Factors regulating population dynamics of the amphipod Ampithoe valida in a eutrophic subtropical coastal lagoon

Year-round investigations were carried out to address the population dynamics of amphipod Ampithoe val- ida and its potential regulating factors in the Yundang Lagoon （a eutrophic subtropical coastal lagoon in Xiamen City, China） from October 2007 to October 2008. The results show that A. valida population was largely composed of juveniles and reached a peak abundance （12.02× 10^3 ind./m2） in March, but sharply shrunk in July. The monthly variation pattern ofA. valida seemed to follow that of Ulva lactuca which is the main food resource for A. valida, indicating a strong influence of food availability on A. valida popu- lation dynamics. Life cycle studies in laboratory indicate that A. valida adopted an r-selected life strategy, e.g., rapid growth rate （0.216-0.302 mm/d）, consecutive breeding （4-10 times）, short reproductive rhythm （9-17 d） and huge fecundity （24-192 eggs or 6-94 juveniles per brood）, which contributed to the fast pop- ulation growth ofA. valida from January to March. Although temperature may also be a significant cause, A. valida could grow quickly and show normal reproductive traits （i.e., the timing of sexual differentiation or maturity, the reproductive rhythm, the number of broods all through its lifespan and offspring produc- tion） in temperature between 15-30~ C. Therefore, the temperature variation in the lagoon water should not account for the sharp variation of A. valida population by affecting the survival, growth and reproduction of the amphipod. However, negative correlation between water temperature and U. lactuca biomass in the lagoon suggested that temperature could have indirectly affected the population dynamics ofA. ualida by affecting its food availability. The authors conclude that, in the Yundang Lagoon, the population dynamics ofA. validawas mainly controlled by the food availability rather than water temperature.

Amphipods fail to suppress the accumulation of Ulva lactuca biomass in eutrophic Yundang Lagoon

The Gross growth efficiency （GGE） is defined as the amount of consumer carbon produced relative to the amount of prey ingested in a given time interval. In population ecology, it can be considered as an index for the ability of a consumer to convert the biomass of food into its population production. In this study, it was firstly applied to estimate the role of amphipods grazing in the biomass dynamics of macroalgae （Ulva lactuca） in Yundang Lagoon （a subtropical eutrophic coastal lagoon, Xiamen City, China）. It was found that amphipods were the dominant group （82.2%-98.7%） in the benthic assemblage, in which five amphipod species （Corophium uenoi, Ampithoe valida, Grandidierella japonica, Grammaropsis laevipalmata andCa-prella panantis） were observed in the lagoon. However, onlyA. valida significantly consumedU. lactuca among these amphipod species. A series of experiments were conducted to estimate the consumption of U. lactuca byA. valida. It was suggested that the monthly secondary production （P） ofA. valida using size frequency method ranged from 2.39 to 13.68 g/m2.GGEofA. valida exponentially reduced with body size and was closely associated with water temperature. Therefore,GGE equation for different months using the temperature recorded during the field investigation was fitted. The monthly consumption ofU. lactuca was figured out to be 86.7-1 549.0 g/m2 by the sum of consumption （P/GGE） byA. valida at different size, ac-counting for 2.0%-37.5% ofU. lactucaproduction. It indicates that the grazing effect ofA. valida did play a role in reducingthe accumulation ofU. lactucabiomass whenA. valida was abundant, but it finally fails to limit the U. lactucagrowth in Yundang Lagoon. Low abundance of A. valida and high nutrient loading may be two major reasons for the outbreak ofU. lactuca bloom in the lagoon.