Seasonal variation in body composition, metabolic activity, feeding, and growth of adult krill Euphausia superba in the Lazarev Sea

18 pages, 9 figures, 10 tables We investigated physiological parameters (elemental and biochemical composition, metabolic rates, feeding activity and growth) of adult Antarctic krill in the Lazarev Sea in late spring (December), mid autumn (April) and mid winter (July and August) to evaluate propose...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Ecology Progress Series
Main Authors: Meyer, Bettina, Auerswald, Lutz, Siegel, Volker, Spahic, Susanne, Pape, Carsten, Fach, Bettina A., Teschke, Mathias, Lopata, Andreas L., Fuentes, Veronica
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Inter Research 2010
Subjects:
Antarctic krill
Seasonal condition
Overwintering
Antarctic
Lazarev
Lazarev Sea
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctic Krill
Euphausia superba
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/115626
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08371
Description
Summary:18 pages, 9 figures, 10 tables We investigated physiological parameters (elemental and biochemical composition, metabolic rates, feeding activity and growth) of adult Antarctic krill in the Lazarev Sea in late spring (December), mid autumn (April) and mid winter (July and August) to evaluate proposed hypotheses of overwintering mechanisms. Our major observations are: (1) respiration rates were reduced by 30 to 50% in autumn and winter, compared to values in late spring; (2) feeding activity was reduced by 80 to 86% in autumn and winter, compared to late spring, at similar food concentrations; (3) feeding was omnivorous during winter; (4) with each moult, krill grew by 0.5 to 3.8% in length; (5) body lipids and, to a small extent, body proteins were consumed during winter. Adult Euphausia superba thus adopt metabolic slowdown and omnivorous feeding activity at low rates to survive the winter season in the Lazarev Sea. By mid autumn, metabolic activity is reduced, most likely being influenced by the Antarctic light regime, which is accompanied by a reduction in feeding activity and growth. Although at a low level, the feeding activity during winter seems to provide an important energy input This work was supported by funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through project 03F0400A, Subproject 4 of the Lazarev Sea Krill Study (LAKRIS) Project, the International Bureau of the BMBF through project SUA 05/008, and the Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom, AFI 5/09). The LAKRIS Project is the German contribution to the Southern Ocean-Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (SO-GLOBEC) program Peer Reviewed

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