Physiology of Polar Zooplankton

Marine zooplankton represent an essential link between primary producers and higher trophic levels, and play a major role in ocean biogeochemistry. Lipids are central to the adaptations of polar zooplankton and represent a significant component of the biological carbon pump. Many polar copepods are capable of reproducing from lipids alone (capital breeding), but can also rapidly transfer ingested lipids into eggs (income breeding). The extent to which either of these strategies are employed at any given time is difficult to assess because there is a general lack of data on the rates at which zooplankton acquire and catabolise lipids. In turn, this hampers our ability to understand how polar zooplankton will be influenced by climate change and its effect on the provisioning of lipids from primary producers. This studentship will examine the overarching hypothesis that polar zooplankton always utilise internal lipid reserves to fuel reproduction, regardless of ambient food conditions.