Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Seasonal changes in digestive enzyme (trypsin) activity of the copepods Pseudocalanus minutus (Calanoida) and Oithona similis (Cyclopoida) in the Arctic Kongsfjorden (Svalbard)

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Polar Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Seasonal activities of the digestive enzyme trypsin were measured between August 1998 and May 1999 to study different nutritional strategies of the two copepods Pseudocalanus minutus and Oithona similis in the Arctic Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) using a highly sensitive fluorescence technique. Stage-, depth- and season-specific characteristics of digestive activity were reflected in the trypsin activity. P. minutus females and stage V copepodids (C) had highest trypsin activities in spring during reproduction (197.5 and 145.7 nmol min−1 ng C−1, respectively). In summer stages CIII–V and in autumn stages CIV and V had high activities (80–116 nmol min−1 ng C−1) in the shallow layer (< 100 m) presumably as a consequence of prolonged feeding before descending to overwintering depth. Trypsin activities at depth (> 100 m) in summer and autumn were low in stages CIII and CIV (29–60 nmol min−1 ng C−1) and in winter in all stages in both layers (20–43 nmol min−1 ng C−1). Based on low trypsin activity, males most likely did not feed. In O. similis, the spring phytoplankton bloom did not significantly affect trypsin activity as compared to the other seasons. O. similis CV and females had high trypsin activities in summer in the deep stratum (304.5 nmol min−1 ng C−1), which was concomitant with reproductive processes and energy storage for overwintering. In autumn, stage CV and female O. similis had significantly higher activities than stage CIV (130–152 versus 78 nmol min−1 ng C−1), which is in accordance with still ongoing developmental and reproductive processes in CVs and females. Comparisons of both species revealed different depth-related responses emphasizing different nutritional preferences: the mainly herbivorous P. minutus is more actively feeding in the shallow layer, where primary production occurs, whereas the omnivorous O. similis is not as much restricted to a certain depth layer, when searching for food. P. minutus had lower levels of trypsin activity during all seasons. In contrast to P. minutus, higher enzyme activities in males of O. similis suggest that they continue to feed and survive after fertilization of females.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Båmstedt U (1988) Interspecific, seasonal and diel variations in zooplankton trypsin and amylase activities in Kosterfjorden, western Sweden. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 44:15–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Båmstedt U, Gifford DJ, Irigoien X, Atkinson A, Roman A (2000) Feeding. In: Harris RP, Wiebe PH, Lenz J, Skjoldal HR, Huntley M (eds) Zooplankton methodology manual. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 297–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedo AW, Head EJH, Conover RJ, Horne EPW, Harris LR (1990) Physiological adaptations of an under-ice population of Pseudocalanus in Barrow Strait (NWT) to increasing food supply in spring. Polar Biol 10:561–570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castellani C, Robinson C, Smith T, Lampitt RS (2005) Temperature affects respiration rate of Oithona similis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 285:129–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Corkett CJ, McLaren IA (1978) The biology of Pseudocalanus. Adv Mar Biol 15:1–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cowles TJ, Olson RJ, Chisholm SW (1988) Food selection by copepods: Discrimination on the basis of food quality. Mar Biol 100:41–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drits AV, Semenova TN (1984) Experimental investigations of the feeding of Oithona similis Claus. Oceanol Acad Sci USSR 24:755–759

    Google Scholar 

  • Eaton JM (1971) Studies on the feeding and reproductive biology of the marine cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis, Claus. Ph.D. thesis. Dalhousie University, Halifax, 101 pp

  • Gallienne CP, Robins DB (2001) Is Oithona the most important copepod in the world’s oceans? J Plankton Res 23:1421–1432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González HE, Smetacek V (1994) The possible role of the cyclopoid copepod Oithona in retarding vertical flux of zooplankton fecal material. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 113:233–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallberg E, Hirche H-J (1980) Differentiation of mid-gut in adults and over-wintering copepodids of Calanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus) and C. helgolandicus Claus. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 48:283–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen FC, Möllmann C, Schütz U, Hinrichsen HH (2004) Spatio-temporal distribution of Oithona similis in the Bornholm Basin (Central Baltic Sea). J Plankton Res 26(6):659–668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris RP, Samain J-F, Moal J, Martin-Jezequel V, Poulet SA (1986) Effects of algal diet on digestive enzyme activity in Calanus helgolandicus. Mar Biol 90:353–361

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hassett RP, Landry MR (1988) Short-term changes in feeding and digestion by the copepod Calanus pacificus. Mar Biol 99:63–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassett RP, Landry MR (1990) Seasonal changes in feeding rate, digestive enzyme activity, and assimilation efficiency of Calanus pacificus. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 62:203–210

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Head EJH, Conover RJ (1983) Induction of digestive enzymes in Calanus hyperboreus. Mar Biol Let 4:219–231

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Head EJH, Harris LR (1985) Physiological and biochemical changes in Calanus hyperboreus from Jones Sound NWT during the transition from summer feeding to overwintering condition. Polar Biol 4:99–106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Head EJH, Harris LR, Abou Debs C (1985) Effect of daylength and food concentration on in situ diurnal feeding rhythms in Arctic copepods. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 24:281–288

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hirche H-J (1989) Spatial distribution of digestive enzyme activities of Calanus finmarchicus and C. hyperboreus in Fram Strait/Greenland Sea. J Plankton Res 11:431–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hop H, Pearson T, Hegseth EN, Kovacs KM, Wiencke C, Kwasniewski S, Eiane K, Mehlum F, Gulliksen B, Wlodarska-Kowalczuk M, Lydersen C, Weslawski JM, Cochrane S, Gabrielsen GW, Leakey RJG, Lønne OJ, Zajaczkowski M, Falk-Petersen S, Kendall M, Wängberg S-Å, Bischof K, Voronkov AY, Kovaltchouk NA, Wiktor J, Poltermann M, di Prisco G, Papucci C, Gerland S (2002) The marine ecosystem of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Polar Res 21:167–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang JS, Turner JT (1995) Behaviour of cyclopoid, harpacticoid, and calanoid copepods from coastal waters of Taiwan. Mar Ecol 16:207–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingvaldsen R, Reitan BM, Svendsen H, Asplin L (2001) The upper layer circulation in Kongsfjorden and Krossfjorden—A complex fjord system on the west coast of Spitsbergen. Mem Natl Inst Polar Res 54:393–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Ito H, Kudoh S (1997) Characteristics of water in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Proc NIPR Symp Polar Meteorol Glaciol 11:211–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein Breteler WCM, Fransz HG, Gonzalez SR (1982) Growth and development of four calanoid copepod species under experimental and natural conditions. Neth J Sea Res 16:195–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwasniewski S (1990) A note on zooplankton of the Hornsund Fjord and its seasonal changes. Oceanografia 12:7–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Lampitt RS, Gamble JC (1982) Diet and respiration of the small planktonic marine copepod Oithona nana. Mar Biol 66:185–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemos D, Hernández-Cortés MP, Navarrete A, Garcia-Carreño FL, Phan VN (1999) Ontogenetic variation in digestive proteinase activity of larvae and postlarvae of the pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus paulensis (Crustacea: Decapoda: Penaeidae). Mar Biol 135:653–662

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leu E, Falk-Petersen S, Kwasniewski S, Wulff A, Edvardsen K, Hessen DO (2006) Fatty acid dynamics during the spring bloom in a High Arctic fjord: importance of abiotic factors versus community changes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:2760–2779

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Libourel Houde SD, Roman MR (1987) Effects of food quality on the functional ingestion response of the copepod Acartia tonsa. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 40:69–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Lischka S, Hagen W (2005) Life histories of the copepods Pseudocalanus minutus, P. acuspes (Calanoida) and Oithona similis (Cyclopoida) in the Arctic Kongsfjorden (Svalbard). Polar Biol 28:910–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lischka S, Hagen W (2007) Seasonal lipid dynamics of the copepods Pseudocalanus minutus (Calanoida) and Oithona similis (Cyclopoida) in the Arctic Kongsfjorden (Svalbard). Mar Biol 150:443–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovett DL, Felder DL (1990) Ontogenetic change in digestive enzyme activity of larval and postlarval white shrimp Penaeus setiferus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Penaeidae). Biol Bull 178:144–159

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maar M, Visser AW, Nielsen TG, Stips A, Saito H (2006) Turbulence and feeding behaviour affect the vertical distributions of Oithona similis and Microsetella norwegica. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 313:157–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall SM, Orr AP (1966) Respiration and feeding in some small copepods. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 46:513–530

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayzaud P (1986) Digestive enzymes and their relation to nutrition. In: Corner EDS, O’Hara SCM (eds) The biological chemistry of marine copepods. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 165–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayzaud P, Roche-Mayzaud O, Razouls S (1992) Medium term time acclimation of feeding and digestive enzyme activity in marine copepods: Influence of food concentration and copepod species. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 89:197–212

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mayzaud P, Razouls S, Errhif A, Tirelli V, Labat JP (2002a) Feeding, respiration and egg production rates of copepods during austral spring in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean: role of the zooplankton community in carbon transformation. Deep-Sea Res I 49:1027–1048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayzaud P, Tirelli V, Errhif A, Labat JP, Razouls S, Perissinotto R (2002b) Carbon intake by zooplankton, importance and role of zooplankton grazing in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Deep-Sea Res II 49:3169–3187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer B, Saborowski R, Atkinson A, Buchholz F, Bathmann U (2002) Seasonal differences in citrate synthase and digestive enzyme activity in larval and postlarval Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. Mar Biol 141:855–862

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura Y, Turner JT (1997) Predation and respiration by the small cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis: how important is feeding on ciliates and heterotrophic flagellates? J Plankton Res 19:1275–1288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen TG, Sabatini M (1996) Role of cyclopoid copepods Oithona spp. in North Sea plankton communities. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 139(1–3):79–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Norrbin MF (1994) Seasonal patterns in gonad maturation, sex ratio and size in some small, high latitude copepods: implications for overwintering tactics. J Plankton Res 16:115–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obermüller B (1999, unpublished M.Sc. thesis) Charakterisierung arktischer Mesozooplanktongemeinschaften während einer Winter-/Frühjahrs-Übergangsperiode. Diploma thesis. Institut für Polarökologie, Universität Kiel, Kiel, 112 pp

  • Okolodkov YB, Hapter R, Semovski SV (2000) Phytoplankton in Kongsfjorden, Spitsbergen, July 1996. Sarsia 85:345–352

    Google Scholar 

  • Paffenhöfer GA (1993) On the ecology of marine cyclopoid copepods (Crustacea, Copepoda). J Plankton Res 15:37–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runge JA, Ingram RG (1991) Under-ice feeding and diel migration by the planktonic copepods Calanus glacialis and Pseudocalanus minutus in relation to the ice algal production cycle in southeastern Hudson Bay, Canada. Mar Biol 108:217–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabatini M, Kiørboe T (1994) Egg production, growth and development of the cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis. J Plankton Res 16:1329–1351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svendsen H, Beszczynska-Møller A, Hagen JO, Lefauconnier B, Tverberg V, Gerland S, Ørbæck JB, Bischof K, Papucci C, Zajaczkowski M, Attolini R, Bruland O, Wiencke C, Winther JG, Dallmann W (2002) The physical environment of Kongsfjorden-Krossfjorden, an Arctic fjord system in Svalbard. Polar Res 21:133–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tande KS, Slagstad D (1982) Ecological investigation on the zooplankton community of Balsfjorden, northern Norway. Seasonal and short-time variations in enzyme activity in copepodite stage V and VI males and females of Calanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus). Sarsia 67:63–68

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Uchima M, Hirano R (1986) Food of Oithona davisae (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) and the effect of food concentration at first feeding on the larval growth. Bull Plankton Soc Jpn 33:21–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Ueberschär B (1988) Determination of the nutritional condition of individual marine fish larvae by analyzing their proteolytic enzyme activities with a highly sensitive fluorescence technique. Meeresforsch 32:144–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Ueberschär B (1995) The use of tryptic enzyme activity measurement as a nutritional condition index: Laboratory calibration data and field application. In: Pittman K, Batty RS, Verreth J (eds) ICES Mar Sci Symp, pp 119–129

  • Weslawski JM, Zajaczkowski M, Kwasniewski S, Jezierski J, Moskal W (1988) Seasonality in an Arctic fjord ecosystem: Hornsund, Spitsbergen. Pol Res 6:185–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weslawski JM, Jankowski A, Kwasniewski S (1991) Summer hydrology and zooplankton in two Svalbard fjords. Pol Polar Res 12:445–460

    Google Scholar 

  • Weslawski JM, Ryg M, Smith TG, Oritsland NA (1994) Diet of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) in a fjord of west Svalbard. Arctic 47:109–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiktor J (1999) Early spring microplankton development under fast ice covered fjords of Svalbard, Arctic. Oceanologia 41:51–72

    Google Scholar 

  • World Meteorological Organization (1970) WMO Sea-ice nomenclature. WMO/OMM/BMO Rep 259(TP145)

  • Zar J (1996) Biostatistical analysis. Prentice–Hall, London, 929 pp

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS) and the staff of the Koldewey Station of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Ny Ålesund for providing excellent logistic facilities and support during the one-year field period. Special thanks go to Dr. Ole Jørgen Lønne for supervising the project during the one-year-stay at UNIS. The first author would like to thank all volunteers who helped during the field-work under sometimes extreme climatic conditions. Dr. Alexandra Drossou (Kiel) is gratefully acknowledged for her help during the introduction into the method. This manuscript benefited substantially from critical comments on an earlier version and further support of Dr. Reinhard Saborowski. Dr. Bodil Bluhm improved the manuscript by helpful suggestions. We also thank two anonymous referees for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft and three anonymous referees for helpful comments on this manuscript. The sampling period on Svalbard was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HA 1706/4–1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Polarökologie, Universität Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1–3, Geb. 12, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    Silke Lischka

  2. Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar und Meeresforschung, 27498, Helgoland, Germany

    Luis Giménez

  3. Sección Oceanología, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Luis Giménez

  4. Marine Zoologie (FB 2), Universität Bremen (NW 2A), Postfach 330 440, 28334, Bremen, Germany

    Wilhelm Hagen

  5. Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, Marine Ökologie (FB 3), Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Bernd Ueberschär

Authors
  1. Silke Lischka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luis Giménez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wilhelm Hagen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bernd Ueberschär
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silke Lischka.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lischka, S., Giménez, L., Hagen, W. et al. Seasonal changes in digestive enzyme (trypsin) activity of the copepods Pseudocalanus minutus (Calanoida) and Oithona similis (Cyclopoida) in the Arctic Kongsfjorden (Svalbard). Polar Biol 30, 1331–1341 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0294-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0294-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation