JPR Advance Access originally published online on November 22, 2005
Journal of Plankton Research 2005 27(10):1013-1031; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi090
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The role of feeding behavior in sustaining copepod populations in the tropical ocean
1 Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23508-2026, USA, 2 Research Systems, Inc., 4990 Pearl East Circle, Boulder, CO 80301, USA and 3 Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, 10 Ocean Science Circle, Savannah, GA 31411, USA
* Corresponding Author: jwiggert{at}ccpo.odu.edu
Received May 12, 2005; accepted in principle July 26, 2005; accepted for publication October 20, 2005; published online November 22, 2005
Communicating editor: R.P. Harris
A fundamental question regarding marine copepods is how the many species coexist and persist in the oligotrophic environment (i.e. Hutchinsons paradox). This question is addressed with a stochastic, object-oriented Lagrangian model that explicitly simulates the distinct foraging behaviors of three prominent tropical species: Clausocalanus furcatus, Paracalanus aculeatus and Oithona plumifera. The model also individually tracks all prey cells. Each particles motion combines sinking, turbulent diffusion and active swimming when applicable. The model successfully simulates observed size-partitioned carbon uptake rates. Based on the model results, the wide-ranging translational ambit employed by C. furcatus is best suited for the acquisition of passive prey while the relatively stationary behavior of O. plumifera promotes the capture of larger, quickly sinking cells. The model results further suggest that the slow velocities and feeding current employed by P. aculeatus are best suited for acquiring the smallest cells though it also has a slight advantage over C. furcatus in acquiring the largest prey. A resource threshold, at a prey concentration of 530 cells mL1, is consistently exhibited by all three modeled species. Overall, these results imply that the size-partition preferences due to their different foraging behavior contribute to the coexistence of these three species.
This paper is one of six on the subject of the role of zooplankton predatorprey interactions in structuring plankton communities.
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