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Dead heat: copepod carcass occurrence along the Japanese coasts and implications for a warming ocean

K W Tang, J A Ivory, S Shimode, Y Nishibe, K Takahashi, Kam Tang Orcid Logo

ICES Journal of Marine Science

Swansea University Author: Kam Tang Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/icesjms/fsz017

Abstract

Global warming may increase marine zooplankton non-predation mortality with significant ramifications for marine resource management and fisheries. This is particularly important for Japan where the coastal water temperature has been increasing faster than the global average in the past decade. We s...

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Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
ISSN: 1054-3139 1095-9289
Published: 2019
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa48153
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Abstract: Global warming may increase marine zooplankton non-predation mortality with significant ramifications for marine resource management and fisheries. This is particularly important for Japan where the coastal water temperature has been increasing faster than the global average in the past decade. We showed that marine copepod carcasses were ubiquitous along a latitudinal gradient of 34‒39 °N of the Japanese coasts. An average of 4.4‒18.1% of the main copepod genera (Acartia, Paracalanus, Oithona and Pseudocalanus) were carcasses in situ, with higher fractions of dead copepods occurring at higher water temperatures, implicating temperature-dependent non-predation mortality. Carcass occurrence represent a potential diversion of zooplankton production from the traditional predation-based food chain. On average 49.5% of the carcass carbon would be remineralised by bacteria in the water column, with the remainder potentially exported to the seafloor. Continuous warming in the Japanese coasts is expected to accelerate non-predation copepod mortality, with potentially negative consequences for the local marine food web.
Keywords: Marine copepods, vital status, non-predation mortality, global warming, carcass decomposition

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