Predator foraging mode shifts affecting mortality of juvenile fishes during the subarctic spring bloom

1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
T M Willette ◽  
R T Cooney ◽  
K Hyer
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Spring Bloom ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Walleye Pollock ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha ◽  
Pacific Herring ◽  
Juvenile Growth ◽  
Calanoid Copepods ◽  
Foraging Mode

We examined some processes affecting foraging mode shifts among Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) and walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) during the spring bloom in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The duration of the bloom of the copepod Neocalanus was reduced when the surface layer became strongly stratified in May. Stronger surface layer stratification observed in 1995 and 1996 was associated with higher salinities below 50 m depth compared with 1994. Functional response models for Pacific herring and adult walleye pollock feeding on large calanoid copepods indicated that these predators began to switch to alternative prey as the mean biomass of large calanoid copepods declined below about 0.2 and 1.0 g/m3, respectively. Analysis of covariance indicated that Pacific herring and walleye pollock tended to switch from large calanoid copepods to nekton prey after the copepod bloom declined (p = 0.028). Mortality of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) was negatively correlated with the duration of the copepod bloom during the juvenile life stage (p = 0.013), as well as with juvenile growth rate (p < 0.001), juvenile body weight at release (p < 0.001), and the number of juveniles released (p < 0.001). Our results indicate that bottom-up processes affecting the duration of the spring bloom and juvenile growth also modify top-down processes involving foraging mode shifts toward piscivory and mortality of juvenile fishes.

scholarly journals Dead zone or oasis in the open ocean? Zooplankton distribution and migration in low-oxygen modewater eddies

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1977-1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Hauss ◽  
Svenja Christiansen ◽  
Florian Schütte ◽  
Rainer Kiko ◽  
Miryam Edvam Lima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Dead Zone ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Zooplankton Abundance ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Calanoid Copepods ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Oxygen Concentrations ◽  
Ocean Deoxygenation

Abstract. The eastern tropical North Atlantic (ETNA) features a mesopelagic oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) at approximately 300–600 m depth. Here, oxygen concentrations rarely fall below 40 µmol O2 kg−1, but are expected to decline under future projections of global warming. The recent discovery of mesoscale eddies that harbour a shallow suboxic (< 5 µmol O2 kg−1) OMZ just below the mixed layer could serve to identify zooplankton groups that may be negatively or positively affected by ongoing ocean deoxygenation. In spring 2014, a detailed survey of a suboxic anticyclonic modewater eddy (ACME) was carried out near the Cape Verde Ocean Observatory (CVOO), combining acoustic and optical profiling methods with stratified multinet hauls and hydrography. The multinet data revealed that the eddy was characterized by an approximately 1.5-fold increase in total area-integrated zooplankton abundance. At nighttime, when a large proportion of acoustic scatterers is ascending into the upper 150 m, a drastic reduction in mean volume backscattering (Sv) at 75 kHz (shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler, ADCP) within the shallow OMZ of the eddy was evident compared to the nighttime distribution outside the eddy. Acoustic scatterers avoided the depth range between approximately 85 to 120 m, where oxygen concentrations were lower than approximately 20 µmol O2 kg−1, indicating habitat compression to the oxygenated surface layer. This observation is confirmed by time series observations of a moored ADCP (upward looking, 300 kHz) during an ACME transit at the CVOO mooring in 2010. Nevertheless, part of the diurnal vertical migration (DVM) from the surface layer to the mesopelagic continued through the shallow OMZ. Based upon vertically stratified multinet hauls, Underwater Vision Profiler (UVP5) and ADCP data, four strategies followed by zooplankton in response to in response to the eddy OMZ have been identified: (i) shallow OMZ avoidance and compression at the surface (e.g. most calanoid copepods, euphausiids); (ii) migration to the shallow OMZ core during daytime, but paying O2 debt at the surface at nighttime (e.g. siphonophores, Oncaea spp., eucalanoid copepods); (iii) residing in the shallow OMZ day and night (e.g. ostracods, polychaetes); and (iv) DVM through the shallow OMZ from deeper oxygenated depths to the surface and back. For strategy (i), (ii) and (iv), compression of the habitable volume in the surface may increase prey–predator encounter rates, rendering zooplankton and micronekton more vulnerable to predation and potentially making the eddy surface a foraging hotspot for higher trophic levels. With respect to long-term effects of ocean deoxygenation, we expect avoidance of the mesopelagic OMZ to set in if oxygen levels decline below approximately 20 µmol O2 kg−1. This may result in a positive feedback on the OMZ oxygen consumption rates, since zooplankton and micronekton respiration within the OMZ as well as active flux of dissolved and particulate organic matter into the OMZ will decline.

Sea lice infection of juvenile pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha): effects on swimming performance and postexercise ion balance

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Nendick ◽  
M. Sackville ◽  
S. Tang ◽  
C. J. Brauner ◽  
A. P. Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Pink Salmon ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Sea Lice ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha ◽  
Swimming Velocity ◽  
Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha ◽  
Average Body Mass

Sea lice ( Lepeophtheirus salmonis ) infection negatively affected swimming performance and postswim body ion concentrations of juvenile pink salmon ( Oncorhynchus gorbuscha ) at a 0.34 g average body mass but not at 1.1 g. Maximum swimming velocity (Umax) was measured on over 350 individual pink salmon (0.2–3.0 g), two-thirds of which had a sea lice infection varying in intensity (one to three sea lice per fish) and life stage (chalimus 1 to preadult). For fish averaging 0.34 g (caught in a nearby river free of sea lice and transferred to seawater before being experimentally infected), the significant reduction in Umax was dependent on sea lice life stage, not intensity, and Umax decreased only after the chalimus 2 life stage. Experimental infections also significantly elevated postswim whole body concentrations of sodium (by 23%–28%) and chloride (by 22%–32%), but independent of sea lice developmental stage or infection intensity. For fish averaging 1.1 g (captured in seawater with existing sea lice), the presence of sea lice had no significant effect on either Umax or postswim whole body ions. Thus, a single L. salmonis impacted swimming performance and postswim whole body ions of only the smallest pink salmon and with a sea louse stage of chalimus 3 or greater.

Growth and Maturation of Pacific Herring (Clupea harengus pallasi) in the Strait of Georgia

1985 ◽  
Vol 42 (S1) ◽  
pp. s138-s146 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Haist ◽  
M. Stocker
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Pacific Herring ◽  
Juvenile Growth ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
Surplus Energy ◽  
Clupea Harengus Pallasi ◽  
Stock Biomass

Juvenile growth rate, adult surplus energy, and the maturation schedule for the Strait of Georgia Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasi) stock were investigated over the period 1950–81. The variance in weight at age 2 is largely accounted for by juvenile abundance and sea surface temperature, indicating density-dependent juvenile growth moderated by environmental factors. Density and environmental factors have been equally important in moderating juvenile growth. Yearly variation in maturation of 3-yr-old herring is related to their average length; however, in two of the eight years studied the 3-yr-olds matured at considerably smaller sizes. The variance in adult surplus energy (growth plus gonad production) was largely accounted for by body weight, adult biomass, and sea surface temperature. A dome-shaped relationship between surplus energy and biomass was indicated, suggesting that over a broad range of population size, adult surplus energy is not density dependent. The relationship of sea surface temperature to both juvenile growth and adult surplus energy was quadratic with an optimum value. Recruitment biomass has been a relatively larger component than adult production of total stock growth, particularly during the period of high fishing intensity. This resulted in large fluctuations in stock biomass; in recent years, with lower fishing intensity, adult production has been a larger component of stock growth, and the stock biomass has become more stable.

scholarly journals Zooplankton diversity and distribution in a deep and anoxic Mediterranean coastal lake

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. KEHAYIAS ◽  
A. RAMFOS ◽  
S. IOANNOU ◽  
P. BISOUKI ◽  
E. KYRTZOGLOU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Size Fraction ◽  
Oxygen Depletion ◽  
Seasonal Cycles ◽  
Zooplankton Abundance ◽  
Calanoid Copepods ◽  
Coastal Lake ◽  
The Vertical Distribution ◽  
Western Greece ◽  
Surface Layer Temperature

The variation of the smaller size fraction of zooplankton was investigated during a two-year period in a brackish deep and anoxic coastal lake of western Greece (Aitoliko), along with the specific environmental characteristics of this ecosystem. The zooplanktonic community comprised a relatively small number of taxa and it was dominated by brackish-water calanoid copepods (Paracartia latisetosa, Calanipeda aquaedulcis) and in certain periods by rotifers and tintinnids. The zooplankton abundance showed an increase in the warmer period starting from late spring and reached maximum values in July. In the well oxygenated surface layer, temperature was the most important parameter influencing the seasonal cycles of all groups. In contrast, the oxygen depletion a few meters under the surface affected the vertical distribution of most of the zooplankton groups, which were found restricted in the surface layer especially from spring until autumn. Only the meroplanktonic larvae of polychaetes presented increased proportions in the deeper layers. Salinity has not significantly influenced the zooplanktonic assemblages. The results point out the degraded status of the Aitoliko basin where the hypoxic/anoxic layers resulted to a high portion of dead organic material identified as copepod carcasses, and underlines the necessity of monitoring of this ecosystem.

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