Zooplankton carcasses and non-predatory mortality in freshwater and inland sea environments
- Zooplankton carcasses are ubiquitous in marine and freshwater systems, implicating the importance of non-predatory mortality, but both are often overlooked in ecological studies compared with predatory mortality. The development of several microscopic methods allows the distinction between live and dead zooplankton in field samples, and the reported percentages of dead zooplankton average 11.6 (minimum) to 59.8 (maximum) in marine environments, and 7.4 (minimum) to 47.6 (maximum) in fresh and inland waters. Common causes of non-predatory mortality among zooplankton include senescence, temperature change, physical and chemical stresses, parasitism and food-related factors. Carcasses resulting from non-predatory mortality may undergo decomposition leading to an increase in microbial production and a shift in microbial composition in the water column. Alternatively, sinking carcasses may contribute significantly to vertical carbon flux especially outside the phytoplankton growth seasons, and become a food source for the benthos. GlobalZooplankton carcasses are ubiquitous in marine and freshwater systems, implicating the importance of non-predatory mortality, but both are often overlooked in ecological studies compared with predatory mortality. The development of several microscopic methods allows the distinction between live and dead zooplankton in field samples, and the reported percentages of dead zooplankton average 11.6 (minimum) to 59.8 (maximum) in marine environments, and 7.4 (minimum) to 47.6 (maximum) in fresh and inland waters. Common causes of non-predatory mortality among zooplankton include senescence, temperature change, physical and chemical stresses, parasitism and food-related factors. Carcasses resulting from non-predatory mortality may undergo decomposition leading to an increase in microbial production and a shift in microbial composition in the water column. Alternatively, sinking carcasses may contribute significantly to vertical carbon flux especially outside the phytoplankton growth seasons, and become a food source for the benthos. Global climate change is already altering freshwater ecosystems on multiple levels, and likely will have significant positive or negative effects on zooplankton non-predatory mortality. Better spatial and temporal studies of zooplankton carcasses and non-predatory mortality rates will improve our understanding of this important but under-appreciated topic.…
Author details: | Kam W. TangORCiD, Michail I. GladyshevGND, Olga P. Dubovskaya, Georgiy KirillinORCiDGND, Hans-Peter GrossartORCiDGND |
---|---|
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbu014 |
ISSN: | 0142-7873 |
ISSN: | 1464-3774 |
Title of parent work (English): | Journal of plankton research |
Publisher: | Oxford Univ. Press |
Place of publishing: | Oxford |
Publication type: | Review |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2014 |
Publication year: | 2014 |
Release date: | 2017/03/27 |
Tag: | carbon flux; dead sorting; inland waters; lakes; live; non-predatory mortality; zooplankton carcasses |
Volume: | 36 |
Issue: | 3 |
Number of pages: | 16 |
First page: | 597 |
Last Page: | 612 |
Funding institution: | Humboldt Foundation; Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation (Siberian Federal University) [B-15]; Leibniz-Association [SAW-2011-IGB-2]; German Science foundation [KI-853/7-1, GR1540/20-1] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |