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Predatory control of copepod seasonal cycles on Georges Bank

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Abstract

A stimulation model of copepod population dynamics (development rate, fecundity, and mortality) was used to compute the predatory consumption necessary to control population growth in three dominant copepod species (Pseudocalanus sp., Paracalanus parvus, and Calanus finmarchicus) on Georges Bank, given observed seasonal cycles of copepod and predator populations. The model also calculated secondary production of each species. Copepod development rate and fecundity were functions of temperature while mortality was a function of predator abundance and consumption rate. Daily inputs of temperature and predator abundance (chaetognaths, ctenophores, and Centropages spp.) were derived from equations fit to field data. Model runs were made with various consumption rates until the model output matched observed copepod seasonal cycles. Computed consumption rates were low compared with published values from field and laboratory studies indicating that, even at conservative estimates of consumption, predators are able to control these copepod populations. Combined annual secondary production by the small copepod species, Pseudocalanus sp. and P. parvus, was nearly twice that of the larger C. finmarchicus with P. parvus having the highest total annual production.

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  1. C. S. Davis

    Present address: Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 02543, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

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  1. Marine Biological Laboratory, Boston University Marine Program, 02543, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    C. S. Davis

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Communicated by R. W. Doyle, Halifax

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Davis, C.S. Predatory control of copepod seasonal cycles on Georges Bank. Mar. Biol. 82, 31–40 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392761

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