2024-03-29T02:36:27Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/164622020-11-19T07:17:49Zcom_10261_123com_10261_8col_10261_376
00925njm 22002777a 4500
dc
Atienza, Dacha
author
Saiz, Enric
author
Skovgaard, Alf
author
Trepat, Isabel
author
Calbet, Albert
author
2008-02-18
Penilia avirostris is a cosmopolitan marine cladoceran that inhabits coastal and shelf waters of most low and mid latitude ecosystems. In this study we describe the life history and population dynamics of P. avirostris at a fixed coastal station in the NW Mediterranean Sea. This marine cladoceran was very seasonal, having population maxima in summer (2500-3000 ind m–3), and being practically absent from the water column for the rest of the year. The population typically collapsed in late summer – early autumn, and this decline was accompanied by a shift to gametogenetic reproduction, allowing the production of resting eggs to ensure the continuity of the species in the following season. Estimated birth rates of P. avirostris in the Catalan Sea ranged between 0.097 and 0.46 d–1 and seemed to be decoupled from changes in P. avirostris standing stocks. Birth rates were mainly dependent on the changes in abundance of embryo-carrying females and their brood size, because during the period of population plateau the temperature-dependent embryonic developmental time was rather similar (2.3 to 2.7 days). Neonates are like miniature adults and need a very short period of growth and moulting to reach the reproductive stage. This life-history trait can explain the fast blooming and dominance of plankton communities by P. avirostris under suitable conditions. Finally, the causes for the seasonal decline of P. avirostris populations are also discussed
Journal of Plankton Research 30(4): 345-357 (2008)
0142-7873
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/16462
10.1093/plankt/fbm109
Penilia avirostris
Temporal distribution
Population dynamics
Life cycles
NW Mediterranean
Life History and population dynamics of the marine cladoceran Penilia avirostris (Branchiopoda: Cladocera) in the Catalan Sea (NW Mediterranean)