A year-round study on digestive enzymes in the Arctic copepod Calanus glacialis: implications for its capability to adjust to changing environmental conditions

Abstract

The biomass of zooplankton communities in Arctic shelf regions is dominated by the calanoid copepod Calanus glacialis. This species spends the winter in deep water, and then, metabolic rates are low. In late winter, it migrates to the surface where the spring generation develops. To date, it is not fully understood what regulates the activity of the copepods and how it coincides with food availability. To fill this gap, we sampled C. glacialis, mainly copepodite stage V, in a high-Arctic fjord in monthly intervals for 1 year and determined proteinase and lipase/esterase activities in relation to food availability and depth distribution of the copepods. By substrate SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), we tackled changes in specific isoforms. We found a clear seasonal enzyme activity pattern. Activities in winter were reduced by at least 75 % as compared to spring. Substrate SDS-PAGE showed high heterogeneity of lipolytic enzymes, which could reflect extensive accumulation and metabolization of internal lipids. Only one band of proteolytic activity was found, and it intensified with the onset of the algal blooms. In late winter/spring, we sampled females and CIV, which also showed high digestive enzyme activities in surface water and low activities in deep water. High enzyme activities were related to the ice algal and phytoplankton blooms in spring. In autumn, the copepods descended although food was still available. C. glacialis could thus benefit from an early ice breakup and early algal blooms, but not from long-lasting phytoplankton availability.