Oxygenation of anoxic sediments triggers hatching of zooplankton eggs.

ABSTRACT: Many coastal marine systems have extensive areas with anoxic sediments and it is not well known how these conditions affect the benthic-pelagic coupling. Zooplankton lay their eggs in the pelagic zone, and some sink and lie dormant in the sediment, before hatched zooplankton return to the water column. In this study, we investigated how oxygenation of long-term anoxic sediments affects the hatching frequency of dormant zooplankton eggs. Anoxic sediments from the brackish Baltic Sea were sampled and incubated for 26 days with constant aeration whereby, the sediment surface and the overlying water were turned oxic. Newly hatched rotifers and copepod nauplii (juveniles) were observed after 5 and 8 days, respectively. Approximately 1.5 × 10(5) nauplii m(-2) emerged from sediment turned oxic co

SUBMITTER: Broman E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4633882 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature