Zooplankton growth rates: the influence of female size and resources on egg production of tropical marine copepods
Hopcroft, R.R.; Roff, J.C. (1998). Zooplankton growth rates: the influence of female size and resources on egg production of tropical marine copepods. Mar. Biol. (Berl.) 132(1): 79-86
In: Marine Biology: International Journal on Life in Oceans and Coastal Waters. Springer: Heidelberg; Berlin. ISSN 0025-3162; e-ISSN 1432-1793, more
|  |
| Keywords |
Availability > Food availability
Body size
Body weight
Fauna > Aquatic organisms > Aquatic animals > Shellfish > Marine organisms > Marine crustaceans
Nutrition > Animal nutrition
Organic compounds > Carbohydrates > Glycosides > Pigments > Photosynthetic pigments > Chlorophylls
Population characteristics > Biomass
Population functions > Growth
Properties > Biological properties > Fecundity
Sex > Females
Calanoida [WoRMS]; Copepoda [WoRMS]; Cyclopidae Rafinesque, 1815 [WoRMS]; Harpacticidae Dana, 1846 [WoRMS]
ASW, Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles, Jamaica [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal |
| Authors | | Top |
- Hopcroft, R.R.
- Roff, J.C.
|
|
|
| Abstract |
Egg production was measured in 17 species of copepods from the genera Acartia, Calanopia, Centropages, Clausocalanus, Corycaeus, Eucheata, Euterpina Oithona, Oncaea, Paracalanus, Parvocalanus, Temora and Undinula in Jamaican waters. At the high local temperatures ( similar to 28° C), mean egg production ranged from 3.2 to 88 eggs/female/d, and instantaneous female growth (g, as egg production) ranged from 0.04 to 0.87/d. Female growth was positively related to ambient chlorophyll concentration (r2 = 0.44) and negatively to female body size (r2) = 0.29). Together these two variables explained 60% of the variation in growth. When quadratic terms for chlorophyll and a term for interaction of body size and chlorophyll were introduced, 82% of the variance in growth rate was explained. Egg production rates represent an extension of the resource and size-dependent relationship established for copepodites. In smaller species (<3.5 mu g), egg production was comparable to prior copepodite somatic growth; in larger species (>3.5 mu g), egg production is compromised at lower resource concentrations than copepodite somatic growth. Thus, it appears that egg production in tropical copepods may be frequently limited by resources in a size-dependent manner. Under conditions where growth is resource limited, we caution against the application of egg production rates for the calculation of total copepod production. |
|
