Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

CS37 Zooplankton

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001, Time: 9:45:00 AM

Location: Aztec

Carlotti, F, , C.N.R.S., Arcachon, France, carlotti@biocean.u-bordeaux.fr

INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF DEVELOPMENT IN COPEPOD POPULATION MODELS

Substantial individual variations in development rates of copepods always occur even in optimal and controlled conditions. Experimental cohort studies show differences in total development time varying from 1 to 2 in good conditions between the earliest and latest individuals. In food limited conditions, laggards suffer high mortality rates, and the relative difference between fast developed and slow developed individuals reaching maturity is stabilized. In field where food conditions fluctuate individual variability in development may be one mechanism of population plasticity for filtering environmental conditions. An IBM model taking into account a probability function of molting and a mortality function, both depending on the individual development history and a random process permits to simulate time-course of stage frequencies very similar to cohort development. The representation of both processes (molting and mortality) is discussed in comparison with experimental individual-based observations. The two functions can be easily calibrated on laboratory cohort experiments, and used in coupled physical-biological models of population dynamics.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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