Krill excretion and its effect on primary production

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 459:29-38 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09746 Krill excretion and its effect on primary production Pascal Lehette1,*, Antonio Tovar-Sánchez2, Carlos M. Duarte2,3, Santiago Hernández-León1 1Institute of Oceanography and Global Change, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain 2Department of Global Change Research, IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, Esporles, Mallorca, Spain 3The UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia *Email: pascal.lehette101@doctorandos.ulpgc.es ABSTRACT: During the austral summer, zooplankton excretion along the western Antarctic Peninsula was studied in a contrasting hydrographic regime including coastal and oceanic waters. In coastal waters, ammonium supply by mesozooplankton indicated a low contribution to fuel primary production. In oceanic waters, however, Antarctic krill Euphausia superba contributed a significant percentage to the nitrogen requirements of primary producers. Thus, the ontogenetic migration of adult krill during austral summer should be a key factor regulating the regenerated ammonium for primary production. A significant coupling of ammonium concentration in the water column and in situ krill biomass supported the significant role of krill excretion in the epipelagic realm. Results from short-term experiments with E. superba indicated that ammonium excretion rates were much higher than previously found. Because the use of experimental metabolic rates that are close to field rates would be more appropriate, we suggest to re-assess the ammonium supplied by the epipelagic marine biota. Moreover, the outcomes of experimental krill excretion rates, in situ measurements of ammonium and a review of data on primary production suggest that Antarctic krill sustain a high proportion of the daily phytoplankton production. KEY WORDS: Krill · Ammonium · Primary production · Euphausia superba · Southern Ocean · Austral summer · Western Antarctic Peninsula Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Lehette P, Tovar-Sánchez A, Duarte CM, Hernández-León S (2012) Krill excretion and its effect on primary production. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 459:29-38. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09746 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 459. Online publication date: July 12, 2012 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.