Detecting in situ Copepod (Temora turbinata) diet in Sanmen Island, Daya Bay

WANG Lingli; HU Simin; LI Tao; LIN Xianzhi; XU Cuilian; LIU Sheng

Abstract：Marine planktonic copepods are important predators in the coastal food webs, connecting the primary producers withupper trophic levels.Accurate determination of copepods' food composition is the basis of understanding the nutrient circulation and energy flow of marine ecosystems.We used molecular method to investigate the diet of the dominant copepod species Temora turbinatain the coastal area Sanmen Island, Daya Bay, China.The results of 18 srDNA clone libraries showed 6 feeding groups including Tunicata, Dinoflagellate, Green algae, Rhizaria, Echinodermata and Streptophyta.Surprisingly, Tunicata which was the dominant phytoplankton feeding gelatinous zooplankton in the food web consisting of a considerable proportion (45.94％) of the clones sequenced.The following feeding group wasautotrophic picophytoeukaryotes Prasinophyceae (Green algal) .We also identified onecommon species ofbloom dinoflagellate in Temora turbinatabut had never been tested in copepod diet before.The results suggest that Temora turbinata has flexible feeding strategywhen phytoplankton biomassis restricted, consolidating the core status of planktonic animal in feeding transmission process, finally contributing to describe the complexity and stability of coastal ecosystems structure.