Dietary separation between co-occurring copepods in a food-limited tropical coral reef of the Sanya Bay

Simin Hu; Tao Li; Sheng Liu; Hui Huang

doi:10.1007/s13131-020-1583-3

Volume 39 Issue 4

Apr. 2020

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Acta Oceanologica Sinica > 2020 > 39(4): 65-72

Simin Hu, Tao Li, Sheng Liu, Hui Huang. Dietary separation between co-occurring copepods in a food-limited tropical coral reef of the Sanya Bay[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2020, 39(4): 65-72. doi: 10.1007/s13131-020-1583-3

Citation:

Simin Hu, Tao Li, Sheng Liu, Hui Huang. Dietary separation between co-occurring copepods in a food-limited tropical coral reef of the Sanya Bay[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2020, 39(4): 65-72. doi: 10.1007/s13131-020-1583-3

Citation:

PDF( 594 KB)

Dietary separation between co-occurring copepods in a food-limited tropical coral reef of the Sanya Bay

doi: 10.1007/s13131-020-1583-3

Simin Hu^{1, 2},
Tao Li^{1, 3
,
,},
Sheng Liu^{1, 2
,
,},
Hui Huang^{1, 3}

1.
Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-Resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
2.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
3.
Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, China

Funds: The Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences under contract No. XDA13020102; the National Key Research and Development Program of China under contract No. 2016YFC0502800; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41806188; the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China under contract No. 2017B030314052.

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: litao@scsio.ac.cn; shliu@scsio.ac.cn
Received Date: 2019-02-19
Accepted Date: 2019-04-22

Available Online: 2020-12-28

Publish Date: 2020-04-25

Abstract

Abstract

Food differentiation among coexistent species in the field is important strategy for copepods to acquire materials and maintain population stabilization. In situ diet analysis of co-occurring six copepod species in coral waters of the Sanya Bay was conducted using a PCR protocol based on 18S ribosomal gene. Various prey organisms were uncovered, including dinoflagellate, diatom, green algae and plant, protozoa and metazoan. All these spatially co-existing six species showed different dietary diversity, with the food niche breadth (B) ranging from 1.00 (Temora turbinate in morning) to 10.68 (Calanopia elliptica in night). While food overlap between all these copepods were low, with the average value of the diet niche overlap index being approximately 0.09. Even temporally co-existing species sampled from the same time point fed on different groups of prey items with the food overlap index of 0.04 to 0.07 in midday and night but 0 in morning. As the most important dominant copepod in the Sanya Bay, Subeucalanus subcrassus seems to be capable to regulate its feeding, by exhibiting a rhythm of herbivorous feeding in midday and carnivorous feeding in morning and night, to better coordinate with other competitors for utilization of food resources. For most copepods, none of the prey items belonged to the dominant phytoplankton in the ambient water, indicating that copepod can better their survival by widening the choice of potential food resources in food limited environment. The dietary separation observed here might be important strategy for copepod to maintain population stabilization and thriving in the Sanya coastal waters.
- copepod,
- food partitioning,
- Sanya Bay,
- coral reef ecosystem

FullText(HTML)

References(37)

References

[1]	Aranguren-Riaño N J, Guisande C, Shurin J B, et al. 2018. Amino acid composition reveals functional diversity of zooplankton in tropical lakes related to geography, taxonomy and productivity. Oecologia, 187(3): 719–730. doi: 10.1007/s00442-018-4130-6
[2]	Arroyo N L, Aarnio K, Ólafsson E. 2007. Interactions between two closely related phytal harpacticoid copepods, asymmetric positive and negative effects. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 341(2): 219–227. doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2006.10.032
[3]	Calliari D, Antezana T. 2001. Diel feeding rhythm of copepod size-fractions from Coliumo Bay, Central Chile. Scientia Marina, 65(4): 269–274. doi: 10.3989/scimar.2001.65n4269
[4]	Carrasco N K, Perissinotto R. 2011. The comparative diet of the dominant zooplankton species in the St Lucia Estuary, South Africa. Journal of Plankton Research, 33(3): 479–490. doi: 10.1093/plankt/fbq126
[5]	Dagg M. 1977. Some effects of patchy food environments on copepods. Limnology and Oceanography, 22(1): 99–107. doi: 10.4319/lo.1977.22.1.0099
[6]	David V, Sautour B, Galois R, et al. 2006. The paradox high zooplankton biomass-low vegetal particulate organic matter in high turbidity zones: what way for energy transfer?. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 333(2): 202–218. doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2005.12.045
[7]	Guisande C, Bartumeus F, Ventura M, et al. 2003. Role of food partitioning in structuring the zooplankton community in mountain lakes. Oecologia, 136(4): 627–634. doi: 10.1007/s00442-003-1306-4
[8]	Guisande C, Maneiro I, Riveiro I, et al. 2002. Estimation of copepod trophic niche in the field using amino acids and marker pigments. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 239: 147–156. doi: 10.3354/meps239147
[9]	Hu Simin, Guo Zhiling, Li Tao, et al. 2014. Detecting in situ copepod diet diversity using molecular technique: development of a copepod/symbiotic ciliate-excluding eukaryote-inclusive PCR protocol. PLoS One, 9(7): e103528. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103528
[10]	Hu Simin, Guo Zhiling, Li Tao, et al. 2015. Molecular analysis of in situ diets of coral reef copepods: evidence of terrestrial plant detritus as a food source in Sanya Bay, China. Journal of Plankton Research, 37(2): 363–371. doi: 10.1093/plankt/fbv014
[11]	Huang Liangmin, Tan Yehui, Song Xingyu, et al. 2003. The status of the ecological environment and a proposed protection strategy in Sanya Bay, Hainan Island, China. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 47(1–6): 180–186. doi: 10.1016/S0025-326X(03)00070-5
[12]	Hutchinson G E. 1961. The paradox of the plankton. The American Naturalist, 95(882): 137–145. doi: 10.1086/282171
[13]	Ishii H. 1990. In situ feeding rhythms of herbivorous copepods, and the effect of starvation. Marine Biology, 105(1): 91–98. doi: 10.1007/BF01344274
[14]	Ishii H, Tanaka F. 2001. Food and feeding of Aurelia aurita in Tokyo Bay with an analysis of stomach contents and a measurement of digestion times. Hydrobiologia, 451(1–3): 311–320. doi: 10.1023/A:1011814525325
[15]	Ke Zhixin, Huang Liangmin, Tan Yehui, et al. 2011. Plankton community structure and diversity in coral reefs area of Sanya Bay, Hainan Province, China. Biodiversity Science (in Chinese), 19(6): 696–701
[16]	Kiørboe T, Jiang Houshuo, Colin S P. 2010. Danger of zooplankton feeding: the fluid signal generated by ambush-feeding copepods. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1698): 3229–3237. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0629
[17]	Kimmel D G. 2011. Plankton consumer groups: copepods. In: Wolanski E, McLusky D S, eds. Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 95–126
[18]	Kleppel G S. 1993. On the diets of calanoid copepods. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 99: 183–195. doi: 10.3354/meps099183
[19]	Laakmann S, Kochzius M, Auel H. 2009. Ecological niches of Arctic deep-sea copepods: Vertical partitioning, dietary preferences and different trophic levels minimize inter-specific competition. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 56(5): 741–756. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr.2008.12.017
[20]	Lee D B, Song H Y, Park C, et al. 2012. Copepod feeding in a coastal area of active tidal mixing: diel and monthly variations of grazing impacts on phytoplankton biomass. Marine Ecology, 33(1): 88–105. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2011.00453.x
[21]	Leising A W, Pierson J J, Cary S, et al. 2005. Copepod foraging and predation risk within the surface layer during night-time feeding forays. Journal of Plankton Research, 27(10): 987–1001. doi: 10.1093/plankt/fbi084
[22]	Levins R. 1968. Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 65–70
[23]	Lewis J B, Bray R D. 1983. Community structure of ophiuroids (Echinodermata) from three different habitats on a coral reef in Barbados, West Indies. Marine Biology, 73(2): 171–176. doi: 10.1007/BF00406885
[24]	Lombard F, Koski M, Kiørboe T. 2013. Copepods use chemical trails to find sinking marine snow aggregates. Limnology and Oceanography, 58(1): 185–192. doi: 10.4319/lo.2013.58.1.0185
[25]	Mackas D L, Sefton H, Miller C B, et al. 1993. Vertical habitat partitioning by large calanoid copepods in the oceanic subarctic Pacific during Spring. Progress in Oceanography, 32(1–4): 259–294. doi: 10.1016/0079-6611(93)90017-8
[26]	Nejstgaard J C, Frischer M E, Raule C L, et al. 2003. Molecular detection of algal prey in copepod guts and fecal pellets. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 1(1): 29–38. doi: 10.4319/lom.2003.1.29
[27]	Pagano M, Kouassi E, Saint-Jean L, et al. 2003. Feeding of Acartia clausi and Pseudodiaptomus hessei (Copepoda: Calanoida) on natural particles in a tropical lagoon (Ebrié, Côte d’Ivoire). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 56(3–4): 433–445. doi: 10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00193-2
[28]	Pianka E R. 1973. The structure of lizard communities. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 4: 53–74. doi: 10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000413
[29]	Pierson J J, Frost B W, Leising A W. 2013. Foray foraging behavior: seasonally variable, food-driven migratory behavior in two calanoid copepod species. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 475: 49–64. doi: 10.3354/meps10116
[30]	Saito H, Taguchi S. 1996. Diel feeding behavior of neritic copepods during spring and fall blooms in Akkeshi Bay, eastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Marine Biology, 125(1): 97–107. doi: 10.1007/BF00350764
[31]	Sato K I, Yamaguchi A, Ueno H, et al. 2011. Vertical segregation within four grazing copepods in the Oyashio region during early spring. Journal of Plankton Research, 33(8): 1230–1238. doi: 10.1093/plankt/fbr018
[32]	Schnetzer A, Steinberg D. 2002. Natural diets of vertically migrating zooplankton in the Sargasso Sea. Marine Biology, 141(2): 403. doi: 10.1007/s00227-002-0917-3
[33]	Teuber L, Schukat A, Hagen W, et al. 2014. Trophic interactions and life strategies of epi- to bathypelagic calanoid copepods in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Plankton Research, 36(4): 1109–1123. doi: 10.1093/plankt/fbu030
[34]	Wong C K, Chen Qingchao, Huang Liangmin. 1991. Fluorescence analysis of the gut contents of calanoid copepods in the Zhujiang River Estuary. Marine Sciences, (3): 60–64
[35]	Yin Jianqiang, Zhang Guxian, Huang Liangmin, et al. 2004. Diel vertical migration of zooplankton in Sanya Bay, Hainan Province, China. Journal of Tropical Oceanography (in Chinese), 23(5): 25–33
[36]	Yokoyama L Q, Lembo Duarte L F, Zacagnini Amaral A C. 2008. Reproductive cycle of Ophionereis reticulata (Ophiuroidea, Echinodermata) on the southeast coast of Brazil. Invertebrate Reproduction & Development, 51(2): 111–118. doi: 10.1080/07924259.2008.9652261
[37]	Zhao Meixia, Yu Kefu, Shi Qi, et al. 2013. Source, distribution and influencing factors of sediments on Luhuitou fringing reef, Northern South China Sea. Chinese Science Bulletin (in Chinese), 58(17): 1583–1589