Skip Navigation


JPR Advance Access originally published online on December 6, 2006
Journal of Plankton Research 2007 29(Supplement 1):i135-i147; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbl072
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
29/suppl_1/i135    most recent
fbl072v1
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 Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Azémar, F.
Right arrow Articles by Tackx, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Azémar, F.
Right arrow Articles by Tackx, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Looking for general trends in trophic interactions among estuarine micro- and mesozooplankton

F. Azémar1,*, S. Boulêtreau2, M. Lionard3, K. Muylaert4, W. Vyverman3, P. Meire5 and M. Tackx2

1 Laboratoire D'Ecologie Des Hydrosytèmes (LEH), UMR CNRS-UPS 5177, 118 Route De Narbonne, Bât 4R3, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France 2 Laboratoire D'Ecologie Des Hydrosytèmes (LEH), UMR CNRS-UPS 5177, 29 Rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 4, France 3 Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Biology Department, University of Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B-9000 Gent, Belgium 4 K.U. Leuven—Campus Kortrijk, Department of Biology, Etienne Sabbelaan 53, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium 5 University of Antwerp, Department of Biology, Ecosystem Management Research Group, Universiteitsplein 1C, B-2160 Wilrijk, Belgium

* Corresponding author: azemar{at}cict.fr

Received on October 7, 2005; accepted on November 9, 2006


  Abstract

Trophic interactions among micro- and mesozooplankton were investigated in the Schelde estuary. Field populations of plankton were separated by selective filtrations (30 and 200 µm). Predation was measured by comparing ciliate and rotifer abundance in treatments with and without potential predators (cladocerans, cyclopids, the calanoid Eurytemora affinis and rotifers). To deal with variability in the data, a cross-calculation method using all replicates separately is proposed. In order to look for general trends in predation behaviour, the predation rates were ranked and analysed in relation to ranked characteristics of the potential prey: numerical abundance, growth rate, individual and population biomass. Cyclopids fed selectively on the ciliates having the highest population biomass and growth rates among the ciliate population. Cyclopids selected the least abundant rotifers. No trends were detected for cladocerans and E. affinis. As predators, rotifers selected the least abundant ciliates in spring. Although no general selectivity patterns for the predators studied can be drawn yet, the potential of the method employed is illustrated and discussed. Its main advantage is the possibility to extend the obtained data set with data from new experiments as well as with extant data on selectivity of the predators.

Communicating editor: K.J. Flynn


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.