Oxygen consumption rates and respiratory carbon losses in three species of copepods (Acartia clausi, Calanus helgolandicus and Limnocalanus macrurus) during starvation

Abstract

Calanoid copepods with different life cycle strategies demonstrate varied velocity in the utilization of energy resources during starvation. This study analyzes the influence of multiday starvation on the rate of total, basal and active energy metabolism in adult females of two Marmara Sea and one Baltic Sea species of copepods; epiplanktonic Acartia clausi unable to accumulate lipid reserves and mesoplanktonic Calanus helgolandicus with minor lipid reserves in the oil sac (approximately 7% of body volume) and the Baltic Sea copepod Limnocalanus macrurus in quasi-diapausing state with large lipid reserves in the oil sac (approximately 19% of body volume). Initially, total weight specific respiration rates were about 0.12 μg C per μg C body weight per day (d–1) for both Marmara Sea species at 20 °C and 0.079 d–1 in the Baltic L. macrurus at 14 °C, decreasing significantly by 1.6–2.5 times with starvation, while basal metabolic rates, measured in the same anesthetized individuals, was nearly constant during starvation. In this regard, the active metabolic rates, defined as the difference between the respiration rate of active and anesthetized individuals, decreased during starvation by 1.7 times in C. helgolandicus and by 4.7 and 6 times in A. clausi and L. macrurus, respectively. In A. clausi and C. helgolandicus with minimal lipid reserves, total daily energy expenditure (5.1% of initial body carbon content) was twice as high as in L. macrurus (2.2% of initial body carbon content daily), which has a large oil sac. Overall, the trend demonstrates that despite different energy reserves, a decrease in the total energy metabolism in copepods occurs due to a reduction in energy expenditure for locomotor activity.