Does the nutrient stoichiometry of primary producers affect the secondary consumer Pleurobrachia pileus?.

Schoo, Katherina, Aberle, Nicole, Malzahn, A.M. and Boersma, Maarten (2010) Does the nutrient stoichiometry of primary producers affect the secondary consumer Pleurobrachia pileus?. Aquatic Ecology, 44 (1). pp. 233-242. DOI 10.1007/s10452-009-9265-4.

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Abstract

We investigated whether phosphorus limitations of primary producers propagate upwards through the food web, not only to the primary consumer level but also onto the secondary consumers' level. A tri-trophic food chain was used to assess the effects of phosphorus-limited phytoplankton (the cryptophyte Rhodomonas salina) on herbivorous zooplankters (the copepod Acartia tonsa) and finally on zooplanktivores (the ctenophore Pleurobrachia pileus). The algae were cultured in phosphorus-replete and phosphorus-limited media before being fed to two groups of copepods. The copepods in turn were fed to the top predator, P. pileus, in a mixture resulting in a phosphorus-gradient, ranging from copepods having received only phosphorus-replete algae to copepods reared solely on phosphorus-limited algae. The C:P ratio of the algae varied significantly between the two treatments, resulting in higher C:P ratios for those copepods feeding on phosphorus-limited algae, albeit with a significance of 0.07. The differences in the feeding environment of the copepods could be followed to Pleurobrachia pileus. Contrary to our expectations, we found that phosphorus-limited copepods represented a higher quality food source for P. pileus, as shown by the better condition (expressed as nucleic acid content) of the ctenophore. This could possibly be explained by the rather high C:P ratios of ctenophores, their resulting low phosphorus demand and relative insensitivity to P deficiency. This might potentially be an additional explanation for the observed increasing abundances of gelatinous zooplankton in our increasingly phosphorus-limited coastal seas.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: Phosphorus limitation, Ctenophores, Ecological stoichiometry, Marine food webs, Gelatinous zooplankton, Trophic transfer
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB3 Marine Ecology > FB3-EOE-N Experimental Ecology - Food Webs
HZG
HGF-AWI
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Springer
Date Deposited: 06 Aug 2009 14:24
Last Modified: 05 Jul 2019 09:14
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/3514

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