Lehman, J.T. and D.K. Branstrator, 1995. A Model for Growth, Development, and Diet Selection by the Invertebrate Predator Bythotrephes cederstroemi, University of Michigan.

Reprinted from Journal of Great Lakes Research (1995) 21(4): 610-619

A Model for Growth, Development, and Diet Selection by the Invertebrate Predator Bythotrephes cederstroemi

Abstract
A growth model is developed to predict C content, respiration, and rates of both embryonic and post-embryonic development by the invertebrate predator Bythotrephes. The model incorporutes temperature dependent rates of embryonic and postembtyonic development as well us respiration and variations in body muss. Estimated growth efficiencies indicate that this invertebrate predator converts about 2.5% of its prey biomass into predator mass, thus reducing potential resource availability to planktivorous fish. The physiological economics of Bythotrephes with respect to both P and C indicate that copepods can be only a minor component of the predator's diet, owing to the high C:P composition of copepod tissues. Mass balance constraints dictate that field-collected populations of Bythotrephes in Lake Michigan consume a prey mixture with bulk tissue stoichiometries less than about 40:l C:P by mass. The requisite stoichiometry correponds with the elemental composition of Cladocera, particularly Daphnia, which are the dominant Cladocera in offshore regions. Thus an analysis bused on conservative elemental budgets of P and C points to Daphnia as the dominant prey of Bythotrephes in Luke Michigan.

Entire Paper
Contact:, Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
Keywords: Bythotrephes, Basic_biology, Ecological_interactions
Product Type: Research, Basic_biology
User Type: General