Seasonal variations in copepod body length: a comparison between different species in the Lagoon of Venice

Abstract

The seasonal variation in length of the most abundant copepod species in the lagoon of Venice were compared and the relative influence of temperature, chlorophyll concentration and salinity examined. Temperature seems to be the primary factor influencing copepod body length in the lagoon of Venice, but the different species vary markedly in their response. Calanoid copepods (Acartia clausi, A. tonsa, Paracalanus parvus and Centropages ponticus) showed a more definite trend of size variation with temperature than the cyclopoids (Oithona nana and O. similis) and the harpacticoid Euterpina acutifrons. The size of the poecilostomatoids Oncaea media and O. subtilis was not affected by temperature, and was almost constant over time. Differences in the metabolic rates, longevity and specialization of calanoid, cyclopoid and harpacticoid copepods could explain their different responses to temperature.