Scaling copepod grazing in a coastal upwelling system: the importance of community size structure for phytoplankton C flux

The study demonstrates that copepod grazing is a size-dependent process where communities dominated by small-sized species significantly increase the efficiency of carbon transfer from phytoplankton compared to communities dominated by larger species.

• C-specific ingestion rates for copepods are size-dependent, with observed values ranging from 0.14 to 353.97 (ng C µg C⁻¹ h⁻¹).
• The impact of grazing on phytoplankton is determined by the size structure of the copepod community. When small-sized species (0.1-10 µg C ind⁻¹), such as Paracalanus cf. indicus, Acartia tonsa, Oncaea spp. and Corycaeus spp., dominate the biomass, the C-specific grazing impact can increase by a factor of 4.
• While communities dominated by larger-sized copepods (10-100 µg C ind⁻¹), including Calanus chilensis, Calanoides patagoniensis and Rhyncalanus nasutus, may have higher total zooplankton biomass, they exhibit a sharp decrease in the efficiency of carbon transfer via herbivores.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Scaling copepod grazing in a coastal upwelling system: the importance of community size structure for phytoplankton C flux. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/scaling-copepod-grazing-in-a-coastal-upwelling-system-the-importance-of-community-size-structure-for-phytoplankton-c-flux/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Scaling copepod grazing in a coastal upwelling system: the importance of community size structure for phytoplankton C flux. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/scaling-copepod-grazing-in-a-coastal-upwelling-system-the-importance-of-community-size-structure-for-phytoplankton-c-flux/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Scaling copepod grazing in a coastal upwelling system: the importance of community size structure for phytoplankton C flux |date=12 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/scaling-copepod-grazing-in-a-coastal-upwelling-system-the-importance-of-community-size-structure-for-phytoplankton-c-flux/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025scaling, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Scaling copepod grazing in a coastal upwelling system: the importance of community size structure for phytoplankton C flux}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/scaling-copepod-grazing-in-a-coastal-upwelling-system-the-importance-of-community-size-structure-for-phytoplankton-c-flux/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }