What zooplankton foraging strategy is more efficient in terms of volume of water cleared? What mechanism determines clearance efficiency of zooplankton foraging strategies? Why may different zooplankton foraging strategies coexist in plankton food webs?
The ecological consequences of “sit-and-wait” (ambushing) vs. “searching” (active feeding) foraging strategies are not well-understood in marine plankton food webs. We determined the maximum clearance rates of ambush and active feeders to evaluate the trade-off between foraging gain and predation risk associated with the main foraging strategies in planktonic copepods. This is the first study that systematically examines the behaviour-dependent clearance efficiency over the three main feeding behaviours reported for zooplankton: feeding-current, cruising and ambush feeding. The results from this study are relevant to quantify the gain over risk of the main zooplankton foraging strategies and help to understand the coexistence of the different zooplankton foraging strategies in marine environments. Since the feeding behaviors studied here are taxa-transcendent, our results are of broad significance for understanding the role of foraging mode, prey perception mechanism and prey motility in marine food webs.
The paper can be read here
Almeda R., van Someren Gréve H., Kiørboe T. (2018) Prey perception mechanism determines maximum clearance rates of planktonic copepods. Limnology and Oceanography, DOI: 10.1002/lno.10969