Feeding response of the tropical copepod Acartia erythraea to short-term thermal stress: more animal-derived food was consumed

The objective of this study was to explore the feeding response of tropical copepods to short-term thermal shock and provide insight into the potential impact of coastal power plants on the trophic dynamics of tropical coastal ecosystems. Feeding experiments were conducted at three different tempera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ
Main Authors: Hu, Simin, Liu, Sheng, Wan, Lingli, Li, Tao, Huang, Hui
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: PEERJ INC 2018
Subjects:
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Feeding response
Thermal pollution
Tropical coastal ecosystem
Copepod
Multidisciplinary Sciences
CLIMATE-CHANGE
EGG-PRODUCTION
DISKO BAY
TEMPERATURE
PHYTOPLANKTON
ZOOPLANKTON
CORAL
DYNAMICS
FUTURE
WATERS
Disko Bay
Copepods
Online Access:http://ir.gig.ac.cn/handle/344008/40830
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6129
Description
Summary:The objective of this study was to explore the feeding response of tropical copepods to short-term thermal shock and provide insight into the potential impact of coastal power plants on the trophic dynamics of tropical coastal ecosystems. Feeding experiments were conducted at three different temperatures (29 degrees C, 33 degrees C, and 35 degrees C) using the copepod Acartia erythraea, collected from Sanya Bay, China. The grazing rate of A. erythraea decreased dramatically in the high temperature treatment. Analysis of 18S rDNA clone libraries revealed that the diet of copepods from different treatments was mainly comprised of diatoms, metazoans, and protozoans; A. erythraea exhibited an obvious feeding preference shift with temperature, with a change from a diatom-dominated diet at 29 degrees C to a metazoan-dominated diet at 35 degrees C, and the omnivory index shifted from 0.1 to 2.84 correspondingly. Furthermore, A. erythraea showed a positive feeding response to plant food (i.e., phytoplankton and land plants) in the control treatment (29 degrees C), but a positive response to animal prey (i.e., metazoans and protozoans) at temperatures exceeding 33 degrees C, as evaluated by the Ivley's selectivity index. Our results suggest that copepods could regulate their food intake by considering their energy demands when exposed to short-term thermal stress, which might influence the pathway of materials moving up the trophic system. However, further studies are required to elucidate the effects of elevated temperature on feeding of different organisms in order to predict the influence of thermal pollution on the food web of tropical coastal ecosystems.

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