Skip Navigation


JPR Advance Access originally published online on April 29, 2004
Journal of Plankton Research 2004 26(7):827-833; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh068
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
26/7/827    most recent
fbh068v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vargas, C. A.
Right arrow Articles by Madin, L. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Vargas, C. A.
Right arrow Articles by Madin, L. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Plankton Research Vol. 26 No. 7 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Zooplankton feeding ecology: clearance and ingestion rates of the salps Thalia democratica, Cyclosalpa affinis and Salpa cylindrica on naturally occurring particles in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

Cristian A. Vargas* and Laurence P. Madin1

Department of Oceanography, Universidad de Concepcion, PO Box 160-C, Concepcion, Chile and 1 Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

* Corresponding Author: crvargas{at}udec.cl

Aggregate stages of the salps Thalia democratica, Cyclosalpa affinis and Salpa cylindrica collected by SCUBA diving in the Mid-Atlantic Bight were fed with naturally occurring food assemblages. This is one of the few studies where salps have been fed with natural food assemblages. The estimated clearance rate for all species based on disappearance of chlorophyll varied from 82 to 444 mL individual–1 day–1. Cell counts showed that T. democratica mostly ingested carbon from autotrophic nanoflagellates and autotrophic dinoflagellates. Ingestion by S. cylindrica was primarily on larger prey, such as dinoflagellates, while C. affinis ingested auto- and heterotrophic nanoflagellates. All main prey types ingested by salps corresponded to those that contributed most to biomass at each experimental station. Thus, salps fed on naturally occurring particles primarily in proportion to prey biomass and to their mechanical capacity to be retained and ingested. Feeding by salps on dinoflagellates and ciliates implies that they may act not only as potential competitors with microzooplankton, but also as consumers of them.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.