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Items tagged with: zooplankton
Bythotrephes longimanus (cederströemi), is called the Spiny Water Flea for obvious reasons. It is an invasive species introduced to #GreatLakes in the 1980s from Europe. They are a large (1.5 cm) and highly predaceous #cladoceran #zooplankton that eat 75% of their weight/d. They peak late in the year to huge densities at times. While they compete with planktivorous fishes, they are also a desired prey for fishes like Alewife and Yellow Perch.
https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/GreatLakes/FactSheet.aspx?Species_ID=162
NOAA National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species (NCRAIS)
NOAA National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species (NCRAIS): goal is to foster, coordinate, and support development of aquatic invasive species research throughout and across NOAA.NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
#Copepod #zooplankton are the most numerous metazoans on the planet, and some have evolved into fantastical forms. Take Calocalanus pavo, the beautiful "peacock copepod", which has amazingly plumed antenna and caudal rami. It is small, ~1mm long, and uses the plumes to slow its sinking for feeding in the upper #ocean. It is famous for being very prominent in Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (1904) plate 54 #watercolour paintings of copepoda.
#science #art
In marine systems where high nutrients lead to #hypoxia (low oxygen), it is commonly thought animals must avoid these zones - wrongly. Many types of #zooplankton seek refuge from predation in low oxygen layers in lakes and oceans. This is quite relevant to the #carbon pump off Peru because mesopelagic zooplankton, including Euphausiid #krill can graze on algae sinking in these zones, and produce rapidly sinking fecal pellets. #Climate
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https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-01140-6
Hypoxia-tolerant zooplankton may reduce biological carbon pump efficiency in the Humboldt current system off Peru - Communications Earth & Environment
Grazing of sinking particles by hypoxia-tolerant zooplankton likely reduces biological carbon pump efficiency in the Oxygen Minimum Zone off Peru, suggest analysis of drifting sediment trap samples and in situ imaging observations.Nature
This is the irony of the re-emergence of Harmful Algal Blooms on Lake Erie - more #Walleye. More algae means more #zooplankton (and #benthos) which ultimately feeds these fish. They have also been eating Yellow Perch (another desirable, targeted planktivorous fish), and driven down their numbers considerably.
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Some people want more fish.
Some people want less harmful algae.
Can't have both.
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The push and pull of lake management.
#Eutrophication #HABs #fishing #Erie
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/walleye-fall-detroit-river-lake-erie-1.7022581
#Zooplankton have amazing abilities to sense their environment. The setae on long extended antennae have mechanoreceptors & chemosensors (aesthetascs). #Copepods can smell and track a pheromone plume of many body lengths, or detect particular prey items. Very sophisticated behavior for this ecologically important uncharismatic microfauna.
This is an excellent review article on the chemical ecology of copepods. Highly recommended read. 📖
https://academic.oup.com/plankt/article/36/4/895/2963073
The chemical ecology of copepods
An increasing number of studies show the importance of chemical interactions in the aquatic environment. Our understanding of the role of chemical cues and signHeuschele, Jan (Oxford University Press)