COPEPODS UNDER TURBULENCE - GRAZING, BEHAVIOR AND METABOLIC RATES

This review focuses on the effects of small-scale turbulence on the ra te processes of copepods, an important group of planktonic animals, an d on their consequences for the dynamics of pelagic ecosystems. Turbul ent water motion enhances the encounter rates between planktonic organ isms and their food, changing the perception of the food environment f or copepods and other planktonic animals. As a consequence, their feed ing behaviour is affected, and the grazing rates significantly increas ed. Direct effects of small-scale turbulence for planktonic copepods a lso include the enhancement of metabolic energy expenditure, excretion rates, growth, and development rates. Through complex cumulative proc esses of the changes on individual rate-processes, the structural and functional properties of planktonic ecosystems are modified, with impo rtant consequences for the ultimate fate of biogenic carbon in aquatic systems.