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Detritus as food for estuarine copepods

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Abstract

A variety of detrital foods derived from marsh plants were fed to the copepods Eurycemora affinis and Scottolana canadensis. The copepods did not survive well or produce eggs when feeding on detritus with smaller amounts of microbiota, but did well when a rich and abundant microbiota was present. Ciliated protozoans appear to be particularly important in the transfer of detrital energy to copepods.

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Author notes

  1. R. P. Harris

    Present address: The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, PL1 2PB, Plymouth, England

  2. J. F. Ustach

    Present address: Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University, 27607, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

  3. D. A. Flemer

    Present address: Department of the Interior, Office of Biological Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 20240, Washington, D.C., USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland, Solomons, Maryland, USA

    D. R. Heinle, R. P. Harris, J. F. Ustach & D. A. Flemer

Authors
  1. D. R. Heinle
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  2. R. P. Harris
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  3. J. F. Ustach
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  4. D. A. Flemer
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Additional information

Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark

Contribution No. 703, Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, University of Maryland.

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Heinle, D.R., Harris, R.P., Ustach, J.F. et al. Detritus as food for estuarine copepods. Mar. Biol. 40, 341–353 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00395727

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