Description: Copepod samples were taken during the Antarctic expedition PS 79 (ANT XXVIII/2) with RV Polarstern (Cape Town – Cape Town, 3 Dec 2011 – 5 Jan 2012). Copepods were collected at Station 53 (60° 3.22'S, 0° 2.14' E) in the Antarctic Weddell Gyre on 28 December 2011 by vertical bongo net hauls down to 300 m depth. Specimens of C. acutus (210 copepodids CV and 160 females) and of C. propinquus (125 females, no CV stages available) were gently sorted from the catch, maintained alive in filtered seawater at 0°C in a cooling container on board and transported to Germany at 0°C by airplane. Feeding carbon-labelled diatoms to these copepods during 9 days of feeding ,13C elucidated assimilation and turnover rates of copepod total lipids as well as specific fatty acids and alcohols. The 13C incorporation into these compounds was monitored by compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA). The differences in lipid assimilation and turnover clearly show that the copepod species exhibit a high variability and plasticity to adapt their lipid production to their various life phases.

Description: Zooplankton metabolic processes play an important role in carbon budgets and fluxes of pelagic ecosystems. Respiration rates of several copepod species were determined to reveal their energy requirements and assess their significance in the carbon cycle. Respiration rates were measured by optode respirometry and allometrically based on body dry mass (DM). For the on-board measurements, a 10-channel optode respirometer (PreSens Precision Sensing Oxy-10 Mini) was used and experiments were run in gas-tight glass bottles (13-14 ml) filled with filtered seawater to reduce bias by microbial respiration. In addition, respiration rates for all dominant copepod species during MSM80 including copepodite stages C4 to C6 were determined based on individual DM and respective ambient temperatures after Bode et al. (2018). For that, individual DM, if not available from frozen specimens, was determined from formalin/Steedman-preserved samples by weighing the dried samples on a microbalance. Losses in body DM due to formalin/Steedman preservation were considered after Schukat et al. (2021). Respiration rates were calculated separately for the copepod family Eucalanidae (a) as they are rather sluggish while all other copepods exhibited normal activity (b). (a) lnRTF = -2.180 + 0.787 ln(DM) + 0.131T and (b) lnRAC = -0.890 + 0.646 ln(DM) + 0.094T, where R (μl O2 ind-1 h-1) is the individual respiration rate for eucalanid (RTF) and active (RAC) copepods, DM represents dry mass in mg and T the average temperature (°C) of the sampling interval. Respiration rates of the medium- to larger-sized copepods (female prosome length (PL) of 1.2-6.0 mm) were compared to those of "small copepods" (all copepods with female PL 〈1.1 mm and young stages). Medium- to larger-sized species ingested on average 13-212 mg C m-2 d-1 in coastal regions while "small copepods" on average consumed 118-328 mg C m-2 d-1. The potential egestion varied on average from 5-64 mg C m-2 d-1 for medium to larger-sized copepods and 35-98 mg C m-2 d-1 for "small copepods". Data of energy demands, consumption and egestion rates of copepod species differing in size are essential to improve carbon budgets and food-web models in the Humboldt Current System.