Quinquecirrha (Scyphomedusa)
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MARINE ECOLOGY - PROGRESS SERIES Vol. 19: 39-41. 1984 hblished August 30 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. I I Changes in the lower Chesapeake Bay food chain in presence of the sea nettle Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Scyphomedusa) David Feigenbaum and Michael Kelly Department of Oceanography, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23508. USA ABSTUCT: The abundance of 4 levels of the lower Chesapeake Bay food chain (Chlorophyll a, herbivores, ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi, and Scyphomedusa Chrysaora quinquecimha) were moni- tored twice weekly at 4 stations from May 10 through Sep 30, 1982 in the Lafayette and Elizabeth Rivers (Virginia). The herbivore standing stock, largely copepods, declined sharply in late May when M. leidyi appeared, but rebounded a month later when C. quinquecirrha medusae reduced the ctenophore population. Despite the additional presence of Aurelia aurita (Scyphomedusa) from Jul onward, herbivore abundance remained at moderate levels until the end of the study period. Phytoplankton abundance fluctuated and may have been responsible for brief periods of food shortage; however, the major periods of low herbivore abundance do not seem to have been kept low by food limitation. M. leidyi made a modest resurgence in late Aug when the C. quinquecin-ha population underwent its seasonal decline. Our data suggest that C. quinquecirrha contributes to the secondary productivity of the lower Chesapeake Bay by controlling M. leidyi during summer. INTRODUCTION quence of the sharp reduction in zooplankton standing stock is oxygen depletion in the depths of the fjord due Coelenterate medusae are gelatinous organisms to decaying phytoplankton and dying medusae which with fast growth rates and high metabolic require- accumulate there. In freshwater, the limnomedusa ments (Kriiger, 1968; Kerstan, 1977; Moller, 1980a). Craspedacusta sowerbyi affects the zooplankton com- They are predaceous and, although their feeding position of Wisconsin (USA) lakes by reducing the behavior and diets have been observed for some time, density of other invertebrate plankton predators. As in the food-chain ramifications of their feeding activity the other ecosystems, the medusa has virtually no have been investigated only recently for a few species. predators in the water column (Dodson and Cooper, Huntley and Hobson (1978) found that feeding of the 1983). leptomedusa Phialidium gregarium reduced herbivore Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Desor, 1848), the sea net- populations and allowed a second spring phytoplank- tle, is found from the southern coast of New England to ton bloom in a British Columbian (Canada) fjord. Mol- the tropics along the East coast of North America ler (1979) reported that the Aurelia aun'ta (Scyphomed- (Mayer, 1910). Its population is greatest in the usa) population of Kiel Bight, F. R. Germany, sharply Chesapeake Bay where the medusa stage is extremely reduced the copepod population with resultant abundant in late spring and summer. Most previous increases in the phytoplankton and protozoan popula- studies of the species have been of the polyp stage (e.g. tions of the area. By investigating feeding rate and Cones, 1969; Loeb and Blanquet, 1973; Cargo and population dynamics of this species he concluded that Rabenold, 1980).The ecology of the medusa has gener- the scyphomedusa significantly affected larval fish ally been neglected. Medusa abundance estimates populations by consuming the larvae directly and com- have been made by visual counts from a pier (Cargo peting with them for food (Moller, 1980a, b). According and Shultz, 1967; Cones and Haven, 1969) or in combi- to Lindahl and Hernroth (1983) the A. aurita and nation with ctenophore observations (Herman et al., Cyanea capillata of the Gullmar fjord, Sweden, 'reg- 1968). ulate' the pelagic ecosystem during summer. A conse- The medusa of Chrysaora quinquecirrha feeds on the O Inter-Research/hinted in F. R. Germany 40 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 19: 39-47, 1984 ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Chesapeake Bay volumetrically (m1 of organisms m-3 of water filtered). (McNamara, 1955), as well as on crustacean zooplank- The catch of the outer net (153 pm), the 'herbivore ters (Cargo and Shultz, 1966; Feigenbaum et al., 1982). fraction', was filtered out, placed in a Whirl Pak plastic After a season of preliminary work (Feigenbaum et al., bag, transported in a cooler on Blue Ice, and frozen 1982) we began the present study with the aim of back in the laboratory. Later, these organisms were determining the food chain ramifications of sea nettle defrosted and examined under a stereo microscope. abundance in our region. Detritus and sediment were removed by pipetting, the remainder of the contents dried at 60°C and weighed on a microbalance (Unimatic CL41). Two to 4 replicate MATERIALS AND METHODS tows were made at each station. A flow meter (General Oceanics, A2030-GC) was used to monitor the amount Abundance estimates were made at 4 stations in the of water filtered during each tow. Lafayette and Elizabeth Rivers (Fig. 1). The stations Water samples were taken from 2 depths: approxi- were sampled approximately twice a week from May 6 mately l m above the bottom (MO Bottle); and from to Oct 1, 1982 from a 4.9 m boat. Zooplankton were just below the surface (dipped). Once aboard, these sampled with a specially designed net-within-a-net samples were mixed into 3 replicate bottles. Fifty m1 which separated the crustaceans from the gelatinous samples were removed from each and filtered with a animals. This net was towed obliquely by first letting Gelman glass fiber filter (Type A/E) using a Stylex out a predetermined length of line (the length varied syringe with filter attachment. The filters were then with station and tide level), allowing the net to sink folded over, placed in covered Petri dishes in the close to the bottom and then hauling it in using a cooler and returned to the laboratory where they were power windlass with the boat underway. The catch of frozen. The samples were subsequently analyzed for the inner net (505 pm) - gelatinous organisms - was chlorophyll a and phaeopigments using the fluoromet- sorted to species and the abundance of each measured ric determination technique of Strickland and Parsons, (1972). Surface temperatures and salinities were mea- sured with a thermometer and refractorneter (A0 10419). Each station was visited either of 2 fixed times in the tidal cycle, depending on whether the tide was high or Boy low during the morning hours. Station A was always United States to Chesopeake At/ont/cb Oceon occupied at either high or low tide; Station B, 45 min later and Stations C and D 1 and 2 h respectively after B. The relative proportions of copepods to meroplank- ters were obtained by examining well-mixed subsam- 4 I ples (an average of 754 organisms each) of plankton tows made by another study during the same period near Stations C and D. An average of 3 sub-samples Homplon Roods was counted for each of 14 dates. These samples were 2 obtained with a 153 pm net. RESULTS Island \ (11 9) The results obtained for Station A are presented in Disposal \ Area Fig. 2. Station A was farthest upstream in the Lafayette l '\, -..-- River and had the most consistent presence of sea - nettles during the study. It was also the shallowest (Fig. 1) station and had the highest temperatures and Portsmouth Norfolk '-.m'' Y. lowest salinities during summer (Table 1). Sea nettles appeared at Station A during the first week of June and were generally abundant until mid- August. Their abundance declined thereafter, but Fig. 1. Location of stations occupied during the study. In Chrysaora quinquecirrha remained at this station parentheses: depths in m through the end of our sampling program. Feigenbaum and Kelly: Changes in Chesapeake Bay food chain in presence of sea nettle Table 1. Monthly averages of surface temperature ("C) and salinity (%) at each station in 1982 Station Month A B C D T/S T/S T/S T/S May 23.5/15.8 23.2/17.2 21.2/17.3 21.0/16.6 Jun 25.9/15.3 25.4/15.7 24.9/14.3 24.8/13.3 Jul 26.9/14.2 26.8/15.7 26.6/16.4 26.4/16.3 Aug 26.2/14.8 25.9/16.6 25.6/17.9 25.6/17.5 S~P 23.6/18.2 23.4/19.6 23.8/19.5 23.7/19.3 tion between C. quinquecirrha and M. leidyi was also observed in 1981 (Feigenbaum et al., 1982). The abundance of the herbivore fraction was highly variable at Station A during the early part of the study. In June, herbivore abundance declined and remained low through mid-July at which time the population rebounded, reaching its peak abundance during August. It remained at a mid-level during Sepember. Chlorophyll a concentrations were variable, but 4 to 5 times higher at this station than at any of the others. The abundance of the moon jelly Aurelia aurita was extremely patchy. A. aurita was rarely caught at Sta- tion A during a low tide (mean low tide abundance: 1.02 m1 m-3), but was continually abundant during high tides from the date of its first appearance through mid-September (mean high tide abundance: 72.2 m1 mP3)(Fig. 2d). The small hydromedusa Nemopsis bachei was also found at Station A. It was most abundant at the start of the study (mean abundance: 5.7 m1 m-3 for the first 2 dates) and remained in low numbers through June 18, after which it was not found. Stations B, C and D lie approximately along a straight line in the Elizabeth River and the results of these Stations are reported together (Fig. 3 to 5).