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Seasonal change in body length of important small copepods and relationship with environmental factors in Jiaozhou Bay, China

  • Biology
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Abstract

Differences among species in prosome length and in species’ response to environmental factors do exist. Therefore, it is useful to examine prosome length for different copepod species in variable environments. Seasonal variations in prosome length of four small copepods and their copepodite stages in the Jiaozhou Bay were compared and the relative influence of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll concentration were examined. Two peaks were found in the mean prosome length of Paracalanus parvus (in early winter and May). For Acartia bifilosa, the maximum values of all copepodites occurred mainly from February to April, and decreased to the bottom in July. Prosome length of Acartia pacifica peaked when it first appeared in June, then reached to the minimum in July. Parvocalanus crassirostris only appeared from late summer to autumn and the mean prosome length showed no clear changes. Correlations of adult prosome length with environmental factors were evaluated. For the four species, temperature was negatively correlated to prosome length except for P. crassirostris. But the different species varied markedly in their responds to temperature. A. bifilosa showed a more definite trend of size variation with temperature than P. parvus and A. pacifica. Correlations of prosome length with salinity were significantly positive for almost all the small copepods. The relationship between chlorophyll concentration and prosome length was complicated for these copepods, but for P. parvus, chlorophyll concentration was also an important affecting factor. Furthermore, investigation needs to be done on food quality for some copepod. These results are essential to estimate the biomass and the production, and to understand these small copepods’ population dynamics in this human-affected bay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Xiaohong Sun  (孙晓红), Song Sun  (孙松), Chaolun Li  (李超伦) & Minxiao Wang  (王敏晓)

  2. Ocean College, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, 264209, China

    Xiaohong Sun  (孙晓红)

  3. Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Song Sun  (孙松)

Authors
  1. Xiaohong Sun  (孙晓红)
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  2. Song Sun  (孙松)
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  3. Chaolun Li  (李超伦)
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  4. Minxiao Wang  (王敏晓)
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Correspondence to Song Sun  (孙松).

Additional information

Supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-YW-213-3), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2006CB400606), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40631008)

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Sun, X., Sun, S., Li, C. et al. Seasonal change in body length of important small copepods and relationship with environmental factors in Jiaozhou Bay, China. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 30, 404–409 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-012-1140-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-012-1140-9

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