Absorption Efficiencies and Biochemical Fractionation of Assimilated Compounds in the Cold Water Appendicularian Oikopleura Vanhoeffeni

Using Ge-68:C-14 dual-labeling, we investigated the absorption efficiency of diatom carbon for the cold water appendicularian Oikopleura vanhoeffeni. The absorption efficiency of bulk carbon (mean = 67%) was not influenced by body size or ingestion rate. For the first time for a pelagic tunicate, fo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bochdansky, Alexander B., Deibel, Don, Rivkin, Richard B.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: ODU Digital Commons 1999
Subjects:
Carbon
Marine copepods
Natural populations
Phytoplankton
Sub-Arctic
Zooplankton
Marine Biology
Oceanography
Arctic
Copepods
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/196
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1209&context=oeas_fac_pubs
Description
Summary:Using Ge-68:C-14 dual-labeling, we investigated the absorption efficiency of diatom carbon for the cold water appendicularian Oikopleura vanhoeffeni. The absorption efficiency of bulk carbon (mean = 67%) was not influenced by body size or ingestion rate. For the first time for a pelagic tunicate, food and feces were fractionated into their major biochemical constituents (i.e., low-molecular-weight compounds, lipid, protein, and polysaccharide), allowing calculation of absorption efficiencies for each fraction. Low-molecular-weight compounds and proteins were preferentially absorbed over lipids and polysaccharides. However, predicted C:N ratios of the fecal pellets of O. vanhoeffeni were in the lower range of C:N ratios reported for zooplankton feces. The results are relevant for modeling biogeochemical cycles because pelagic tunicates contribute greatly to vertical particulate organic carbon flux.

Similar Items