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CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Thesis
Feeding dynamics of the invasive calanoid copepod, Pseudodiaptomus inopinus, in two northeast pacific estuaries
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000002426
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/119301
Abstract
The Asian calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus inopinus was first observed in the Columbia River Estuary (CRE) in the early 1990s and has since become the dominant copepod taxon in many estuaries along the Pacific coast of the US, but its feeding behavior has not been previously studies. In October of 2019 and 2020, when P. inopinus was at peak abundance, we conducted incubation experiments with this species feeding on natural microplankton prey assemblages sampled from two estuaries where it has become established: the Chehalis River estuary, Washington, USA, and the Yaquina River estuary, Oregon, USA. In the Chehalis estuary, the prey assemblage was dominated by diatoms, especially Chaetoceros sp. 11-15 µm in size, and in the Yaquina estuary diatoms were most abundant and dominated by Cyclotella sp. 21-25 µm in size. Diatom and ciliate biomass were highest in both estuaries, with all prey cells in the Yaquina estuary typically larger in size than in the Chehalis estuary. P. inopinus fed omnivorously on microplankton prey, including diatoms and ciliates in both estuaries, with a preference for prey larger than 20 µm, and showed occasional avoidance of cyanobacteria and cells smaller than 10 µm. Our results, in comparison to previous studies of the prey assemblage available in the CRE, suggest that the feeding behaviors of P. inopinus may have contributed to its disappearance from the CRE, and more broadly provide a more complete picture of the trophic role of this highly invasive copepod species.
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Details
- Title
- Feeding dynamics of the invasive calanoid copepod, Pseudodiaptomus inopinus, in two northeast pacific estuaries
- Creators
- Jade Jacobs
- Contributors
- Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens (Advisor)Stephen Bollens (Committee Member)Jonah Piovia-Scott (Committee Member)Alex Fremier (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Environment, School of the (CAHNRS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 48
- Identifiers
- 99900606756501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis