15 OCTOBER 1998 ZOOPLANKTON GROWTH RATES: THE INFLUENCE OF SIZE IN NAUPLII OF TROPICAL MARINE COPEPODS
R.R. Hopcroft, J.C. Roff-1998
Marine Biology, 132(1): 87-96 (from Current Contents)
Abstract:
Growth rates and development times were determined for nauplii of the genera: Acartia, Centropages, Corycaeus, Oithona, Paracalanus, Parvocalanus and Temora in nearshore waters of Jamaica from in situ microcosm incubations. At these high local temperatures (similar to 28 degrees C), total naupliar development time was short: 3 to 4 d inshore and 4 to 5 d offshore. Mean instantaneous growth rates (g) ranged from as high as 0.90 d(-1) for Parvocalanus crassirostris to as low as 0.41/d for Corycaeus spp. In general, nauplii of cyclopoid copepods appeared to grow more slowly than those of calanoids of the same size. Naupliar growth rates were significantly related to body size (r(2) = 0.43 to 0.50), but were unrelated to chlorophyll concentration in any measured size-fraction. This suggests that nauplii are generally not limited by resources, but are growing at their maximum temperature and size-dependent rates.
(Monterrey Bay Aquarium Res. Inst., 7700 Sandholt Rd., Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA)
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