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1.
Abstract. In situ feeding habits of the cyclopoid copepods Oncaea venusta, Corycaeus amazonicus, Oithona plumifera , and O. simplex were investigated by scanning electron microscope examination of fecal pellets, the contents of which reflected copepod gut contents upon capture. Peilet contents were compared with assemblages of phytoplankton present in surface waters at times of copepod collection. All samples were from the northern Gulf of Mexico. All four copepods fed upon phytoplankton and O. venusta also ingested other crustaceans. Dominant components of fecal pellets generally did not mirror those of available phytoplankton assemblages. In some cases, O. venusta ingested primarily larger-sized particles even when these were not most abundant, and in other cases it did not ingest large cells even when they were present in bloom concentrations. The presence of small (< 2–5 urn diameter) centric diatoms in O. venusta pellets suggests the possibility of feeding by mechanisms other than suspension or raptorial feeding. Limited observations suggest that C. amazonicus and O. plumifera may feed raptorially on larger particles even when these are not particularly abundant, and that the small O. simplex (< 500 nm total length) feeds mainly upon nanoplankton. It appears that cyclopoid feeding mechanisms are complex, and likely more so than those of many calanoids.  相似文献   

2.
Abstract. The in situ diet of the copepod Undinula vulgaris was examined by comparing contents of fecal pellets produced on natural food with assemblages of available phytoplankton. Samples were collected in continental shelf waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. U. vulgaris was an indiscrimi-nant suspension feeder, ingesting a broad size, shape, and taxonomic array of phytoplankters. Contents of fecal pellets generally matched those of available phytoplankton assemblages. The presence within the same fecal pellets of remains of microplankters ranging over two orders of magnitude in longest dimension suggests that feeding is nonselective, and that U. vulgaris may rapidly switch between several modes of feeding.  相似文献   

3.
Abstract. The diet of the copepod Anomalocera ornata was examined by comparing contents of fecal pellets produced on natural diets with assemblages of available phytoplankton. Samples were collected in continental shelf and slope waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. A wide size and taxonomic array of phytoplankters was ingested, and remains of phytoplankton taxa in fecal pellets reflected the composition of phytoplankton assemblages in the water. Absence of crustacean remains in fecal pellets suggests that A. ornata feeds primarily as an opportunistic grazer.  相似文献   

4.
In the present study we examine factors that affect the downward flux of biogenic carbon in the NE subarctic Pacific, one of the important high-nutrient-low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions in the open ocean. We focus on the role of mesozooplankton, since their seasonal peaks in biomass and growth are in phase with the seasonal variations in the downward POC fluxes, whereas phytoplankton biomass is more-or-less uniform year-round. The relative importance of mesozooplankton and algal sinking was examined using the pigment composition of material accumulated in short-term free-drifting sediment traps positioned just below the upper stratified surface layer (ca. 100–200 m). This was compared with the phytoplankton composition in the surface waters, and with the grazing activity (gut pigments and fecal pellet production rates) of the most abundant large copepods. We also examined whether the relationships between the downward flux of carbon and pelagic processes were similar in the coastal, continental margin and offshore HNLC regions of the NE subarctic Pacific, the latter represented by Ocean Station Papa (OSP).Our results show that grazing had a variable impact on the downward flux of biogenic carbon. Carbon-transformed pheopigments (particularly pyropheophorbide a, frequently associated with copepod grazing) represented up to 13% of the total downward POC flux inshore (in May 1996) and 8–9% at OSP in May and February 1996, respectively. This flux of pheopigments was accompanied by a large potential input of fecal pellets from large copepods (as estimated from defecation rates of freshly collected animals) only in May 1996 at OSP, suggesting that pheopigments came from other sources (other herbivores, senescing algae) in February. The larger flux of pheopigments in May was probably related to the abundance of mesozooplankton at that time of the year. During summer (August 1996), both the flux of pheopigments and the potential input of fecal pellets from large copepods were negligible at OSP, consistent with more intense pelagic recycling reported in other studies. Inshore, the flux of carbon-transformed pheopigments was slightly higher than at OSP, and its contribution to the downward POC flux in May 1996 was twice that in August 1996. In contrast, the potential input of feces carbon was higher in August than in May 1996, again suggesting other sources for pheopigments found in the traps. The contribution of sinking phytoplankton to the downward biogenic flux was negligible in summer, when prymnesiophytes (indicated by the presence of 19′-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin) and pelagophytes (19′-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin-containing) dominated in surface offshore waters. The contribution of sinking algae was maximal (9%) in winter (February 1996) at OSP, when fucoxanthin (mainly a diatom marker) dominated the carotenoid composition in the traps and when the abundance of diatoms in surface waters showed its seasonal maximum for this station. Inshore, the low contribution of diatoms (fucoxanthin) to the sinking fluxes may have resulted from inadequate sampling (i.e. the spring bloom may have been missed).Overall, we conclude that: (a) large copepods significantly influenced the downward POC flux only during spring at OSP; (b) unidentified herbivores (e.g. salps, pteropods) producing pigmented, fast-sinking fecal material likely had an important impact during winter; (c) algal sinking made a small contribution to the downward POC flux (maximum in winter); and (d) neither algal sinking nor mesozooplankton grazing had a significant influence on the downward flux of biogenic material in summer at OSP.  相似文献   

5.
A time-series sediment trap deployment was carried out in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Antarctic Ocean (64°42′ S, 139°58′E; sea depth of 2930 m), during the austral summer. Cylindrical fecal pellets were the predominant sinking particles at 537 m in the middle of January and most of them disappeared below that depth, the loss of which were 25.3 mg C m−2 day−1 in the depth range of 537–796 m. Small-sized sinking particles other than fecal pellets increased in that depth range. Analyses of fecal pellets for remnant DNA corresponding to 16S mitochondrial RNA and 28S ribosomal RNA suggested that the large cylindrical fecal pellets at 537 m were produced by Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and copepods. According to the presence of the DNA associated with sinking particles, E. superba fecal pellets rapidly disappeared below 537 m, while copepod fecal pellets still remained in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic layers. Small-sized amorphous sinking particles at 537 m also contained E. superba- and copepod-derived DNA. The abundance of trap-collected copepods (Oithona spp. and Oncaea spp.) which are known to be coprophagous increased at 796 m where many fecal pellets disappeared. We suggest that those rapidly sinking pellets were fragmented by copepods with intensified coprorhexy activity (fragmentation of fecal pellets) in the mesopelagic layers, reducing their sinking rates. These smaller and slower sinking particles can be important food sources for detritivorus or coprophagous animals in mesopelagic and bathypelagic layers in the MIZ. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

6.
We sampled zooplankton and fecal pellets in the upper 200 m of Monterey Bay and nearby coastal regions in California, USA. On several occasions, we observed high concentrations of large pellets that appeared to be produced during night-time by dielly migrating euphausiids. High concentrations of pellets were found in near-surface waters only when euphausiids co-occurred with high concentrations of large (>10 μm) phytoplankton. Peak concentrations of pellets at mid-depth (100 or 150 m) during the day were consistent with the calculated sinking speeds of pellets produced near the surface at night. At these high flux locations (HI group), pellet concentrations declined below mid-depth. In contrast, at locations where the phytoplankton assemblage was dominated by small phytoplankton cells (<10 μm), pellet production and flux were low (LO group) whether or not euphausiid populations were high. Protozooplankton concentrations did not affect this pattern. We concluded that the day and night differences in pellet concentration and flux in the HI profiles were mostly due to sinking of dielly-pulsed inputs in the surface layer, and that small zooplankton (Oithona, Oncaea), heterotrophic dinoflagellates, and bacterial activity probably caused some pellet degradation or consumption below 100 m. We estimated that consumption of sinking pellets by large copepods was insignificant. High fluxes of pellets were episodic because they required both high concentrations of large phytoplankton and large stocks of euphausiids. Under these conditions, flux events overwhelmed retention mechanisms, resulting in large exports of organic matter from the upper 200 m.  相似文献   

7.
Recent research developments on the ecology, dynamics and trophic position of copepods in the Benguela ecosystem are synthesized. Attention is focused on herbivorous species of the southern Benguela and how they cope with the physical and biological variability characteristic of this upwelling region. Copepods constitute on average approximately half of the total zooplankton carbon and. are most abundant during the upwelling season. They are able to maintain large population densities within local coastal upwelling areas by combining ontogenetically based vertical migration behaviour with features of the current system. Some species have developed finely tuned strategies to overcome periods of starvation between upwelling bouts by storing lipid reserves or by entering temporary developmental arrest. In situ measurements of production rates of local species are among the highest recorded for copepods. Despite an apparent excess of food, copepods exert only limited impact on the phytoplankton, removing on average <25 per cent of that available daily. Indirect estimates of carbon flux indicate that 11–25 per cent of copepod daily ration is used for egestion of faecal pellets. Copepods are the preferred prey of a wide variety of invertebrate and vertebrate predators. Large copepods in particular are important in the diet of commercially exploited pelagic fish. Localized areas of low abundance of copepods have been found in association with high densities of anchovy during peak spawning and recruitment periods. Copepods may therefore constitute a central limiting factor for pelagic fish production in the southern Benguela.  相似文献   

8.
Seasonal changes in the shape and size composition of fecal pellets were investigated with sediment trap samples from 50 and 150 m in Kagoshima Bay to evaluate how the mesozooplankton community affects fecal pellet flux. Deep vertical mixing was evident in March, and thermal stratification was developed above 50 m in June, August and November. Chlorophyll a, suspended particulate organic carbon (POC) and copepod abundance were uniform throughout the water column during the seasonal mixing and concentrated above 50 m in the stratified seasons. Calanoids were the most predominant copepods in March and poecilostomatoids composed more than 45% of the copepod community in June, August and November. Fecal pellet fluxes at 50 and 150 m were the highest in March, nearly half of POC flux. The relative contribution declined considerably in the other months, especially for less than 4% of POC flux in August. The decline was corresponded to the predominance of cyclopoids and poecilostomatoids. Cylindrical pellets dominated the fecal matters at both depths throughout the study period, while larger cylindrical pellets nearly disappeared at 150 m in June, August and November. Copepod incubation revealed that cylindrical and oval pellets were egested by calanoids and the other copepods, respectively. We suggest that cylindrical fecal pellets produced by calanoid copepods contribute to feces flux but the predominance of poecilostomatoids and/or cyclopoids decreases feces flux via the increase of oval pellets and fragmentation of larger cylindrical pellets.  相似文献   

9.
The effects of feeding, egg laying, and fecal pellet production on the elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the marine copepod Acartia tonsa were studied in a series of experiments. Copepods were exposed to 14C-labelled Aroclor 1254 and allowed to depurate in clean seawater. Copepods fed during depuration eliminated PCBs more rapidly than unfed copepods whether or not the original PCB exposure medium had contained food. Both eggs and fecal pellets contained PCBs during depuration, with the weight specific concentration of PCB in the eggs (up to 407 ppm, dry weight) exceeding four times that in the females that produced them. Female copepods eliminated PCBs twice as rapidly as males, indicating that egg production is an important route for PCB elimination.  相似文献   

10.
高浓度硅藻对桡足类繁殖的影响   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
近年来,许多现场和实验室研究表明:一直被看作是桡足类主要食物来源的硅藻对桡足类繁殖、生长和发育具有抑制作用.本文通过桡足类体内因素和体外因素两方面介绍了高浓度硅藻对桡足类种群动态的影响.体内因素主要体现在硅藻的营养缺陷和次级代谢物毒性伤害上,体外因素主要为硅藻胞外分泌物、环境因素以及实验方法不同等.文章在介绍其研究现状的基础上,对今后的工作加以展望.  相似文献   

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