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Feeding of field collected tintinnid micro-zooplankton on natural food

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Abstract

The ingestion and filtration rates of seven species of field collected tintinnids, Tintinnidium fluviatile (Stein), Helicostomella subulata (Ehrenberg), Tintinnopsis parva (Merkle), Tintinnopsis beroidea (Stein), Tintinnopsis vasculum (Meunier), Tintinnopsis acuminata (Daday) and Stenosemella oliva (Meunier), feeding on natural particle suspensions were measured. Ingestion rates of 0.05×106 μm3 to 1.3×106 μm3 tintinnid-1 d-1 were observed with corresponding maximum filtration rates of 2 to 65 μl tintinnid-1 h-1. Filtration rates (among species) were independent of temperature and highest rates were associated with larger food particles. The filtration rates observed in this study were equal to rates reported for tintinnids feeding on cultured algae when natural food sizes equivalent to those of the cultured algae were considered, but were sometimes higher when the entire spectrum of natural food was considered. Size specific ingestion rates indicated maximum food removal from biomass peaks with filtration effort generally maximized on the largest sized food a species could handle. A strong negative relationship exists between weight specific ingestion and filtration rates and body weight. When tintinnid ingestion rates are considered, along with rates for other invertebrates, as a function of body weight, a log log linear relationship is found for body weights ranging from 0.8 ng to 1 kg. Tintinnids exhibited saturation feeding responses when presented with several concentrations of natural food up to in situ.

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  1. Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 11794, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    G. M. Capriulo

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  1. G. M. Capriulo
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Communicated by S. K. Pierce, College Park

Contribution no. 293 of the Marine Science Research Center

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Capriulo, G.M. Feeding of field collected tintinnid micro-zooplankton on natural food. Mar. Biol. 71, 73–86 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396994

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