Grazing impact of Oikopleura dioica and copepods on an autumn plankton community

• Copepods and appendicularians are major grazers in the pelagic environment. They have different retention efficiencies for prey and may therefore exert a variable grazing pressure on the spectrum of pico- to micro-plankton. We determined clearance rates of both groups at one station during 24 h in the Gullmar fjord, west Sweden, in autumn 1999. Total potential prey biomass ranged from 75 mu g C l(-1) at the surface to 14 mu g C l(-1) at 30 m with a dominance of larger dinoflagellates (10-25 mu m athecate species and Gymnodinium /Gyrodinium sp.) and the pennate diatom Pseudo -nitzschia sp. Grazer biomass was dominated by copepods (Acartia clausi, Paracalanus parvus) and appendicularians (Oikopleura dioica). O. dioica showed non-selective clearance rates of 0.7-1.8 ml mu g C-1 h(-1) on most diatoms, flagellates and ciliates, whereas Pseudo -nitzschia sp. and dinoflagellates and ciliates > 25 mu m were not removed by O. dioica. Appendicularian grazing impact was 0.06% d(-1) on the phytoplankton and 0.4% d(-1) on bacterial biomass. Despite a seven-fold higher biomass, the grazing impact of copepods on phytoplankton biomass was only 0.28% d(-1) indicating that O. dioica had a proportionally greater impact and, in contrast to copepods, also utilised bacteria. The low observed grazing impact was due to a low grazer biomass and a prey community largely unavailable to the investigated grazers.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

grazing

Oikopleura dioica

copepods

FUNCTIONAL-RESPONSE

CALANOID COPEPODS

APPENDICULARIANS

SIZE

PHYTOPLANKTON

POPULATION

MICROSCOPY

PARTICLES

SKAGERRAK

TUNICATA

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)