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EFFECTS OF FOOD AVAILABILITY ON SURVIVAL, GROWTH, AND REPRODUCTION OF THE GRASS SHRIMP PALAEMONETES PUGIO: A LABORATORY STUDY
Citation:
Reinsel, K. A., P. S. Glas, J. R. Rayburn, M. K. Pritchard, AND W S. Fisher. EFFECTS OF FOOD AVAILABILITY ON SURVIVAL, GROWTH, AND REPRODUCTION OF THE GRASS SHRIMP PALAEMONETES PUGIO: A LABORATORY STUDY. MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES 220:231-239, (2001).
Description:
Grass shrimp are abundant, ecologically important inhabitants of estuarine ecosystems; adults and embryos have been used extensively in laboratory experiments, including studies of the impacts of environmental toxicants. However, optimal laboratory feeding conditions for grass shrimp have not been determined. We used a laboratory experiment to determine the effects of food availability on survival, growth and reproduction in adult Palaemonetes pugio Holthuis and the hatching success of their offspring. Fifteen groups of 50 shrimp were fed one of five levels of Tetra-Min flake food, a standard laboratory diet, for 12 weeks; supplementary amounts of newly-hatched Artemia salina nauplii were also given twice weekly. Every two weeks a census determined survival of all shrimp and reproductive condition of female shrimp, as well as hatching success of embryos produced in each treatment; growth was determined from measurements at the beginning and end of the study. Food limitation caused severe mortality and reduction in growth of female shrimp, whereas male shrimp were not affected. Reproduction, as measured by percent gravid females and individual clutch size, was not affected by food availability. However, estimated population-level embryo production was reduced indirectly through reduced survival and smaller size of females in the lower rations. Hatching success was low in all treatments, indicating potential detrimental impacts of handling stress on adults and/or insufficient supplemental feeding with brine shrimp nauplii. Further studies are needed to determine optimal feeding conditions for grass shrimp to best use laboratory-held animals as predictors of responses in the field.