Copepod grazing during an iron-induced diatom bloom in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (EisenEx): I. Feeding patterns and grazing impact on prey populations

• Published in: Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
• Main Authors: Schultes, Sabine, Verity, Peter G., Bathmann, Uli
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-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)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SIO), Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine (AWI), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2006
• Subjects: copepods; diatom mortality; grazing selectivity; iron fertilization; Southern Ocean RHINCALANUS-GIGAS COPEPODA; POLAR FRONTAL ZONE; SOUTHERN-OCEAN; CALANOID COPEPODS; ATLANTIC SECTOR; MESOZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY; PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOM; BELLINGSHAUSEN-SEA; AUSTRAL SUMMER; SPRING BLOOM; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Austral; Bellingshausen Sea; Antarc*; Mesozooplankton; Copepods
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00473811; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2006.06.028

International audience Feeding activity, selective grazing and the potential grazing impact of two dominant grazers of the Polar Frontal Zone, Calanus simillimus and Rhincalanus gigas, and of copepods < 2 mm were investigated with incubation experiments in the course of an iron fertilized diatom bloom in November 2000. All grazers were already actively feeding in the low chlorophyll waters prior to the onset of the bloom. C. simillimus maintained constant clearance rates and fed predominantly on diatoms. R. gigas and the small copepods strongly increased clearance and ingestion of diatoms in response to their enhanced availability. All grazers preyed on microzooplankton, most steadily on ciliates, confirming the view that pure herbivory appears to be the exception rather than the rule in copepod feeding. The grazers exhibited differences in feeding behavior based on selectivity indices. C simillimus and R. gigas showed prey switching from dinoflagellates to diatoms in response to the phytoplankton bloom. All grazers most efficiently grazed on large diatoms leading to differences in daily losses for large and small species, e.g. Corethron sp. or Thalassionema nitzschioides. Species-specific diatom mortality rates due to grazing suggest that the high feeding activity of C simillimus prior to and during the bloom played a role in shaping diatom population dynamics.