Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS24 The Ecology of Pelagic Gelatinous Zooplankton

Date: Monday, February 12, 2001, Time: 11:30:00 AM

Location: Acoma/Zuni/Tesuque

Scheinberg, R, D, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA, rebeccas@soest.hawaii.edu

Calbet, A, , Institut de Ciencies del Mar, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain, acalbet@icm.csic.es

Landry, M, R, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA, landry@soest.hawaii.edu

THE RELATIVE IMPACTS OF APPENDICULARIANS AND COPEPODS ON THE RATE OF CARBON TRANSFER THROUGH A COASTAL SUBTROPICAL FOOD WEB

The impact of appendicularians and copepods on the rate of carbon transfer through a coastal subtropical food web was investigated in Kaneohe Bay, an oligotrophic embayment located on the northeastern coast of O'ahu. Grazing rate estimates were determined from changes in pico- and nanoplankton during in situ incubations using flow cytometric and epifluorescence microscopic cell counts. Net tows and water collections were performed weekly in the bay over an 8-month period to distinguish the temporal and spatial variability of the plankton community. Results indicated that the mean transfer of carbon through both the appendicularian and copepod-mediated food webs was relatively inefficient, although their relative impacts varied during the sampling period based on the episodic occurrence of appendicularians. The inefficiency of the appendicularians was due in large part to the loss of carbon to the environment in the form of particulates. Thus, the most significant impact of either organism appears to be the contribution of appendicularians to carbon flux, rather than the ability to efficiently transfer carbon through the food web.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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