Feeding, Respiration and Excretion of the Copepod Calanus hyperboreus from Baffin Bay, Including Waters Contaminated by Oil Seeps

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Gilfillan, Edward S., Vandermeulen, John H., Hanson, Sherry
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1986
• Subjects: Animal food; Copepoda; Oil spills; Zooplankton; Baffin Bay-Davis Strait; Lancaster Sound; Nunavut; Arctic; Antarctic; Baffin Bay; Buchan; Buchan Gulf; Antarc*; Arctique*; Baffin; Calanus hyperboreus; Davis Strait; Copepods
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65116

Metabolic processes in eastern arctic copepods Calanus hyperboreus were analyzed during the post-bloom period (August-September). Mixed adult and subadult copepods were collected from 12 stations in Baffin Bay (Davis Strait to Lancaster Sound) by trawling from 0-300 m. Measurements were made of clearance rate, O2-consumption and NH3 excretion. The cruise track included 6 stations in oil-seep contaminated waters of Scott Inlet and Buchan Gulf. Physiological parameters for populations of C. hyperboreus from the latter stations were compared with those from non-seep stations. Mean O2 consumption rates (0.309 - 0.907 µl O2 / mg dry wt / h) for all stations were similar to those described for Antarctic calanoid species but were higher than reported for more northern arctic waters. Mean ammonia excretion rates (0.023 - 0.071 µg N / mg dry wt / h) were somewhat lower than reported for comparable Antarctic species and were similar to values from other eastern arctic studies. O:N ratios for 11 of the 12 stations occupied ranged between 8.4 and 22.1, indicative of protein-based metabolism. The single exception was a High Arctic station with O:N ratio 43.6. Clearance rates were low to nonexistant for all stations. Most of the non-feeding values came from the Scott Inlet-Buchan Gulf region of western Baffin Bay. At those stations in this region a strong negative correlation (P<.01) exists between clearance rate and hydrocarbon contamination. This suggests that in the oil-seep region of Baffin Bay feeding may be suppressed in Calanus hyperboreus by low concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons derived from sub-sea seepage.Key words: zooplankton, Calanus hyperboreus, Arctic, metabolism, oil seep, petroleum, hydrocarbons, oil pollution Mots clés: zooplancton, Calanus hyperboreus, Arctique, métabolisme, suitements de pétrole, pétrole, hydrocarbures, pollution par les hydrocarbures