Copepod Feeding Responses to Changes in Coccolithophore Size and Carbon Content

• Published in: Journal of marine science and engineering Vol. 10; no. 12; p. 1807
• Main Authors: Toullec, Jordan, Delegrange, Alice, Perruchon, Adélaïde, Duong, Gwendoline, Cornille, Vincent, Brutier, Laurent, Hermoso, Michaël
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Acidification; Aquatic crustaceans; Biogeochemical cycle; Biogeochemical cycles; Calcification; Calcite; Calcite crystals; Carbon; Carbon content; Carbon dioxide; Carbonates; Cell size; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll a; coccolithophore; Coccoliths; Copepoda; copepods; Earth Sciences; elemental stoichiometry; Environmental changes; Faecal pellets; fecal pellet egestion; Feces; Fluorescence; Food; Foraging behavior; Geochemistry; gut content; Ingestion; ingestion rate; Laboratories; Morphology; Ocean, Atmosphere; Organic carbon; Pellets; Phytoplankton; Plankton; Prey; Sciences of the Universe; Seawater; Stoichiometry; Zooplankton; France; English Channel; coccolithophore; fecal pellet egestion; copepods; functional response; ingestion rate; gut content; elemental stoichiometry
• ISSN: 2077-1312; 2077-1312
• DOI: 10.3390/jmse10121807

Phytoplankton stoichiometry and cell size could result from both phenology and environmental change. Zooplankton graze on primary producers, and this drives both the balance of the ecosystem and the biogeochemical cycles. In this study, we performed incubations with copepods and coccolithophores including different prey sizes and particulate carbon contents by considering phytoplankton biovolume concentration instead of chlorophyll a level (Chl a) as is usually performed in such studies. The egestion of fecal pellet and ingestion rates were estimated based on a gut fluorescence method. The latter was calibrated through the relationship between prey Chl a level and the biovolume of the cell. Chl a/biovolume ratio in phytopkanton has to be considered in the copepod gut fluorescent content method. Both coccolithophore biovolume and particulate inorganic/organic carbon ratios affect the food foraging by copepods. Finally, we observed a non-linear relationship between ingestion rates and fecal pellet egestion, due to the presence of calcite inside the copepod’s gut. These results illustrate that both prey size and stoichiometry need to be considered in copepod feeding dynamics, specifically regarding the process leading to the formation of fecal pellets.