BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2015, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 100-109 |
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The effect of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, 1865 (Ctenophora: Lobata) on the population density and species composition of mesoplankton in inshore waters of the Crimea A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Sevastopol 299011 E-mail: This paper examines the qualitative and quantitative food composition of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, 1865, as well as its feeding intensity and predatory impact on selected mesoplankton species in the inshore waters of the northwestern Black Sea in 2008-2010. Interannual and interspecies differences in the intensity of predatory impact on zooplankton were found. Copepod auplii, the cladocerans Penilia avirostris and Pleopis polyphemoides, and bivalve veligers experienced the highest pressure from ctenophore predation. The daily consumption rate of adult copepods did not exceed several percent of their total abundance. The mass development of M. leidyi defines the qualitative and quantitative composition of zooplankton community through the control of abundance of copepod and cladoceran nauplii, which, in turn, results in changes in the trophic structure of the whole food chain. Key words: Black Sea, ctenophores, mesoplankton, food composition, clearance rate, predatory impact. |
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