Great Salt Lake Artemia: Ecosystem Functions and Services with a Global Reach

Abstract

The anostracan crustacean Artemia franciscana is the most abundant zooplankter in Great Salt Lake (GSL) and generally the only zooplankton in the largest bay (Gilbert Bay) of this hypersaline system. Colloquially referred to as brine shrimp, Artemia are crucially important organisms in GSL and provide numerous ecosystem services including the control of eutrophication in this naturally productive lake, an abundant energy supply to a large avian population along hemispheric flyways, and critical support of global aquaculture through the large-scale commercial harvest of the resting eggs (cysts) for use as live feed in shrimp and finfish production across the world. This chapter examines the GSL Artemia population and its management from multiple angles. The successful adaptive management of the Artemia resource is discussed as a model of cooperative public and private research. An extensive body of research on the biochemistry and physiology of diapause and quiescence among Artemia cysts is reviewed. Population structure and patterns of GSL Artemia are examined across annual and multi-decadal timescales using large datasets of public and private research programs. Population level responses to spatial and temporal fluctuations in salinity are evaluated. Top-down and bottom-up controls on the Artemia population are reviewed, including the influence of salinity stratification (meromixis) on nutrient distribution within the lake and new molecular evidence of benthic linkages to the Artemia population via microbialites. Finally, we provide an assessment of threats to the GSL Artemia population and a summary of management structures and initiatives in place to mitigate them.