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Ingestion of detritus by the lagoon pelagic community at Eniwetok Atoll
Author(s) -
Gerber Ray P.,
Marshall Nelson
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1974.19.5.0815
Subject(s) - copepod , detritus , acartia tonsa , zooplankton , biology , bay , pelagic zone , plankton , diatom , oceanography , mesocosm , phytoplankton , chlorophyll a , acartia , food web , ecology , crustacean , nutrient , trophic level , botany , geology
The gut contents of Undinula vulgaris (a calanoid copepod) collected from Eniwetok lagoon consisted of about 95% detritus with only 2% of the gut material fluorescing as chlorophyll. That of Oikopleura longicaudata (a larvaccan) consisted of about 89% detritus with only 6% fluorescing as chlorophyll. By contrast, the gut contents of the calanoid copepod, Acartia tonsa, from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, consisted of about 34% detritus with 36% of the gut material fluorescing as chlorophyll. The remaining material in the gut of all these organisms included various microorganisms and diatom frustules. Plankton‐feeding fishes from behind a reef and island were found to have consumed both zooplankton and detrital algal fragments. The higher levels of particulate carbon and nitrogen in the lagoon, which had a lower C : N ratio than found in the incoming oceanic water, indicated that reef detritus enriches the lagoon environment.