JPR Advance Access originally published online on December 17, 2005
Journal of Plankton Research 2006 28(2):221-238; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi115
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Integrating conventional microscopy and molecular analysis to analyse the abundance and distribution of four Calanus congeners in the North Atlantic
1 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, West Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK, 2 FRS Marine Laboratory, Victoria Road, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, UK, 3 Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen AB9 2TN, UK and 4 Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde Seestraße 15, D18119 Rostock, Germany
* Corresponding Author: pkw{at}pml.ac.uk
Received August 26, 2005; accepted in principle September 22, 2005; accepted for publication December 9, 2005; published online December 17, 2005
Communicating editor: R. P. Harris
Analysis of the demographic structure of Calanus species in the North Atlantic presents particular difficulties due to the overlapping spatial distributions of four main congeneric species (Calanus finmarchicus, Calanus helgolandicus, Calanus glacialis and Calanus hyperboreus). These species have similar morphologies, making microscopic discrimination only possible between some of the species at late copepodite or adult stages. However, molecular techniques now offer the possibility of screening significant numbers of specimens and unambiguously identifying them to species, regardless of developmental stage. Unfortunately, the processing rate of specimens by molecular methods is still too low to offer a realistic alternative to microscopy for analysis of samples from large field surveys. Here, we outline and test an approach involving the use of molecular methodology in conjunction with conventional microscopy to assess the species assignment of developmental stage abundances of Calanus congeners. Our study has highlighted many important methodological issues. First, it cannot be assumed that the species composition is homogeneous across the development stages; applying proportional species composition of adults to morphologically undistinguishable earlier development stages can result in error. The second important conclusion is that prosome length may be a highly unreliable discriminator of C. finmarchicus and C. glacialis.
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