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Berger CA, Steinberg DK, Tarrant AM. Nutritional condition drives spatial variation in physiology of Antarctic lipid-storing copepods. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e70210. [PMID: 39228681 PMCID: PMC11369209 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.70210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Revised: 08/07/2024] [Accepted: 08/11/2024] [Indexed: 09/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Lipid-rich copepods form an essential link between primary producers and higher trophic levels in high-latitude oceans. These zooplankton can take advantage of ephemeral phytoplankton blooms to fuel development and reproduction. However, we have limited understanding of how the physiological condition of these animals varies in relation to environmental factors such as food availability. Due to high advection, it is likely that physiological plasticity, rather than local adaptation, is primarily responsible for physiological differences within a region. We use transcriptomics and other physiological metrics to understand how two species of copepods (Calanoides acutus and Calanus propinquus) vary across environmental gradients along the West Antarctic Peninsula. For the primarily herbivorous C. acutus, physiological separation between sampling locations appears to be driven by feeding status, and gene expression differences indicate differential expression of genes regulating lipid metabolism, reproduction, aerobic metabolism, and protein translation. For the more omnivorous C. propinquus, physiology and gene expression did not segregate as clearly by location, showed minimal signs of food deprivation at any location, and had a weaker relationship with chlorophyll compared to C. acutus. By comparing these results with concurrent starvation experiments, we find that spatial variation in gene expression reflects short-term differences in food availability (particularly for C. acutus), and we identify genes whose expression indicates recent feeding status. Further examination of the relationships between food availability, copepod physiology, and population dynamics will ultimately improve our capacity to predict how copepod populations will respond to rapidly changing environmental conditions in the West Antarctic Peninsula ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cory A. Berger
- Biology DepartmentWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods HoleMassachusettsUSA
- MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science & Engineering, Cambridge and Woods HoleCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
| | | | - Ann M. Tarrant
- Biology DepartmentWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods HoleMassachusettsUSA
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Johnston NM, Murphy EJ, Atkinson A, Constable AJ, Cotté C, Cox M, Daly KL, Driscoll R, Flores H, Halfter S, Henschke N, Hill SL, Höfer J, Hunt BPV, Kawaguchi S, Lindsay D, Liszka C, Loeb V, Manno C, Meyer B, Pakhomov EA, Pinkerton MH, Reiss CS, Richerson K, Jr. WOS, Steinberg DK, Swadling KM, Tarling GA, Thorpe SE, Veytia D, Ward P, Weldrick CK, Yang G. Status, Change, and Futures of Zooplankton in the Southern Ocean. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.624692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
In the Southern Ocean, several zooplankton taxonomic groups, euphausiids, copepods, salps and pteropods, are notable because of their biomass and abundance and their roles in maintaining food webs and ecosystem structure and function, including the provision of globally important ecosystem services. These groups are consumers of microbes, primary and secondary producers, and are prey for fishes, cephalopods, seabirds, and marine mammals. In providing the link between microbes, primary production, and higher trophic levels these taxa influence energy flows, biological production and biomass, biogeochemical cycles, carbon flux and food web interactions thereby modulating the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Additionally, Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and various fish species are harvested by international fisheries. Global and local drivers of change are expected to affect the dynamics of key zooplankton species, which may have potentially profound and wide-ranging implications for Southern Ocean ecosystems and the services they provide. Here we assess the current understanding of the dominant metazoan zooplankton within the Southern Ocean, including Antarctic krill and other key euphausiid, copepod, salp and pteropod species. We provide a systematic overview of observed and potential future responses of these taxa to a changing Southern Ocean and the functional relationships by which drivers may impact them. To support future ecosystem assessments and conservation and management strategies, we also identify priorities for Southern Ocean zooplankton research.
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López-López L, Genner MJ, Tarling GA, Saunders RA, O’Gorman EJ. Ecological Networks in the Scotia Sea: Structural Changes Across Latitude and Depth. Ecosystems 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10021-021-00665-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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