Abstract
The planktonic marine copepodCalanus pacificus exhibits an enhanced feeding rate, or hunger response, when exposed to food following short periods of starvation. In a scries of laboratory experiments with copepods collected from the main basin of Puget Sound, Washington, during 1982 and 1984, we measured maximum ingestion rate, assimilation efficiency, and digestive enzyme activity to determine the time scales over which the feeding behavior ofC. pacificus responds to increases in food. These laboratory results were then compared to field studies of diel fluctuations in digestive enzymes and gut fluorescence ofC. pacificus in Dabod Bay, a fjord of Puget Sound, during September, 1980, and the closely relatedC. marshallae off the Washington coast, in August, 1981. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that the hunger response ofC. pacificus lasts approximately 6 h before ingestion rate returns to a steady state level of about one-half maximum. On the order of 12h of starvation were required to induce the maximum ingestion rate of the hunger response. Digestive enzyme activities did not change over these time scales. Assimilation efficiency peaked within a few hours of the onset of feeding, with low initial rates possibly related to the period of starvation prior to feeding. These results were consistent with diel patterns observed in the field. The hunger response ofC. pacificus appears to be controlled by processes within the gut, and our results are discussed in relation to recent studies of the digestive processes of calanoid copepods.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Arnaud, J., Brunet, M., Mazza, J. (1978). Studies on the midgut ofCentropages typicus (Copepoda, Calanoid). I. Structural and ultrastructural data. Cell Tissue Res. 187: 333–353
Arnaud, J., Brunet, M., Mazza, J. (1980). Structure et ultrastructure comperées de l'intestin chez plusieurs espèces de copépodes calanoides (Crustacea). Zoomorphologie 95: 213–233
Baars, M. A., Oosterhuis, S. S. (1984). Diurnal rhythms in grazing on labelled food, gut fluorescence, and digestive enzyme activities of North Sea copepods. Neth. J. Sea Res. 18: 97–119
Båmstedt, U. (1984). Diel variations in the nutritional physiology ofCalanus glacialis from Lat. 78° N in the summer. Mar. Biol. 79: 257–267
Barthel, K.-G. (1983). Food uptake and growth efficiency ofEurytemora affinis (Copepoda: Calanoida). Mar. Biol. 74: 269–274
Boucher, J., Samain, J. F. (1974). L'activité amylasique, indice de nitrition du zooplancton; mis en evidence d'un rythme quotidien en zone d'upwelling. Téthys 6: 179–188
Conover, R. J. (1966). Factors affecting the assimilation of organic matter by zooplankton and the question of superfluous feeding. Limnol. Oceanogr. 11: 346–354
Cosper, T. C., Reeve, M. R. (1975). Digestive efficiency of the chaetognathSagitta hispida Conant. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 17: 33–38
Cox, J. L. (1981). Laminarinase induction in marine zooplankton and its variability in zooplankton samples. J. Plankton Res. 3: 345–356
Cox, J. L., Willason, S. W. (1981). Laminarinase induction inCalanus pacificus. Mar. Biol. Lett. 2: 307–311
Dagg, M. J., Grill, D. W. (1980). Natural feeding rates ofCentropages typicus females in the New York Bight. Limnol. Oceanogr. 25: 597–609
Dagg, M. J., Walser, W. E. (1987) Ingestion, gut passage, and egestion by the copepodNeocalanus plumchrus, in the laboratory and in the subarctic Pacific Ocean. Limnol. Oceanogr. 32: 178–188
Dagg, M. J., Wyman, K. D. (1983). Natural ingestion rates of the copepodsNeocalanus plumchrus andN. cristatus calculated from gut contents. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 13: 37–46
Downs, J. N., Lorenzen, C. J. (1985). Carbon: pheopigment ratios of zooplankton fecal pellets as an index of herbivorous feeding. Limnol. Oceanogr. 30: 1024–1036
Frost, B. W. (1972). Effects of size and concentration of food particles on the feeding behavior of the marine planktonic copepodCalanus pacificus. Limnol. Oceanogr. 17: 805–815
Hallberg, E., Hirche, H.-J. (1980). Differentiation of the midgut in adults and over-wintering copepodids ofCalanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus) andC. helgolandicus Claus. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 48: 283–295
Harris, R. P., Samain, J.-F., Moal, J., Martin-Jézéquel, V., Poulet, S. A. (1986). Effects of algal diet on digestive enzyme activity inCalanus helgolandicus. Mar. Biol. 90: 353–361
Hassett, R. P. (1986). The effect of feeding history on the feeding behavior ofCalanus pacificus. Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington, Seattle
Hassett, R. P., Landry M. R. (1982). Digestive carbohydrase activities in individual marine copepods. Mar. Biol. Lett. 3: 211–221
Hassett, R. P., Landry, M. R. (1983). Effects of food-level acclimation on digestive enzyme activities and feeding behavior ofCalanus pacificus. Mar. Biol. 75: 47–55
Hassett, R. P., Landry, M. R. (In preparation). Variable loss of ingested chlorophyll by the planktonic copepodCalanus pacificus.
Head, E. J. H., Conover, R. J. (1983). Induction of digestive enzymes inCalanus hyperboreus Mar. Biol. Lett. 4: 219–231
Head, E. J. H., Harris, L. R., Abou Debs, C. (1985). Effect of daylength and food concentration on in situ diurnal feeding rhythms in arctic copepods. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 24: 281–288
Head, E. J. H., Wang, R., Conover, R. J. (1984). Comparison of diurnal feeding rhythms inTemora longicornis andCentropages typicus with digestive enzyme activity. J. Plankton Res. 6: 543–551
Hirche, H.-J. (1983). Overwintering ofCalanus finmarchicus andC. helgolandicus. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 11: 281–290
Huntley, M. E., Barthel, K.-G., Star, J. L. (1983). Particle rejection byCalanus pacificus: discrimination between similarly sized particles. Mar. Biol. 74: 151–160
Huntley, M. E., Sykes, P., Rohan, S., Marin, V. (1986). Chemicallymediated rejection of dinoflagellates by the copepodsCalanus pacificus andParacalanus parvus: mechanism, occurrence and significance. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 28: 105–120
Kiørboe, T., Møhlenberg, F., Nicolajsen, H. (1982). Ingestion rate and gut clearance in the planktonic copepodCentropages hamatus (Lilljeborg) in relation to food concentration and temperature. Ophelia 21: 181–194
Landry, M. R., Hassett, R. P. (1985). Time scales in behavioral, biochemical, and energetic adaptations to food-limiting conditions by a marine copepod. Arch. Hydrobiol. (Beih. Ergebn. Limnol.) 21: 209–221
Landry, M. R., Hassett, R. P., Fagerness, V., Downs, J., Lorenzen, C. J. (1984). Effect of food acclimation on assimilation efficiency ofCalanus pacificus. Limnol. Oceanogr. 29: 361–364
Mackas, D. L., Bohrer, R. (1976). Fluorescence analysis of zooplankton gut contents and an investigation of diel feeding patterns. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 25: 77–85
Mackas, D. L., Burns, K. E. (1986). Poststarvation feeding and swimming activity inClanus pacificus andMetridia pacifica. Limnol. Oceanogr. 31: 383–392
Mayzaud, O., Mayzaud, P., de la Bigne, C., Grohan, P., Conover, R. J. (1984). Diel changes in the particulate environment, feeding activity, and digestive enzyme concentration in neritic zooplankton. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 84: 15–35
McAllister, C. D. (1970). Zooplankton rations, phytoplankton mortality, and the estimation of marine production. In: Steele, J. H. (ed.) Marine food chains. University of California Press, Berkeley, p. 419–457
Mullin, M. M. (1963). Some factors affecting the feeding of marine copepods of the genusCalanus. Limnol. Oceanogr. 8: 239–250
Nott, J. A., Corner, E. D. S., Mavin, L. J., O'Hara, S. C. M. (1985). Cyclical contributions of the digestive epithelium to faecal pellet formation by the copepodCalanus helgolandicus. Mar. Biol. 89: 271–279
Oosterhuis, S. S., Baars, M. A. (1985). On the usefulness of digestive enzyme activity as index for feeding activity in copepods. Hydrobiol. Bull. (Amsterdam) 19: 89–100
Purcell, J. E. (1983). Digestion rates and assimilation efficiencies of siphonophores fed zooplankton. Mar. Biol. 73: 257–261
Runge, J. A. (1980). Effects of hunger and season on the feeding behavior ofCalanus pacificus. Limnol. Oceanogr. 25: 134–145
Storch, V., Anger, K. (1983). Influence of starvation and feeding on the hepatopancreas of larvalHyas araneus (Decapoda, Majidae). Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 36: 67–75
Storch, V., Burkhardt, P. (1984). Influence of nutritional stress on the hepatopancreas ofTalitrus saltator (Pericarida, Amphidoda). Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 38: 65–73
Taghon, G. L. (1981). Beyond selection: optional ingestion rate as a function of food value. Am. Nat. 118: 202–214
Tande, K. S., Slagstad, D. (1982). Ecological investigation on the zooplankton community of Balsfjorden, northern Norway. Seasonal and short-time variations in enzyme activity in copepodite stage V and VI males and females ofCalanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus). Sarsia 67: 63–68
Tande, K. S., Slagstad, D. (1985). Assimilation efficiency in herbivorous aquatic organisms — the potential of the ratio method using14C and biogenic silica as markers. Limnol. Oceanogr. 30: 1093–1099
Van Wormhoudt, A., Ceccaldi, H. J. (1976). Influence de la qualité de la lumière élevage intensif dePalaemon serratus Pennant. Proc. 10th Eur. mar. Biol. Symp. 1: 505–521 [persoone, G., Jaspers, E. (eds.) Universa Press, Wetteren, Belgium]
Van Wormhoudt, A., Ceccaldi, H. J., Le Gal, Y. (1972). Activité des protéases et amylases chezPenaeus kerathurus: existence d'un rhythme circadien. C.r. Acad. Sci. Paris (Ser. D) 274: 1208–1211
Vidal, J. (1980). Physioecology of zooplankton. I. Effects of phytoplankton concentration, temperature, and body size on the growth rate ofCalanus pacificus andPseudocalanus sp. Mar. Biol. 56: 111–134
Welschmeyer, N. A. (1982). The dynamics of phytoplankton pigments: implications for zooplankton grazing and phytoplankton growth. Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington, Seattle
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by P. C. Schroeder, Pullman
Contribution No. 1772 from the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hassett, R.P., Landry, M.R. Short-term changes in feeding and digestion by the copepodCalanus pacificus . Mar. Biol. 99, 63–74 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644978
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644978