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Characterizing dietary variability and trophic positions of coastal calanoid copepods: insight from stable isotopes and fatty acids

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Abstract

The spring zooplankton community in the Strait of Georgia (British Columbia, Canada) is characterized by the presence of several calanoid copepod species which collectively make up ~90% of the mezozooplankton biomass. Here, we investigate interspecific, interannual, and geographic variability in the diets and trophic positions of these copepods using a combination of fatty acids and stable isotopes. To characterize geographic variability in diet, we compare our findings from the Strait of Georgia with similar data from Ocean Station P in the subarctic northeast Pacific. Both fatty acid and stable isotope signatures indicate the existence of three trophic levels, even within the limited size range of these copepods: Neocalanus plumchrus and Calanus marshallae are primarily omnivorous, while Euchaeta elongata is carnivorous and Eucalanus bungii is herbivorous. Fatty acid markers of trophic position (e.g., DHA/EPA, 18:1n-9/18:1n-7) correlate significantly with δ15N, while markers indicating the proportion of diatoms to flagellates in the diet (e.g., 16PUFA/18PUFA and DHA/EPA) correlate significantly with δ13C, after the effect of lipid concentration on δ13C is accounted for. Despite the general correlation between stable isotopes and fatty acids, the former are not sensitive enough to capture the range of interannual variability observed in the latter, and can only capture substantial shifts in the diet over geographic scales. However, regardless of variability in food quality, the relative trophic positions of these copepods do not change significantly either spatially or temporally.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the captains and crew of the R/V John Strickland (University of Victoria) and CGGS Siyay for the assistance with sampling. Chris Parrish, Sergei Verenitch and Kelly Young provided valuable technical advice for instrumentation, extraction and fatty acid identification. This research was supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant to John F. Dower and Asit Mazumder, an NSERC Strategic Grant to Susan Allen. Rana El-Sabaawi received funding from NSERC and The University of Victoria. The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved this manuscript.

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  1. Rana El-Sabaawi

    Present address: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 203E Corson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Victoria, PO Box 3020, Station CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 3N5, Canada

    Rana El-Sabaawi, John F. Dower & Asit Mazumder

  2. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6, Canada

    John F. Dower

  3. Danube University Krems, and Interuniversity Research Center Wasser Cluster Biological Station, Dr. Carl Kupelwieser Prom-5, 32932, Lunz am See, Austria

    Martin Kainz

  4. Water and Aquatic Research Program, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3020, Station CSC, Victoria, BC, B8V 3N5, Canada

    Asit Mazumder

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Correspondence to Rana El-Sabaawi.

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Communicated by U. Sommer.

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El-Sabaawi, R., Dower, J.F., Kainz, M. et al. Characterizing dietary variability and trophic positions of coastal calanoid copepods: insight from stable isotopes and fatty acids. Mar Biol 156, 225–237 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-008-1073-1

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