Many productive coastal areas, such as estuaries, are important fisheries. However, increased respiration associated with the high productivity often occurring in coastal zones may result in low dissolved oxygen conditions (dysoxia). The areal magnitude of coastal waters with low dissolved oxygen is expected to increase in the future. Therefore, understanding how organisms are affected by dysoxia is important for predicting changes to fisheries. This research extends the current knowledge of how pelagic organisms are affected by sublethal and lethal dissolved oxygen concentrations under different diet conditions. The warm-water copepod, Acartia tonsa, was chosen as the model organism due to its abundance in many temperate and tropical coastal areas. Results suggest that A. tonsa egg production may not be significantly decreased by dysoxia under some conditions of food limitation. Temperature and the timing of food availability when oxygen is present affected egg production in A. tonsa exposed to fluctuating food and dissolved oxygen. Food quality also significantly affected egg production of A. tonsa under low oxygen, but no significant differences in egg production efficiencies were found between a high- or low-carbohydrate diet. Egg production was higher and development time shorter under dysoxia for A. tonsa populations from environments with seasonal severe dysoxia compared to A. tonsa from an environment with less severe dysoxia. Therefore, the consequences of low oxygen stress on Acartia tonsa population dynamics may be affected by migration behavior, food quantity, food quality, temperature, the intensity and frequency of low dissolved oxygen waters, and the history of dysoxia. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Oceanography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2006. / June 19, 2006. / Food Quality, Hypoxia, Copepod, Acartia Tonsa, Population Dynamics / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy H. Marcus, Professor Directing Dissertation; Joseph Travis, Outside Committee Member; Richard L. Iverson, Committee Member; William M. Landing, Committee Member; David Thistle, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_180550 |
| Contributors | Oppert, Cris J., 1978- (authoraut), Marcus, Nancy H. (professor directing dissertation), Travis, Joseph (outside committee member), Iverson, Richard L. (committee member), Landing, William M. (committee member), Thistle, David (committee member), Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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