Dietary Change during Development in the Freshwater Calanoid Copepod Epischura lacustris Forbes

Abstract

There was a transition from an exclusively herbivorous diet in early copepodid stages to an omnivorous diet in adults. C2 and C3 were incapable of ingesting Bosmina (0.25-0.35mm), but from C4 to C6, ingestion rate of Bosmina increased with developmental stage. The order of prey selection for adult Epischura was Bosmina over Diaptomus and Cyclops. Grazing rate on small algae (per millem) increased with developmental stage. Zooplankton remains were only found in the guts of stages older than C2; cladocerans and crustacean eggs were the most common zooplankton food. Algae with longest linear dimensions >10mu m were common in the guts of all developmental stages of Epischura.-from Authors