Effect of diatom and dinoflagellate diets on egg production and ingestion rate of Centropages furcatus (Copepoda: Calanoida) from a subtropical bay (Bahía de La Paz, Gulf of California) (original) (raw)
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Different phytoplankton diets were tested on Acartia clausi and A. lilljeborgii from Bahía de La Paz to determine their effect on survival, egg production, and ingestion rate. Female copepods were fed diatom strains (Chaetoceros sp., Cylindrotheca closterium, Odontella longicruris, and Dytilum brightwelli), dinoflagellate strains (Scrippsiella sp., Gyrodinium sp., Prorocentrum micans, and P. rhathymum), and one Raphidophyceae (Chattonella sp.). After 24 h of incubation in darkness at 24 °C, survival with various phytoplankton diets was above 91%. Gyrodinium sp. produced the lowest survival in both copepod species (44.5% in A. clausi and 89.6% in A. lilljeborgii). Dinoflagellate diets provided the highest egg production. A. clausi had higher egg production when fed with P. rhathymum, P. micans, Gyrodinium sp., Scrippsiella sp., and Chattonella sp. A. lilljeborgii had a higher egg production with Scrippsiella sp., P. micans, Gyrodinium sp., and Chaetoceros sp. Ingestion rates were higher in both Acartia species with two diatom diets (O. longicruris and Chaetoceros sp.), P. rhathymum and Chattonella sp. These results suggest that both Acartia species respond to nutritional quality of phytoplankton in a short time. Higher ingestion rates did not necessarily result in higher egg production, suggesting that the link between ingestion and egg production may be in what is eaten, rather than in how much. The response in egg production seems to be species specific, but in general was higher with dinoflagellate diets, suggesting a higher food quality compared with diatoms (excepting Chaetoceros sp.).
Different phytoplankton diets were tested on Acartia clausi and A. lilljeborgii from Bahía de La Paz to determine their effect on survival, egg production, and ingestion rate. Female copepods were fed diatom strains (Chaetoceros sp., Cylindrotheca closterium, Odontella longicruris, and Dytilum brightwelli), dinoflagellate strains (Scrippsiella sp., Gyrodinium sp., Prorocentrum micans, and P. rhathymum), and one Raphidophyceae (Chattonella sp.). After 24 h of incubation in darkness at 24 °C, survival with various phytoplankton diets was above 91%. Gyrodinium sp. produced the lowest survival in both copepod species (44.5% in A. clausi and 89.6% in A. lilljeborgii). Dinoflagellate diets provided the highest egg production. A. clausi had higher egg production when fed with P. rhathymum, P. micans, Gyrodinium sp., Scrippsiella sp., and Chattonella sp. A. lilljeborgii had a higher egg production with Scrippsiella sp., P. micans, Gyrodinium sp., and Chaetoceros sp. Ingestion rates were higher in both Acartia species with two diatom diets (O. longicruris and Chaetoceros sp.), P. rhathymum and Chattonella sp. These results suggest that both Acartia species respond to nutritional quality of phytoplankton in a short time. Higher ingestion rates did not necessarily result in higher egg production, suggesting that the link between ingestion and egg production may be in what is eaten, rather than in how much. The response in egg production seems to be species specific, but in general was higher with dinoflagellate diets, suggesting a higher food quality compared with diatoms (excepting Chaetoceros sp.).
Hidrobiológica, 2008
Different phytoplankton diets were tested on Acartia clausi and A. lilljeborgii from Bahía de La Paz to determine their effect on survival, egg production, and ingestion rate. Female copepods were fed diatom strains (Chaetoceros sp., Cylindrotheca closterium, Odontella longicruris, and Dytilum brightwelli), dinoflagellate strains (Scrippsiella sp., Gyrodinium sp., Prorocentrum micans, and P. rhathymum), and one Raphidophyceae (Chattonella sp.). After 24 h of incubation in darkness at 24 °C, survival with various phytoplankton diets was above 91%. Gyrodinium sp. produced the lowest survival in both copepod species (44.5% in A. clausi and 89.6% in A. lilljeborgii). Dinoflagellate diets provided the highest egg production. A. clausi had higher egg production when fed with P. rhathymum, P. micans, Gyrodinium sp., Scrippsiella sp., and Chattonella sp. A. lilljeborgii had a higher egg production with Scrippsiella sp., P. micans, Gyrodinium sp., and Chaetoceros sp. Ingestion rates were higher in both Acartia species with two diatom diets (O. longicruris and Chaetoceros sp.), P. rhathymum and Chattonella sp. These results suggest that both Acartia species respond to nutritional quality of phytoplankton in a short time. Higher ingestion rates did not necessarily result in higher egg production, suggesting that the link between ingestion and egg production may be in what is eaten, rather than in how much. The response in egg production seems to be species specific, but in general was higher with dinoflagellate diets, suggesting a higher food quality compared with diatoms (excepting Chaetoceros sp.).
Marine Ecology-progress Series, 2001
Experiments were conducted over 10 to 20 d periods to study the grazing and reproductive success of the copepod Temora stylifera fed on unialgal cultures of the diatom Thalassiosira rotula (THA) or the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum (PRO), as well as mixtures of THA and PRO (MIX experiments) and alternating diets of THA and PRO switched daily (SWITCH experiments). Adult females ate both THA and PRO, and while rates of feeding on the 2 diets were similar in terms of carbon ingestion, egg production was generally higher on the diatom diet. In contrast, copepod egg-hatching success was low on the diatom diet, declining rapidly after 2 d from > 80 to 0% by Day 17. The diminution in hatching success was slower when females were fed MIX or SWITCH diets, but nonetheless diminished to 0 and < 25% by the end of the experiment, depending on the incubation method. Only in the case of the PRO diet was egg viability high and stable with time (87 to 96%), regardless of whether female and male couples were incubated as individual couples in crystallizing dishes or as triplicate couples in rotating bottles. However, in most other cases, the incubation method (crystallizing dishes vs rotating bottles) had very strong effects on egg and fecal pellet production, and hatching success. Higher egg production rates were generally obtained when females were incubated in crystallizing dishes, whatever the diet, although fecal pellet production rates were significantly higher in the rotating bottle experiments in most cases. Egg-hatching success was also strongly affected by incubation method, with generally higher hatching rates in the rotating bottles. This was probably due to the fragility of non-viable eggs, which were more easily destroyed by mechanical disturbance in rotating bottle experiments. The results support the recent discovery that reproductive failure in copepods can be due to deleterious antimitotic compounds present in some diatoms that arrest normal embryonic division. Reduction in egg viability was not only visible when females were fed unialgal diatom diets, but also when they were fed mixed diets. However, on mixed diets there was a 'dilution effect' in that hatching was reduced by approximately half, and this took about twice as long to occur. The evolutionary advantages for diatoms in producing antimitotic compounds are discussed, as well as questions of why copepods feed on diatoms with impunity, even though some diatoms are detrimental to copepod reproductive success.
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2011
Mild winters are modifying the plankton spring bloom composition so that diatoms are decreasing and dinoflagellates increasing. We used two common spring bloom phytoplankton species, a diatom and a dinoflagellate to study the effects of changing bloom composition on the reproduction of the calanoid copepod Acartia bifilosa Giesbrecht, a dominant species in the northern Baltic Sea. Egg production was significantly higher when copepods were fed with Scrippsiella hangoei (Schiller) Larsen dinoflagellates or a mixture of Scrippsiella and Skeletonema marinoi Sarno and Zingone diatoms than when they were provided with Skeletonema only. This effect was observed despite the fact that the Skeletonema strain did not produce polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs) and its nutritional quality was high according to polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFAs) and sterol measurements, and moderate according to mineral (C:N and C:P) measurements. When offered mixtures of Skeletonema and Scrippsiella, copepods ingested both, even when the other one was rare. This indicates potential positive effect of multispecies diets not verified in this study. Here we show that increasing dinoflagellate:diatom ratio might have a positive effect on copepod reproduction.
Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 2003
We determined the egg production efficiency (EPE: egg production/ingestion) and egg viability of the copepod Acartia tonsa Dana under different heterotrophic and autotrophic diets. EPE was estimated in adult females either as the slope of the linear relationship between specific egg production (EPR) and ingestion rates, or as the quotient: EPR/ingestion rate. The diets, offered in monoculture, were the heterotrophic ciliates Strombidium sulcatum or Mesodinium pulex, the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium dominans, the autotrophic cryptophyte Rhodomonas salina and the autotrophic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium sanguineum. The diets were also analyzed for fatty acid contents and composition, relationships with EPE and reproductive success were determined. Clear differences were found in the fatty acid contents and the composition of the different diets offered, but these differences did not correspond with variability in EPE. However, egg viability was correlated with ingestion of certain prey essential fatty acids; interestingly, our data do not show that ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates are nutritionally superior prey for marine copepods, contrary to general expectations.
Progress in Oceanography, 2008
We set up a survey involving comprehensive chemical analyses of phytoplankton and the simultaneous monitoring of the reproductive response of Calanus helgolandicus. Hatching success and larvae development of C. helgolandicus were monitored weekly with female specimens sampled along with phytoplankton in the coastal waters off Roscoff (Western English Channel) from March/April to October in 2003 and 2004. Polyunsaturated aldehyde (PUA) production and nutritional parameters of phytoplankton [i.e. polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON)] were measured. The hatching success varied between 0% and 80% during the two spring-summer spawning seasons. Neither the nutritional parameters measured nor polyunsaturated aldehydes could be found responsible for the frequently observed hatching failure. However, egg production and hatching rates were strongly positively correlated, suggesting a functional link between these reproductive parameters. PUA production in phytoplankton was mainly determined by Thalassiosira rotula. The occurrence of this diatom species might be used as a marker of PUAs in the study area. Laboratory feeding experiments showed that single species diets of freshly isolated diatoms (T. rotula, Guinardia striata, Guinardia delicatula and Rhizosolenia setigera) caused high or low egg viability and naupliar survival of C. helgolandicus independent of PUA production and PUFA content. The impact of PUA on the hatching success of Calanus among different ecosystems is discussed. The combined approach of feeding experiments and chemical analysis supports the idea that parameters other than PUAs and PUFAs have to be taken into account in order to explain the highly variable hatching rates observed in this environment.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2012
To understand the role of food quality in planktonic trophic interactions and marine copepod reproduction, we conducted laboratory experiments to investigate the effect of different prey with specific fatty acid profiles on the reproduction of Acartia erythraea. Copepod egg production rates and hatching success were assessed using a mixed diet combining Dunaliella sp. (containing no long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFAs) with the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii (high eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA), the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum dentatum (high docosahexaenoic acid, DHA), the cryptophyte Rhodomonas sp. (moderate EPA and DHA) or the ciliate Strombidium sulcatum (high nitrogen), respectively. Copepods fed a mono-diet of Dunaliella sp. were used as controls. The results showed that a food mixture with dinoflagellates provided the highest egg production rate and hatching success. The bacterivorous ciliate was not a good prey for copepod reproduction because of the deficit in fatty acid composition, despite its low C:N ratio. Generalized additive models indicated that food quality (ingested PUFAs) was important for egg production in addition to food quantity. Among PUFAs, DHA was the most important specific fatty acid based on its high partial correlation coefficient for egg production rate. Egg hatching success was significantly correlated with the percentage of the 3 major ω3 unsaturated fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid ALA, EPA and DHA) in diets.
Influence of algal diet on feeding and egg-production of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa Dana
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 1990
Threshold concentration, retention efficiency and egg-production in the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa Dana were examined using the algal species Isochtysis galbana clone T-ho, Dunaliella tertiolecta Butcher, Rhodomonas baltica Karsten, Ditylum brzghtwellii Grunow and Thalassiosira weissflogii Grun. Feeding and egg-production in A. tonsa was shown to be influenced by the size, quantity and quality of the food particles. The small I. ga~ana (4.8 am) were inetkiently retained by A. tonsa and ma~mum ingestion rates on this species were first obtained at algal concentrations > 1 pg C*ml-'. However, the highest maximum rate of egg-production was obtained when feeding on this algal species with gross efficiencies of 22 and 38 % in terms of carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Egg-production in A. tonsa ceased entirely within 4 days of feeding on a sole diet of D. tertiolecta. D. tertiolecta is similar in size to R. baltica but contained only trace amounts of fatty acids higher than C-18 fatty acids. The diatoms D. brightwellii and T.fluviatilis were retained with maximal effkiency but daily egg-production and gross growth efficiency was lower for these species than for 1. gaibana and R. baltica.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2006
Egg production rates (EPR) by Calanus helgolandicus females were investigated with specimens sampled weekly, from April to November 2003 and from March to October 2004, at a station located in the English Channel off Roscoff. Comparison of results between 1994, 2003 and 2004 showed that C. helgolandicus was a late spawner in 1994 and became an early spawner in 2003 and 2004. In all cases high variations in EPR were observed, which could not be correlated to phytoplankton biomass, expressed as diatom, chlorophyll a, particulate carbon and nitrogen concentrations in 2003 and 2004. Neither were they correlated to food quality, expressed as C/N ratio. To explain this mismatch between EPR and food concentration, a series of mixed phytoplankton species dominated by diatoms (≥11 µm filtrate representing natural diatom assemblages: NDA) and 7 single diatom species, all occurring during blooms in the field, were assayed as diets with C. helgolandicus females. Ingestion of diatoms by females was estimated by faecal pellet production rates and complementary scanning electron microscopy examinations of diatom remains in pellets. Depending on diatom species in diets, EPR was either increased or depressed 2 to 3 d after food uptake by females had started. The EPR decrease was reversible, when diatom diets were replaced by the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum. This effect was also observed when females were transferred to natural phytoplankton populations from the English coast of the Channel close to Plymouth, where food composition in the field differed compared to that off Roscoff. EPR ceased completely when the concentration of NDA diets was artificially increased, but recovered after a shift to a dinoflagellate diet. These results indicate that phytoplankton dominated by diatoms can impair C. helgolandicus egg production in the field. This effect was not related to the production of polyunsaturated aldehydes by diatoms. Limitations due to unidentified essential compounds not provided by the metabolism of diatoms, or unknown diatom-derived toxins, were probably involved.