Abstract
The physiological condition, determined as the ammonia excretion rate (V NH +4 ), total lipid level and lipid class composition, of two deposit-feeding benthic amphipods, Monoporeia (=Pontoporeia) affinis and Pontoporeia femorata, was studied from 12 opensea stations in the northern Baltic Sea between 24 May and 11 June 1993. The M. affinis populations can be geographically grouped according to their physiological condition: (1) eastern Gulf of Finland, with moderate lipid level (mean 24.4% of dry wt) and high V NH +4 (45.2 μmol NH +4 g-1 dry wt d-1); (2) Bothnian Sea, wigh high lipid level (34.5%) and low V NH +4 (24.6 μmol NH +4 g-1 dry wt d-1); and (3) Bothnian Bay, with low lipid level (15.2%) and high V NH +4 (44.3 μmol NH +4 dry wt d-1). A similar pattern could be observed also in the level of triacylglycerols and the neutral-to-polar lipid ratio. P. femorata, the dominating species in the western Gulf of Finland, showed variable “station-specific” excretion rates (22.3 to 43.0 μmol NH +4 g-1 dry wt d-1) and lipid levels (23.4 to 30.4%). The spatial variability in the weight-specific V NH +4 of M. affinis could not be explained by the differences in the size of individuals, lipid level or lipid class composition; this emphasizes the significance of the effects of spatially differing nutritional conditions, which manifest themselves as different modes of metabolic energy production and different intensities of energy storage. In addition, the potential contribution of the amphipod populations to benthic nitrogen mineralization was estimated; in May to June, the NH +4 release of different populations ranged from 12 to 237 μmol NH +4 m-2d-1. In general, populations with high abundance and/or biomass release the greatest amounts of NH +4 , but the values are modified by the physiological condition of the individuals.
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Communicated by T.M. Fenchel, Helsingør
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Lehtonen, K.K. Geographical variability in the bioenergetic characteristics of Monoporeia/Pontoporeia spp. populations from the northern Baltic Sea, and their potential contribution to benthic nitrogen mineralization. Marine Biology 123, 555–564 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349234
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349234