Phytoplankton inhibition of copepod egg hatching: test of an exudate hypothesis

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 209:197-202 (2001) - doi:10.3354/meps209197 Phytoplankton inhibition of copepod egg hatching: test of an exudate hypothesis Kam W. Tang*, Hans G. Dam** Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut 06340, USA *Present address: Danish Institute for Fisheries Research, Kavelergarden 6, Charlottenlund 2920, Denmark **Corresponding author. E-mail: hgdam@uconn.edu ABSTRACT: Recent papers have reported that certain marine diatoms are deleterious to copepod egg production and hatching. Diatom harmful effects can result from 2 different mechanisms: diet-induced maternal effects and external effects. We conducted 5 separate egg incubation experiments to test if phytoplankton exudates (an external effect) were harmful to copepod eggs. Exudates produced by 3 reportedly toxic diatoms, plus 2 non-diatom species, had no effects on egg hatching in the copepod Acartia tonsa. Thus, phytoplankton exudates are not likely to inhibit egg hatching. A seasonal relationship was observed between egg production and egg hatching of A. tonsa such that high egg production rate resulted in high egg hatching success (80 to 100%), but low egg production rate resulted in highly variable egg hatching success (0 to 90%). KEY WORDS: Phytoplankton · Toxicity · Extract · Algal exudate · Egg hatching · Copepod · Acartia tonsa Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 209. Online publication date: January 05, 2001 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2001 Inter-Research.