Journal
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
Volume 79, Issue 3, Pages 785-802Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fsac013
Keywords
Calanus finmarchicus; egg production; grazing pressure; lipid content; carbon; life history traits and trade-offs
Categories
Funding
- European Union [264933]
- Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme ECOTIP [869383]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study investigated the copepod Calanus finmarchicus in four Subpolar Basins and compared its life history traits in different basins. The study found that C. finmarchicus in different basins adopted different strategies and their egg and faecal pellet production rates were correlated with environmental parameters. Furthermore, the study compared the grazing pressure of copepod and other protozooplankton on phytoplankton and found that the grazing impact of protozoan grazers was higher than that of C. finmarchicus.
The copepod Calanus finmarchicus was investigated in four Subpolar Basins, Labrador, Irminger, Iceland, and Norwegian Seas, during spring, covering the time of ascent, grazing, and initiation of reproduction in the area. Lipid content, spawning activity, and stage composition and vital rates, such as egg and faecal pellet production were measured and linked to environmental parameters. Specific egg- and faecal pellet production rates varied with diatom biomass and were negatively correlated with temperature. Comparison of the various biological indicators revealed different life history traits C. finmarchicus has adopted in the different basins. In Labrador Sea, the females have invested in large eggs compared to the remaining basins. Labrador and Irminger Sea C. finmarchicus invest in size that we propose to be adaptation to cope with warmer overwintering habitats resulting in larger potential lipid storage capacity, while the Iceland and Norwegian Sea females can invest their remaining lipid storage in spring to fuel lipid-driven egg production. Grazing pressure on the phytoplankton community was estimated and compared between copepod and two dominating groups of protozooplankton; ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates. Despite approximately the same biomass in the upper 100 m, the grazing impact of the protozoan grazers was an order of magnitude higher than the C. finmarchicus dominated mesozooplankton. This illustrates the importance to also include the smallest grazers when studying the spring bloom in high latitude marine ecosystems if the fate of the primary production should be fully understood.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available