Copepod egg production in the western Mediterranean: response to food availability in oligotrophic environments

Egg production rates of the copepods Centropages typicus, Clausocalanus liv idus and Temora stylifera were determined in the temperate oligotrophic wes tern Mediterranean during late spring and early summer. Egg production appe ared to be severely limited and related to the concentration of >5 mu m chl orophyll. Although phytoplankton can partially explain the observed gradien t in egg production from coastal waters towards the open sea, it is not suf ficient to explain the recorded egg production rates, and other non-pigment ed items (microzooplankton) must be important components of the copepod die t. Copepod growth rates appeared uncoupled to the pattern in copepod abunda nce from coastal to oceanic waters, suggesting the role of other factors su ch as predation or advection in determining their distribution.