Feeding on dispersed vs. aggregated particles: The effect of zooplankton feeding behavior on vertical flux

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: Koski, Marja, Boutorh, Julia, Rocha, Christina
• Other Authors: DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark Lyngby (DTU), Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO), European Project: 264933,EC:FP7:ENV,FP7-ENV-2010,EURO-BASIN(2010), European Project: 261520,EC:FP7:INFRA,FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2010-1,HYDRALAB IV(2010)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: ACL; sub-arctic pacific; oceans twilight zone; calanoid copepods; fecal pellets; copepod acartia-tonsa; marine snow; northeast pacific; planktonic copepod; respiration rates; seasonal patterns; envir; socio; Arctic; Pacific; Zooplankton; Copepods
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177958; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02577613/file/Koski_etal_PLOS-One_2017.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02577613

WOS:000401487700100 International audience Zooplankton feeding activity is hypothesized to attenuate the downward flux of elements in the ocean. We investigated whether the zooplankton community composition could influence the flux attenuation, due to the differences of feeding modes (feeding on dispersed vs. aggregated particles) and of metabolic rates. We fed 5 copepod species-three calanoid, one harpacticoid and one poecilamastoid-microplankton food, in either dispersed or aggregated form and measured rates of respiration, fecal pellet production and egg production. Calanoid copepods were able to feed only on dispersed food; when their food was introduced as aggregates, their pellet production and respiration rates decreased to rates observed for starved individuals. In contrast, harpacticoids and the poecilamastoid copepod Oncaea spp. were able to feed only when the food was in the form of aggregates. The sum of copepod respiration, pellet production and egg production rates was equivalent to a daily minimum carbon demand of ca. 10% body weight-(1) for all non-feeding copepods; the carbon demand of calanoids feeding on dispersed food was 2-3 times greater, and the carbon demand of harpacticoids and Oncaea spp. feeding on aggregates was \textgreater7 times greater, than the resting rates. The zooplankton species composition combined with the type of available food strongly influences the calculated carbon demand of a copepod community, and thus also the attenuation of vertical carbon flux.