Modelling the timing and duration of dormancy in populations of Calanus finmarchicus from the Northwest Atlantic shelf
Authored by Andrew J Pershing, Jeffrey A Runge, Stephane Plourde, Frederic Maps, Andrew Leising, Nicholas R Record, James J Pierson
Date Published: 2012
DOI: 10.1093/plankt/fbr088
Sponsors:
United States National Science Foundation (NSF)
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Calanus finmarchicus relies on dormancy to thrive in the seasonal
environment of the boreal Atlantic. The lipid accumulation window (LAW)
hypothesis proposes that a seasonal window of environmental conditions
allows developing individuals to store enough lipids for dormancy to be
safely initiated. Successful dormancy requires a sufficient amount of
lipids to fulfil the reduced metabolic demand of the dormant individual
and to sustain the final maturation process. We used a pattern-oriented
modelling approach that implements the LAW hypothesis and employs a
genetic algorithm for parameter estimation, in order to reproduce the
observed phenology and demography of C. finmarchicus populations from
the two contrasting regions, the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) and the Gulf
of Maine (GoM) in the northwest Atlantic shelf. In the GSL, the model
reproduced the timing of dormancy, the abundance and individual
condition of late copepodid stages. In the GoM, the model produced a
semi-annual dormancy pattern, as no locally produced individual could
last the 6-8 months of dormancy inferred from the available
observations. Further testing requires extending demographic time
series, including lipid condition of late copepodid stages in the GoM, and the implementation of a 3-D modelling framework that would
explicitly address the complex interactions between circulation and
population dynamics of C. finmarchicus over the entire northwest
Atlantic shelf.
Tags
Georges bank
Egg-production
Phytoplankton blooms
Vertical
migration
St-lawrence estuary
Development rates
Oceanic copepod
Scotian
shelf
Maine region
Labrador sea