. This work was funded by grant REN2001-0588/ANT to D.V., grant CTM2004-02575/MAR and program Ramón y Cajal from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain to A.C., and PhD fellowships to E.B. and D.A. from the same Ministry.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Calbet, A., Atienza, D., Broglio, E. et al. Trophic ecology of Calanoides acutus in Gerlache Strait and Bellingshausen Sea waters (Antarctica, December 2002). Polar Biol 29, 510–518 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0082-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0082-5