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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2019-07-09
    Description: Larval fish growth and survival depends not only on prey quantity, but also on prey quality. To investigate effects of prey fatty acid concentration on larval herring growth, we collected different prey organisms and larval herring (Clupea harengus L.) in the Kiel Canal during the spring season of 2009. Along with biotic background data, we analysed fatty acids both in prey organisms and in the larvae and used biochemically derived growth rates of the larvae as the response variable. Larval herring reached their highest RNA/DNA derived growth rates only at high docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentration. When the ratio of copepodids to lesser quality cirriped nauplii was low, larval growth and larval DHA concentration were both significantly negatively affected. This was true even as prey abundance was increasing. This finding indicates that even in mixed, natural feeding conditions, growth variations are associated with DHA availability in larval fish.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2014-09-01
    Description: Rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have led to increased CO2 concentrations in the oceans. This enhanced carbon availability to the marine primary producers has the potential to change their nutrient stoichiometry, and higher carbon-to-nutrient ratios are expected. As a result, the quality of the primary producers as food for herbivores may change. Here, we present experimental work showing the effect of feeding Rhodomonas salina grown under different pCO2 (200, 400 and 800 μatm) on the copepod Acartia tonsa. The rate of development of copepodites decreased with increasing CO2 availability to the algae. The surplus carbon in the algae was excreted by the copepods, with younger stages (copepodites) excreting most of their surplus carbon through respiration and adult copepods excreting surplus carbon mostly as DOC. We consider the possible consequences of different excretory pathways for the ecosystem. A continued increase in the CO2 availability for primary production, together with changes in the nutrient loading of coastal ecosystems, may cause changes in the trophic links between primary producers and herbivores.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Increasing anthropogenic CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is altering sea water carbonate chemistry with unknown biological and ecological consequences. Whereas some reports are beginning to emerge on the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on fish, very little is known about the impact of OA on jellyfish. In particular, the benthic stages of metagenetic species are virtually unstudied in this context despite their obvious importance for bloom dynamics. Hence, we conducted tri-trophic food chain experiments using the algae Rhodomonas salina as the primary producer, the copepod Acartia tonsa as the primary consumer and the benthic life stage of the scyphozoans Cyanea capillata and Chrysaora hysoscella as secondary consumers. Two experiments were conducted examining the effects of different levels of CO2 and food quality (experiment 1) and the effect of food quality and quantity (experiment 2) on the growth and respiration of scyphozoan polyps. Polyp growth and carbon content (µg polyp−1) were not affected by the CO2 treatments, but were significantly negatively affected by P limitation of the food in C. capillata but not in Ch. hysoscella. Growth and carbon content were reduced in low-food treatments, but increased with decreasing P limitation in high- and low-food treatments in C. capillata. Respiration was not significantly influenced by food quality and quantity in C. capillata. We conclude that phosphorus can be a limiting factor affecting the fitness of scyphopolyps and that P-limited food is of poor nutritional quality. Furthermore, OA, at least using realistic end-of-century scenarios, will have no direct effect on the growth of scyphistomae
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2019-07-19
    Description: Food-limited growth of larval fish, defined as growth rates lower than observed in other habitats or from laboratory experiments at a given temperature, is rarely reported in field studies. This would imply that either larval fishes are living in an environment characterized by plenty of food, that nutritional condition selective mortality (i.e., eliminating the weak) is very strong, or this impression is caused by misinterpretation of data concerning e.g., poor taxonomical resolution of potential prey items, i.e., total potential prey abundance is high, but positively selected food is actually scarce. We analyzed RNA:DNA derived growth rates of herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.) and taxonomically differentiated prey field data of six consecutive spring seasons from the Kiel Canal, an artificial waterway in northern Germany, in order to test if food-limited growth in larval fish can occur recurrently in coastal habitats. In all years analyzed, larval growth rates decreased simultaneously with prey abundance at the end of each larval season. Furthermore, larval growth rates were observed to be lower than mean growth rates observed in another herring larvae nursery area at temperatures above 15 °C. Asymptotic relationships between prey abundance and larval growth rates were observed, further supporting the hypothesis of food-limitation. As larval growth was best explained by the abundance of the numerically dominant calanoid copepod Eurytemora affinis, the paramount importance of the dominant prey item is highlighted. We conclude that food limitation can be a severe and re-occurring issue for larval fish in coastal habitats, and that certain prey items play a crucial role in determining larval growth rates, and therefore potentially recruitment.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2019-07-09
    Description: The role of intracontinental migration patterns of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) receives more and more recognition in both ecological studies of the European eel and possible management measures, but small-scale patterns proved to be challenging to study. We experimentally investigated the suitability of fatty acid trophic markers to elucidate the utilization of feeding habitats. Eight groups of juvenile European eels were fed on eight different diets in a freshwater recirculation system at 20°C for 56 days. Three groups were fed on freshwater diets (Rutilus rutilus, Chironomidae larvae, and Gammarus pulex) and four groups were reared on diets of a marine origin (Clupea harengus, Crangon crangon, Mysis spec., and Euphausia superba) and one on commercial pellets used in eel aquaculture. Fatty acid composition (FAC) of diets differed significantly with habitat. FAC of eel muscle tissue seemed to be rather insensitive to fatty acids supplied with diet, but the general pattern of lower n3:n6 and EPA:ARA ratios in freshwater prey organisms could be traced in the respective eels. Multivariate statistics of the fatty acid composition of the eels resulted in two distinct groups representing freshwater and marine treatments. Results further indicate the capability of selectively restraining certain fatty acids in eel, as e.g. the n3:n6 ratio in all treatments was 〈4, regardless of dietary n3:n6. In future studies on wild eel, these measures can be used to elucidate the utilization of feeding habitats of individual European eel.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2019-07-26
    Description: Nutritional imbalances between predator and prey are the rule rather than the exception at the lower end of food webs. We investigated the role of different grazers in the propagation of nutritionally imbalanced primary production by using the same primary producers in a three-trophic-level food chain and a four-trophic-level food chain experimental setup. The three-trophic-level food chain consisted of a classic single-cell primary producer (Rhodomonas salina), a metazoan grazer (the copepod Acartia tonsa) and a top predator (the jellyfish Gonionemus vertens), while we added a protozoan grazer (Oxyrrhis marina) as primary consumer to the food chain to establish the four-trophic-level food chain. This setup allowed us to investigate how nutrient-limitation effects change from one trophic level to another, and to investigate the performance of two components of our experimental food chains in different trophic positions. Stoichiometry and fatty acid profiles of the algae showed significant differences between the nutrient-depleted [no N and no P addition (−P), respectively] and the nutrient-replete (f/2) treatments. The differences in stoichiometry could be traced when O. marina was the first consumer. Copepods feeding on these flagellates were not affected by the nutritional imbalance of their prey in their stoichiometry, their respiration rates nor in their developmental rates. In contrast, when copepods were the primary consumer, those reared on the −P algae showed significantly higher respiration rates along with significantly lower developmental rates. In neither of our two experimental food chains did the signals from the base of the food chains travel up to jelly fish, our top predator.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Description: Young larval stages of many organisms represent bottlenecks in the life-history of many species. The high mortality commonly observed in, for example, decapod larvae has often been linked to poor nutrition, with most studies focussing on food quantity. Here, we focus instead on the effects of quality and have investigated its effects on the nutritional condition of lobster larvae. We established a tri-trophic food chain consisting of the cryptophyte Rhodomonas salina, the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa and larvae of the European lobster Homarus gammarus. In a set of experiments, we manipulated the C:N:P stoichiometry of the primary producers, and accordingly those of the primary consumer. In a first experiment, R. salina was grown under N- and P-limitation and the nutrient content of the algae was manipulated by addition of the limiting nutrient to create a food quality gradient. In a second experiment, the effect on lobster larvae of long- and short-term exposure to food of varying quality during ontogenetic development was investigated. The condition of the lobster larvae was negatively affected even by subtle N- and P-nutrient limitations of the algae. Furthermore, younger lobster larvae were more vulnerable to nutrient limitation than older ones, suggesting an ontogenetic shift in the capacity of lobster larvae to cope with low quality food. The results presented here might have substantial consequences for the survival of lobster larvae in the field, as, in the light of future climate change and re-oligotrophication of the North Sea, lobster larvae might face marked changes in temperature and nutrient conditions, thus significantly altering their condition and growth.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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