The spatial extent and temporal decay of copepod-generated hydrodynamic disturbances during cruise and escape behavior were examined using the particle image velocimetry technique combined with theoretical models. Our study compared results for two species in the genus Euchaeta: the larger E. elongata living in colder water of higher viscosity versus the smaller E. rimana living in warmer water...

Zooplankton feed in any of three ways: they generate a feeding current while hovering, cruise through the water or are ambush feeders. Each mode generates different hydrodynamic disturbances and hence exposes the grazers differently to mechanosensory predators. Ambush feeders sink slowly and therefore perform occasional upward repositioning jumps. We quantified the fluid disturbance generated b...

Fish typically evoke a flight response in copepods. The behaviour of infective stage parasitic copepods, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, and adult holoplanktonic copepods, Acartia spp., in response to the approach of a rubber fish mimic was compared. Responses were scored as attacks if the copepod moved closer to the head or escapes if it moved further from the head. The parasite attacked the mimic in...

The impact of copepod grazing on Fe regeneration was investigated in a naturally iron fertilised area during KEOPS (Kerguelen Ocean and Plateau compared Study, Jan.-Feb. 2005). 55 Fe labelled natural plankton assemblages (< 200 μm) were offered as food to copepod predators sampled in the field (Calanus propinquus, Rhincalanus gigas, Metridia lucens and Oithona frigida). Diatoms (Eucampia antarc...

Our present understanding of ocean acidification (OA) impacts on marine organisms caused by rapidly rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) concentration is almost entirely limited to single species responses. OA consequences for food web interactions are, however, still unknown. Indirect OA effects can be expected for consumers by changing the nutritional quality of their prey. We used a lab...

Using life history theory we make predictions of mortality rates in marine epi-pelagic copepods from field estimates of adult fecundity, development times and adult sex ratios. Predicted mortality increases with temperature in both broadcast and sac spawning copepods, and declines with body weight in broadcast spawners, while mortality in sac spawners is invariant with body size. Although the m...

We examined the impacts of ocean acidification and copper as co-stressors on the reproduction and population level responses of the benthic copepod Tisbe battagliai across two generations. Naupliar production, growth, and cuticle elemental composition were determined for four pH values: 8.06 (control); 7.95; 7.82; 7.67, with copper addition to concentrations equivalent to those in benthic pore ...

1. We explored the quantitative contribution of two alternative recolonisation strategies by a combination of experimental and field data from the Little Tallahatchie floodplain (Mississippi, U.S.A.). In this area, several floods of short duration occur in winter and spring. During floods, lentic and lotic waterbodies of different size are connected for a limited period. 2. Shortly before the o...

Copepods are small crustaceans capable to survive in various aquatic environments. Their responses to changes in different external factors such as salinity and temperature can be observed at different integration levels from copepod genes to copepod communities. Until now, no thorough observation of the temperature or salinity effect stresses on copepods has been done by optical microscopy. In...