Copepod nauplii use phosphorus from bacteria, creating a short circuit in the microbial loop. (3rd July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Faithfull, Carolyn; Goetze, Erica
• Editors: Jeyasingh, Punidan
• Is Part Of: Ecology letters. Volume 22:Number 9(2019)
• Page Start: 1462
• Page End: 1471
• Publication Date: 2019-07-03
• Subjects: Carbon -- ecological stoichiometry -- food quality -- marine -- phytoplankton -- subtropics; Ecology -- Periodicals; 577
• DOI: 10.1111/ele.13332
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-023X

Abstract

Abstract: In subtropical oceans phytoplankton carbon: phosphorus (C : P) ratios are high, and these ratios are predicted to increase further with rising ocean temperatures and stratification. Prey stoichiometry may pose a problem for copepod zooplankton nauplii, which have high phosphorus demands due to rapid growth. We hypothesised that nauplii meet this demand by consuming bacteria. Naupliar bacterial and phytoplankton carbon and phosphorus ingestion, assimilation and incorporation were traced using 33 P and 14 C radioisotopes. Bacterial carbon was incorporated four times less efficiently into biomass than phytoplankton carbon. In contrast, bacterial and phytoplankton phosphorus were incorporated at similar efficiencies, and bacteria could meet a substantial amount of naupliar phosphorus requirements. As parts of the ocean become more oligotrophic, bacteria could help sustain naupliar growth and survival under suboptimal stoichiometric conditions. Thus, nauplii may be a shortcut for phosphorus from the microbial loop to the classical food web.