Susceptibility of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana) to ultraviolet radiation
We irradiated captive juvenile Euphausia superba in the laboratory with lower than spring surface levels of ultraviolet-B, ultraviolet-A and photosynthetically active radiation, in order to examine their response in terms of mortality and generalised activity. Levels of photosynthetically active rad...
Published in: | Polar Biology |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer-Verlag
1999
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s003000050389 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/16395 |
Summary: | We irradiated captive juvenile Euphausia superba in the laboratory with lower than spring surface levels of ultraviolet-B, ultraviolet-A and photosynthetically active radiation, in order to examine their response in terms of mortality and generalised activity. Levels of photosynthetically active radiation 3-5 times below surface irradiance caused krill to die within a week, while animals in the dark survived. Addition of ultraviolet-B typical of depths up to 15 m were found to significantly accelerate mortality and lead to a drop in activity in all experiments. A drop in activity in krill exposed to ultraviolet-A wavelengths was evident without an increase in mortality. The protein content of animals from various treatments was found not to vary. |
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