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Feeding selectivity of calanoid copepods on phytoplankton in Jangmok Bay, south coast of Korea

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Abstract

Grazing impacts of calanoid copepods on size-fractionated phytoplankton biomass [chlorophyll (Chl)-a] were measured in Jangmok Bay, Geoje Island, Korea, monthly from November 2004 to October 2005. The ingestion rate of calanoid copepods on total phytoplankton biomass ranged between 1 and 215 ng Chl-a copepod−1 day−1 during bottle incubations. Results indicated that microphytoplankton (> 20 μm) was the primary food source for calanoid copepods in grazing experiments on 3 phytoplankton size categories (< 3 μm, 3–20 μm, and > 20 μm). The ingestion rate on microphytoplankton showed a significant increase (r = 0.93, p < 0.01) with Chl-a concentration. Nanophytoplankton (3–20 μm) showed a negative ingestion rate from June 2005 to October 2005, but the reason is not completely understood. Calanoid copepods were unable to feed efficiently on picophytoplankton (< 3 μm) due to unfavorable size. Calanoid copepods removed between 0.1% and 27.7% (average, 3.6 ± 15.8%) of the phytoplankton biomass daily during grazing experiments. Grazing pressure was high in winter and early spring (January–March: 15.6–27.7%), while low in summer (June–August: −33.1–0.0%) and autumn (September–November: −1.4–5.1%). Results suggest that calanoid copepods play an important role in controlling the biomass and size structure of phytoplankton in winter and early spring.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South Sea Research Institute, KORDI, Geoje, 656-830, Korea

    Min-Chul Jang & Kyoungsoon Shin

  2. Division of Earth Environmental System, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea

    Tongsup Lee

  3. Division of Marine Environment & Bioscience, Korea Maritime University, Busan, 606-791, Korea

    Il Noh

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  1. Min-Chul Jang
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  2. Kyoungsoon Shin
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  3. Tongsup Lee
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  4. Il Noh
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Correspondence to Kyoungsoon Shin.

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Jang, MC., Shin, K., Lee, T. et al. Feeding selectivity of calanoid copepods on phytoplankton in Jangmok Bay, south coast of Korea. Ocean Sci. J. 45, 101–111 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-010-0009-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-010-0009-0

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