摘要
The abundance of live and dead Oithona similis in Jiaozhou Bay,Shandong,China,was investigated monthly from December 2008 to November 2009 via the neutral red staining method.The annual variation in total abundance was similar for females,males,and copepodites,with a main numerical peak from February to July and a minor peak in November,but the variations in carcass abundance and death proportion were different.The monthly average abundance of male and copepodite carcasses significantly increased with their total abundance(P<0.001),whereas no such correlation was observed for females.The abundance of female carcasses peaked at 12.4 inds./m^(3) in November but remained below 3.0 inds./m^(3) in all other months.The monthly average death proportion ranged 0.3%-4.9% for females,3.6%-25.7% for males,and 2.6%-8.4% for copepodites.On average,the death proportion of males was 9.2 times greater than that of females and 3.5 times greater than that of copepodites.Therefore,significant sexual difference exists in the non-predatory mortality of O.similis and this difference is an important cause of the female-skewed sex ratios observed in the field.
基金
Supported by the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation(No.ZR2020QC043)。
