Feeding and egg production of the planktonic copepod Calanus sinicus in spring and autumn in the Yellow Sea, China

Shipboard incubations were conducted in spring (April) and autumn (October/November) 2006 to measure the feeding and egg production rates (EPR) of Calanus sinicus in the Yellow Sea, China. The ingestion rate (2.08–11.46 and 0.26–3.70 μg C female−1 day−1 in spring and autumn, respectively) was positi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of plankton research 2008-06, Vol.30 (6), p.723-734
Main Authors: Huo, Yuan-Zi, Wang, Shi-Wei, Sun, Song, Li, Chao-Lun, Liu, Meng-Tan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Aquatic crustaceans
Autumn
Biological and medical sciences
Bottom water
Calanus sinicus
Ciliates
Crustacea
Diet
Diets
Egg production
Eggs
Feeding
Females
Food
Food quality
Food sources
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Ingestion
Invertebrates
Marine
Plankton
Spring
Synecology
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Summary:Shipboard incubations were conducted in spring (April) and autumn (October/November) 2006 to measure the feeding and egg production rates (EPR) of Calanus sinicus in the Yellow Sea, China. The ingestion rate (2.08–11.46 and 0.26–3.70 μg C female−1 day−1 in spring and autumn, respectively) was positively correlated with microplankton carbon concentrations. In the northern part of the Yellow Sea, feeding on microplankton easily covers the respiratory and production requirements, whereas in the southern part in spring and in the frontal zone in autumn, C. sinicus must ingest alternative food sources. Low ingestion rates, no egg production and the dominance of the fifth copepodite (CV) stage indicated that C. sinicus was in quiescence inside the Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Water (YSCBW) area in autumn. Calanus sinicus ingested ciliates preferentially over other components of the microplankton. The EPR (0.16–12.6 eggs female−1 day−1 in spring and 11.4 eggs female−1 day−1 at only one station in autumn) increased with ciliate standing stock. Gross growth efficiency (GGE) was 13.4% (3–39%) in spring, which was correlated with the proportion of ciliates in the diet. These results indicate that ciliates have higher nutrient quality than other food items, but the low GGE indicates that the diet of C. sinicus is nutritionally incomplete.
ISSN:0142-7873
1464-3774
DOI:10.1093/plankt/fbn034