U.S.-GLOBEC: NWA Georges Bank: Effects of climate variability on Calanus dormancy patterns and population dynamics in the Northwest Atlantic
Calanoid copepods are key organisms throughout the world's oceans, consuming primary and secondary production at high rates, and serving as prey for invertebrates, larval and small pelagic fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Many of the most abundant copepods in temperate and high latitudes, in...
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DigitalCommons@UMaine
2010
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| Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/orsp_reports/319 https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1327&context=orsp_reports |
| Summary: | Calanoid copepods are key organisms throughout the world's oceans, consuming primary and secondary production at high rates, and serving as prey for invertebrates, larval and small pelagic fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Many of the most abundant copepods in temperate and high latitudes, including Calanus finmarchicus in the Northwest Atlantic, can spend part of their life cycle in dormancy, a state of suppressed development. During dormancy, copepods escape unproductive surface waters and reside in deep water for several months, after which they emerge and migrate to the surface, usually prior to the spring bloom. The timing and abundance of copepods emerging from dormancy set initial conditions for population growth in the active season and is likely critical for both copepod population dynamics and for feeding and growth of larval fish. Similarly, the timing of entry into dormancy and consequent reduction of prey availability in surface waters, may be important to population dynamics of surface planktivores. The physical and biological factors that control onset of and emergence from dormancy are not known for Calanus finmarchicus or other open ocean copepod species.This project aims to identify the factors that control onset of and emergence from dormancy in Calanus finmarchicus in the Northwest Atlantic using both an inter-regional comparison of dormancy response and associated environmental conditions and individual-based model (IBM) simulations. The research tests the hypothesis that inter-regional differences in population dynamics are caused by different environmental conditions acting on copepods with similar dormancy and physiological rate responses to environmental parameters. Data sets from seven regions of the Northwest Atlantic will be compiled and compared to observational bio-physical data sets to test hypotheses about dormancy control mechanisms. IBM simulations will be run in individual regions to test the plausibility of the refined dormancy control hypotheses. IBM simulations will also ... |
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