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Measuring Cannibalism Rates in the Zooplankton Copepod Species, Acartia tonsa

Shipman, Katherine
Abstract
Understanding the population dynamics of zooplankton is important to understanding the dynamics of the Chesapeake Bay, as zooplankton are at the interface of primary producers and higher trophic levels. Cannibalism is a potentially importance source of mortality for the copepod, Acartia tonsa, which is seasonally dominant in the Chesapeake Bay. In order to quantify cannibalistic behavior to improve terms and parameters in current zooplankton population models, I designed and conducted a two part experiment to measure cannibalism rates of A. tonsa. The experiments measured ingestion rates of phytoplankton, eggs and nauplii under varying starting concentrations of prey. Results were analyzed with 2-and 3-way ANOVAs and ingestion rates were fit with nonlinear Holling Type III models. This study adds to the current understanding of cannibalism in A. tonsa and highlights the need for further data collection.
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2015-05-01
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Undergraduate Honors Theses
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Cannibalism_in_Acartia_Final.pdf
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LaMar, Drew
Allen, Jonathan
Dalgleish, Harmony
Day, Sarah
Department
Biology
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https://scholarworks.wm.edu/handle/internal/11188
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