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Retention efficiency of 0.2 to 6 µm particles by the appendicularians Oikopleura dioica and Fritillaria borealis

2004; Inter-Research; Volume: 266; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps266089

1616-1599

Daniel Fernández, Ángel López‐Urrutia, Álvaro Fernández, José Luis Acuña, Roger Harris,

Marine and coastal plant biology

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 266:89-101 (2004) - doi:10.3354/meps266089 Retention efficiency of 0.2 to 6 µm particles by the appendicularians Oikopleura dioica and Fritillaria borealis Diego Fernández1,*, Ángel López-Urrutia1,4, Antonio Fernández2, José Luis Acuña1, Roger Harris3 1Área de Ecología, Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, C/ Catedrático Rodrigo Uría (S/N), Oviedo 33071, Spain 2Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. Requejo, 33 Campus Viriato, Zamora 37008, Spain 3Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, West Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK 4Present address: Centro Oceanográfico de Gijón, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Avda. Príncipe de Asturias, 70 bis, 33212 Gijón, Spain *Email: diegofm@correo.uniovi.es ABSTRACT: We used suspensions of 0.2, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 3 and 6 µm fluorescent beads in combination with analytical flow cytometry to determine the efficiency of retention by small (165 µm trunk length), medium (347 µm) and large (689 and 734 µm) Oikopleura dioica, and by large (585 µm) Fritillaria borealis. Large O. dioica and F. borealis were the most efficient at retaining the 2 µm beads, and small and medium O. dioica were most efficient for 1 µm beads. Large O. dioica and F. borealis showed efficiencies of ca. 15% for 0.2 µm, 33% for 0.5 µm, 58% for 0.75 µm beads, 66% for 1 µm beads and 88% for 2 µm beads. However, small O. dioica showed higher efficiencies, measuring ca. 10% for 0.2 µm, 43% for 0.5 µm, 72% for 0.75 µm beads, 87% for 1 µm beads and 93% for 2 µm beads. The combination of our measured appendicularian particle-retention efficiency spectra with typical particle size-distribution spectra in the ocean indicates that large and small appendicularians obtain 80% of their diet from particles smaller than 15 and 7 µm respectively, and that the smallest particles represent a significant part of their diet only when they strongly dominate the biomass size spectra. Comparison with data from the literature indicates that although the appendicularian:prey length ratio is extremely high, the appendicularian:prey body-carbon ratio (14538:1) is within the reported range for mesozooplankton (1:1 to ca. 3 ×106:1), and statistically undistinguishable from that of copepods (1603:1). KEY WORDS: Appendicularian · Retention efficiency · Prey size · Diet · Tunicate · Oikopleura · Fritillaria Full article in pdf format Corrigendum MEPS 533 PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 266. Online publication date: January 30, 2004 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2004 Inter-Research.