Title page for ETD etd-11172003-151712

Type of Document

Thesis

Author

Sedlacek, Christopher

Author's Email Address

sedlacek@ocean.fsu.edu

URN

etd-11172003-151712

Title

Effect Hypoxia has on Feeding and Egg Production Rates of Acartia Tonsa Dana 1849 (Copepoda: Calanoida)

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Oceanography, Department of

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Nancy Marcus	Committee Chair
David Thistle	Committee Member
Joel Kostka	Committee Member

Keywords

Acartia Tonsa
Hypoxia
Feeding
Egg Production

Date of Defense

2003-08-01

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

Low oxygen conditions in the water column or hypoxia occur in estuaries and impact more than just the obvious commercially important species. Copepods are an important link in the food web and the influence of hypoxia upon them is relatively unstudied. Using the copepod Acartia tonsa, a study of the impact of hypoxia on egg production and feeding was conducted. A. tonsa decreased egg production at lower dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO), with the lowest egg production occurring at 0.53-ml/l O2 concentration. However as the DO decreased the amount of chlorophyll a in the gut of the copepods increased. Also as DO decreased the number of fecal pellets decreased, indicating that feeding was being suppressed. Another experiment was conducted to determine if by increasing food concentration the affect of hypoxia could be mitigated. The results indicate that increased food did not offset the impact hypoxia has on egg production of A. tonsa. These results suggest that as A. tonsa experiences hypoxia in the wild, population numbers will decrease. Thus if hypoxic conditions increase in scope and duration declines in copepod abundance may very well lead to a decline in the abundance of species that depend on them as food. These species may be of commercial importance.

Files

Filename		Size	Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
Filename		Size	28.8 Modem	56K Modem	ISDN (64 Kb)	ISDN (128 Kb)	Higher-speed Access
	CSedlacek_thesis_ptA.pdf	53.64 Kb	00:00:14	00:00:07	00:00:06	00:00:03	< 00:00:01
	CSedlacek_thesis_ptB.pdf	213.17 Kb	00:00:59	00:00:30	00:00:26	00:00:13	00:00:01