Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-06T20:25:34.924Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Respiration and nitrogen excretion by some marine zooplankton in relation to their life cycles1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

R. J. Conover
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
E. D. S. Corner
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory

Extract

Rates of respiration and nitrogen excretion have been measured for freshly caught Calanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus), Calanus hyperboreus (Krayer), Metridia longa (Lubbock) and Pareuchaeta norvegica (Boeck), from the Gulf of Maine at all seasons. The dry weight, total (Kjeldahl) nitrogen, and fat were also determined for the same animals. Seasonal variation in weight-corrected respiration and nitrogen excretion followed a similar pattern for all four species, being high in the spring and decreasing gradually through summer and fall to a winter minimum. However, the relative proportions of oxygen utilized to nitrogen excreted were different from season to season for each species. In Calanus spp., O: N ratios by atoms were highest in May, immediately after the spring bloom of phytoplankton, when the animals were rich in fat. With C. hyperboreus the ratio then declined gradually through summer and fall to a low point just before the spring bloom (March and April) when populations contained the least amount of fat; but with C. finmarchicus the ratio fell much more rapidly, remaining near 17 through summer and fall and increasing again with the production of the overwintering generation. In Metridia and Pareuchaeta the O:N ratios did not show as much seasonal variation, although there was a pronounced increase for Metridia just after the spring bloom. Both species usually had higher respiration and excretion rates and lower O:N ratios compared with Calanus spp.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ackman, R. G., 1964. Structural homogeneity in unsaturated fatty acids of marine lipids. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., Vol. 21, pp. 247–54.Google Scholar
Carlisle, D. B. & Pitman, W.J., 1961. Diapause, neurosecretion and hormones in Copepoda. Nature, Lond., Vol. 190, pp. 827–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conover, R. J., 1956. Oceanography of Long Island Sound, 1952–54. VI. Biology of Acartia clausi and A. tonsa. Bull. Bingham. oceanogr. Coll., Vol. 15, pp. 156233.Google Scholar
Conover, R. J., 1960. The feeding behaviour and respiration of some marine planktonic Crustacea. Biol. Bull. mar. biol. Lab., Woods Hole, Vol. 119, pp. 399415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, R. J., 1962. Metabolism and growth in Calanus hyperboreus in relation to its life cycle. Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer, Vol. 153, pp. 190–7.Google Scholar
Conover, R. J., 1964. Food relations and nutrition of zooplankton. Occ. Publ., Narragansett mar. Lab., No. 2, pp. 8191.Google Scholar
Conover, R. J., 1965 a. An intersex in Calanus hyperboreus. Crustaceana, Vol. 8, pp. 153–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, R. J., 1965b. Notes on the molting cycle, development of sexual characters and sex ratio in Calanus hyperboreus. Crustaceana, Vol. 8, pp. 308–20.Google Scholar
Corner, E. D. S., Cowey, C. B. & Marshall, S. M., 1965. On the nutrition and metabolism of zooplankton. III. Nitrogen excretion by Calanus. J. mar. biol. Ass., U.K., Vol. 45, pp. 429–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corner, E. D. S. & Newell, B. S., 1967. On the nutrition and metabolism of zooplankton. IV. The forms of nitrogen excreted by Calanus. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 47 pp. 113–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowey, C. B. & Corner, E. D. S., 1963a. Amino acids and some other nitrogenous compounds in Calanus finmarchicus. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 43, pp. 485–93.Google Scholar
Cowey, C. B. & Corner, E. D. S., 1963b. On the nutrition and metabolism of zooplankton. II. The relationships between the marine copepod Calanus helgolandicus and paniculate material in Plymouth sea water in terms of amino acid composition. J. mar. biol. Ass., U.K., Vol. 43, pp. 495511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haq, S. M., 1967. Nutritional physiology of Metridia lucens and M. longa from the Gulf of Maine. Limnol. Oceanogr., Vol. 12, pp. 4051.Google Scholar
Harris, E., 1959. The nitrogen cycle in Long Island Sound. Bull. Bingham oceanogr. Coll., Vol. 17, pp. 3165.Google Scholar
Heinle, D. R., 1966. Production of a calanoid copepod, Acartia tonsa, in the Patuxent River estuary. Chesapeake Sci., Vol. 7, pp. 5974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinrich, A. K., 1962. The life histories of plankton animals and seasonal cycles of plankton communities in the oceans. J. Cons. int. perm. Explor. Mer, Vol. 27, pp. 1524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannes, R. E. & Webb, K. L., 1965. Release of dissolved amino acids by marine zooplankton. Science, N.Y., Vol. 150, pp. 76–7.Google Scholar
Linford, E., 1965. Biochemical studies on marine zooplankton. II. Variations in the lipid content of some Mysidacea. J. Cons. int. explor. Mer., Vol. 30, pp. 1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maclellan, D. C., 1967. The annual cycle of certain calanoid species in West Greenland. Can. J. ZooL, Vol. 45, pp. 101–15.Google Scholar
Matthews, J. B. L., 1967. Calanus finmarchicus. s. 1. in the North Atlantic. The relationship between Calanus finmarchicus s. str., C. glacialis and C. helgolandicus. Bull. mar. Ecol., Vol. 6, pp. 159–79.Google Scholar
Menzel, D. W. & Vaccaro, R. F., 1964. The measurement of dissolved and particulate carbon in sea water. Limnol. Oceanogr., Vol. 9, pp. 138–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, S. & Stein, W. H., 1954. A modified ninhydrin reagent for the photometric determination of amino acids and related compounds. J. biol. Chem., Vol. 211, pp. 907–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mullin, M. M., 1966. Selective feeding by calanoid copepods from the Indian Ocean. In Some Contemporary Studies in Marine Science, pp. 545–54. Ed. H., Barnes. London: George Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Redfield, A. C., Ketchum, B. H. & Richards, F. A., 1963. The influence of organisms on the composition of sea water. In The Sea. Ideas and Observations on Progress in the Study of the Seas, Vol. 2, pp. 2677. Ed. Hill, M. N.. New York: Interscience.Google Scholar