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Ingestion of live filamentous diatoms by the Great Lakes amphipod, Diporeia sp.: a case study of the limited value of gut contents analysis

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VIIth International Colloquium on Amphipoda

Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology ((DIHY,volume 70))

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Abstract

Individuals of the Great Lakes amphipod, Diporeia sp. (formerly named Pontoporeia hoyi) were collected from a 45-m deep station in southeastern Lake Michigan and isolated in small laboratory feeding vessels at 4 °C, after the animals had voided their guts over a 24-hour period. Over a 20-day period, following introduction of a single ration of live cells of the filamentous diatom, Melosira varians, 9 of 10 animals had ingested this material, and 7 of these 9 individuals had deposited fecal pellets. Subsequent examination of gut contents and fecal pellets showed that although animals had ingested whole algal cells/filaments, little of the material in gut contents or fecal pellets bore any identifiable structural similarity to cells/filaments prior to ingestion. The results suggest that earlier studies of pontoporeiid gut contents may seriously underestimate the importance of algal components in the amphipod’s diet and imply that Diporeia sp. growth and production may be more closely linked to primary production than previously thought.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Department of Commerce, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2205 Commonwealth Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48105, USA

    Michael A. Quigley & Henry A. Vanderploeg

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  1. Michael A. Quigley
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  2. Henry A. Vanderploeg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maine, USA

    Les Watling

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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Quigley, M.A., Vanderploeg, H.A. (1991). Ingestion of live filamentous diatoms by the Great Lakes amphipod, Diporeia sp.: a case study of the limited value of gut contents analysis. In: Watling, L. (eds) VIIth International Colloquium on Amphipoda. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 70. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3542-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3542-9_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5568-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-3542-9

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