The effect of temperature on the respiration rate of meiofauna

Price, R. and Warwick, R.M. (1980) The effect of temperature on the respiration rate of meiofauna. Oecologia, 44 (2). pp. 145-148.

Abstract

The effect of temperature on respiration rate has been established, using Cartesian divers, for the meiofaunal sabellid polychaete Manayunkia aestuarina, the free-living nematode Sphaerolaimus hirsutus and the harpacticoid copepod Tachidius discipes from a mudflat in the Lynher estuary, Cornwall, U.K. Over the temperature range normally experienced in the field, i.e. 5-20° C the size-compensated respiration rate (Rc) was related to the temperature (T) in °C by the equation Log10Rc=-0.635+0.0339 T for Manayunkia, Log10Rc=0.180+0.0069 T for Sphaerolaimus and Log10Rc=-0.428+0.0337 T for Tachidius, being equivalent to Q10 values of 2.19, 1.17 and 2.17 respectively. In order to derive the temperature response for Manayunkia a relationship was first established between respiration rate and body size: Log10R=0.05+0.75 Log10V where R=respiration in nl·O2·ind-1·h-1 and V=body volume in nl. The Q10 values are compared with values for other species derived from the literature. From these limited data a dichotomy emerges: species with a Q10{difference between}2 which apparently feed on diatoms and bacteria, the abundance of which are subject to large short term variability, and species with Q10{difference between}1 apparently dependent on more stable food sources.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
Copyright:	© 1980 Springer-Verlag
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/22976

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