Abstract
The feeding activity and diet of the small dominant Antarctic copepod, Ctenocalanus citer, were studied throughout the seasonal cycle from samples taken during several “Polarstern” cruises to the eastern Weddell Sea. Two indices of feeding activity were used, percentage of copepods with food inside and length of the faecal pellets. C. citer guts contained food throughout the year thus confirming the year-round activity of this species without diapause. Both indices demonstrated a seasonal pattern of foraging, unusual for a predominantly herbivorous copepod: high-feeding activity in autumn–winter and low in spring–summer. Our results suggest that feeding is at least partially decoupled from the phytoplankton bloom. Diet of C. citer was assessed by analyzing the gut contents. The bulk of the recognizable food in the guts of all copepodite stages consisted of small-sized phytoplankton, and no evidence of switching to a more carnivorous diet at low-phytoplankton concentrations was obtained. Usage of ice-associated algae was proposed to explain high winter-feeding activity. This knowledge of seasonal feeding patterns fills in a gap in our understanding of the life-cycle strategy of C. citer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkinson A, Peck JM (1988) A summer-winter comparison of zooplankton in the oceanic area around South Georgia. Polar Biol 8:463–473
Ayukai T, Nishizawa S (1986) Defecation rate as a possible measure of ingestion rate of Calanus pacificus (Copepoda: Calanoida). Bull Plankton Soc Japan 33:3–10
Bartsch A (1989) Die Eisalgenflora des Weddellmeeres (Antarktis): Artenzusammensetzung und Biomasse sowie Ökophysiologie ausgewählter Arten. Ber Polarforsch 63:1–110
Dagg MJ, Walser WE Jr (1986) The effect of food concentration on fecal pellet size in marine copepods. Limnol Oceanogr 31:1066–1071
Drits AV (1985) The dependence of Calanus australis ingestion rate of food concentration in natural habitat (in Russian). Oceanology 25:150–154
Farran G (1929) Crustacea, 10. Copepoda. Nat Hist Rep Br Antarct Terra Nova Exped 8:203–206
Fransz HG (1988) Vernal abundance, structure and development of epipelagic copepod populations of the eastern Weddell Sea (Antarctica). Polar Biol 9:107–114
Fukuchi M, Tanimura A (1981) A preliminary note on the occurrence of copepods under sea ice near Syowa Station, Antarctica. Mem Natl Inst Polar Res Tokyo (Ser E) 34:13–36
Hopkins TL (1985) Food web of an Antarctic midwater ecosystem. Mar Biol 89:197–212
Hopkins TL (1987) Midwater food web in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica. Mar Biol 96:93–106
Hopkins TL, Torres JJ (1988) The zooplankton community in the vicinity of the ice edge, western Weddell Sea, March 1986. Polar Biol 9:79–87
Hubold G (1992) Zur Ökologie der Fische im Weddellmeer. Ber Polarforsch 103:1–157
Kaczmaruk BZ (1983) Occurrence and distribution of the Antarctic copepods along the ice shelves in the Weddell Sea in summer 1979/80. Meeresforschung 30:25–41
Kellermann A (1986) Zur Biologie der Jugendstadien der Notothenioidei (Pisces) an der Antarktischen Halbinsel. Ber Polarforsch 31:1–148
Lima SL, Dill LM (1990) Behavioral decisions made under the risk of predation: a review and prospectus. Can J Zool 68:619–640
Milinski M (1993) Predation risk and feeding behaviour. In: Pitcher T (ed) The behaviour of teleost fishes. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 285–305
Morales CE, Bedo A, Harris RP, Tranter PRG (1991) Grazing of copepod assemblages in the north-east Atlantic: the importance of the small size fraction. J Plankton Res 13:455–472
Nöthig E-M (1987) Untersuchungen zur Ökologie des Phytoplanktons in der südöstlichen Weddell See im australen Sommer 1985 (Januar/Februar, Antarktis III/3). PhD thesis, Univ Kiel
Niehoff B, Schnack-Schiel SB, Cornils A, Brichta M (2002) Reproductive activity of two dominant Antarctic copepod species, Metridia gelachei and Ctenocalanus citer, in late autumn in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea. Polar Biol 25:583–590
Pasternak AF (1995) Gut content and diel feeding rhythm in dominant copepods in the ice-covered Weddell Sea, March 1992. Polar Biol 15:583–586
Pasternak AF, Schnack-Schiel SB (2001a) Seasonal feeding patterns of the dominant Antarctic copepods Calanus propinquus and Calanoides acutus in the Weddell Sea. Polar Biol 24:771–784
Pasternak AF, Schnack-Schiel SB (2001b) Feeding patterns of dominant Antarctic copepods: an interplay of diapause, selectivity, and availability of food. Hydrobiologia 453/454:25–36
Pasternak A, Tande KS, Arashkevich E, Melle W (2004) Reproductive patterns of Calanus finmarchicus at the Norwegian midshelf in 1997. J Plankton Res 26:839–849
Scharek R (1991) Die Entwicklung des Phytoplanktons im östlichen Weddellmeer (Antarktis) beim Übergang vom Spätwinter zum Frühjahr. Ber Polarforsch 94:1–195
Schnack-Schiel SB (2001) Aspects of the study of the life cycles of Antarctic copepods. Hydrobiologia 453/454:9–24
Schnack SB, Marschall S, Mizdalski E (1985a) On the distribution of copepods and larvae of Euphausia superba in Antarctic waters during February 1982. Meeresforschung 30:251–263
Schnack SB, Smetacek V, v Bodungen B, Stegmann P (1985b) Utilization of phytoplankton by copepods in Antarctic waters during spring. In: Gray JS, Christiansen ME (eds) Marine biology of polar regions and effects of stress on marine organisms. Wiley Ltd., Chichester, pp 65–81
Schnack-Schiel SB, Mizdalski E (1994) Seasonal variations in distribution and population structure of Microcalanus pygmaeus and Ctenocalanus citer (Copepoda:Calanoida) in the eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Mar Biol 119:357–366
Schnack-Schiel SB, Hagen W, Mizdalski E (1998) Seasonal carbon distribution of copepods in the eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. J Mar Syst 17:305–311
Tanimura A, Fukushi M, Hoshiai T (1986) Seasonal change in the abundance of zooplankton and species composition of copepods in the ice-covered sea near Syowa Station, Antarctica. Mem Natl Inst Polar Res Tokyo (Spec Issue) 40:212–220
Tholen K (1995) Die spätherbstliche Verbreitung von Zoo- und Phytoplankton im Weddellmeer, Antarktis. Master Thesis, University of Bremen, pp 67
Tsuda A, Nemoto T (1990) The effect of food concentration on the faecal pellet size of the marine coepod Pseudocalanus newmani Frost. Bull Plankton Soc Japan 37:83–90
Tucker MJ, Burton H (1990) Seasonal and spatial variations in the zooplankton community of an eastern Antarctic coastal location. Polar Biol 10:571–579
Zmijewska MI (1983) Copepoda (Calanoida) from the Prydz Bay (Antarctica, Indian Ocean Sector). Pol Polar Res 4:33–47
Zmijewska MI, Yen J (1993) Seasonal and diel changes in the abundance and vertical distribution of the Antarctic copepod species Calanoides acutus, Calanus propinquus, Rhincalanus gigas, Metridia gerlachei and Euchaeta antarctica (Calanoida) in Croker Passage (Antarctic Peninsula). Oceanologia 35:101–127
Acknowledgments
Part of this study was carried out during guest scientist visits of AP to the Alfred-Wegener-Institut. It was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant No 04-04-48128) and by the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Fellowship program to AP. We are grateful to Ruth Alheit and Jefferson Turner who corrected the English.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pasternak, A.F., Schnack-Schiel, S.B. Feeding of Ctenocalanus citer in the eastern Weddell Sea: low in summer and spring, high in autumn and winter. Polar Biol 30, 493–501 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0208-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-006-0208-4