ARCTIC Feeding, Respiration and Excretion of the Copepod Calanus hyperboreus from Baffin Bay, Including Waters Contaminated by Oil Seeps

• Main Authors: Edward S Gilfillan, John H. Vandermeulen, Sherry Hanson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1985
• Subjects: Key words; zooplankton; Culunus hyperboreus; Arctic; metabolism; oil seep; petroleum; hydrocarbons; oil pollution; Antarctic; Baffin Bay; Buchan; Buchan Gulf; Lancaster Sound; Antarc*; Baffin; Calanus hyperboreus; Davis Strait; Zooplankton; Copepods
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.567.3743; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic39-2-158.pdf

ABSTRACT. Metabolic processes in eastern arctic copepods Culunus hyperboreus were analyzed during the post-bloom period (August-September). Mixed adult and subadult copepods were collected from 12 stations in Baffin Bay (Davis Strait to Lancaster Sound) by trawling from 0-300 m. Measurements were made of clearance rate, 02-consumption and NH3 excretion. The cruise track included 6 stations in oil-seep contaminated waters of Scott Inlet and Buchan Gulf. Physiological parameters for populations of C. hyperboreus from the latter stations were compared with those from non-seep stations. Mean Oz consumption rates (0.309-0.907 pl 02.mg dry wt ".h-') for all stations were similar to those described for Antarctic calanoid species but were higher than reported from more northern arctic waters. Mean ammonia excretion rates (0.023-0.071 pg N.mg dry wt".h") were somewhat lower than reported for comparable Antarctic species and were similar to values from other eastern arctic studies. O:N ratios for 1 1 of the 12 stations occupied ranged between 8.4 and 22.1, indicative of protein-based metabolism. The single exception was a High Arctic station with O:N ratio 43.6. Clearance rates were low to nonexistent for all stations. Most of the non-feeding values came from the Scott Inlet-Buchan Gulf region of western Baffin Bay. At those stations in this region a strong negative correlation (P <.01) exists between clearance rate and hydrocarbon contamination. This suggests that in the oil-seep region of Baffin Bay feeding may be suppressed in Culunus hyperboreus by low concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons derived from sub-sea seepage.