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The influence of copepod and krill grazing on the species composition of phytoplankton communities from the Scotia Weddell sea

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Abstract

The influence of copepods (mainly Oithona sim-ilis) and krill (Euphausia superba) grazing on the species composition of plankton communities in ship board con tainers was investigated during the spring and post spring period in the Scotia Weddell Sea in the Antarctic ocean. Numbers of grazers were experimentally manipulated in containers with natural phytoplankton assemblages. With ratural levels of copepods but no krill a high (700–950 μg C·l1, ca 30 μg chl a·.l1) phytoplankton biomass developed. In these cultures large diatoms, e.g. Corethron criophilum and chains of Thalassiosira sp., made up 80% of total phytoplankton cell carbon at the end of the experiment. In cultures with elevated numbers of copepods (5X or 10X the natural level) phytoplankton biomass was somewhat reduced (ca 23 μg chl a · l1) compared to cultures with natural copepod abundance, but still high. Phytoplankton species composition was on the other hand greatly influenced. Instead of large diatoms these cultures were dominated by Phaeocystis pouchetii (70%) together with small Nitszchia sp. and Chaetoceros neogracile (20%). In containers with krill (both juveniles and adults), but without elevated numbers of copepods, phytoplankton biomass rapidly approached zero. With 10X the in situ level of copepods, krill first preyed on these before Corethron criophilum and Thalassiosira sp. were grazed. When krill were removed a plankton community dominated by flagellates (60–90%), e.g. Pyramimonas sp. and a Cryptophycean species, grazed by an unidentified droplet-shaped heterothrophic flagellate, developed. These flagellates were the same as those which dominated the plankton community in the Weddell Sea after the ‘spring bloom’. A similar succession was observed in situ when a krill swarm grazed down a phytoplankton ‘bloom’ in a few hours. Our experiments show that copepods cannot control phytoplankton biomass in shipboard cultures even at artificially elevated numbers. Krill at concentrations similar to those in natural swarms have a great impact on both phytoplankton biomass and species composition in shipboard cultures. Both copepods and krill may have an impact on phytoplankton species composition and biomass in situ since the rates of phytoplankton cell division were probably artificially increased in shipboard cultures compared to natural conditions, where lower growth rates make phytoplankton more vulnerable to grazing. A similarity between phytoplankton successions in containers and in situ, especially with respect to krill grazing, supports the conclusion that grazing may structure phytoplankton communities in the Scotia-Weddell Sea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Ecology, University of Lund, Box 124, S-221-00, Lund, Sweden

    Edna Granĺi

  2. Department of Limnológy, Box 65, S-221-00, Lund, Sweden

    Wilhelm Granéli

  3. National Institute of Oceanography, 37-K/6 P.E.C.H.S., Karachi, Pakistan

    Mohammed Mozzam Rabbani

  4. Institute for Sporeplanter, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2, DDK-1353, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Niels Daugbjerg

  5. NIOZ-Netherland Institute Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

    George Fransz

  6. Station Zoologique, C.E.R.O.V., B. P. 28, 06230, Villefranche sur Mer, France

    Janine Cuzin Roudy

  7. Institute Antartico Argentine, Cerrito 1248, 1010, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Viviana A. Alder

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  1. Edna Granĺi
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  2. Wilhelm Granéli
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  3. Mohammed Mozzam Rabbani
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  4. Niels Daugbjerg
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  5. George Fransz
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  6. Janine Cuzin Roudy
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  7. Viviana A. Alder
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Data presented here were collected during the European Polarstern Study (EPOS) sponsored by the European Science Foundation

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Granĺi, E., Granéli, W., Rabbani, M.M. et al. The influence of copepod and krill grazing on the species composition of phytoplankton communities from the Scotia Weddell sea. Polar Biol 13, 201–213 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238930

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