The effect of temperature on the respiration rate of meiofauna
Price, R.; Warwick, R.M. (1980). The effect of temperature on the respiration rate of meiofauna. Oecologia 44: 145-148. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00572671
In: Oecologia. Springer: Heidelberg; Berlin. ISSN 0029-8549; e-ISSN 1432-1939, more
The effect of temperature on respiration rate has been established, using Cartesian divers, for the meiofaunal sabellid polychaete Manayunkia aestuarina, the free-living nematode Sphaerolaimus hirsutus and the harpacticoid copepod Tachidius discipes from a mudflat in the Lynher estuary, Cornwall, U.K. Over the temperature range normally experienced in the field, i.e. 5-20° C the size-compensated respiration rate (Rc) was related to the temperature (T) in °C by the equation Log10 Rc=-0.635+0.0339T for Manayunkia, Log10 Rc=0.180+0.0069T for Sphaerolaimus and Log10 Rc=-0.428+0.0337T for Tachidius, being equivalent to Q10 values of 2.19, 1.17 and 2.17 respectively. In order to derive the temperature response for Manayunkia a relationship was first established between respiration rate and body size: Log10 R=0.05+0.75 Log10 V where R=respiration in nl·O2·ind-1·h-1 and V=body volume in nl.TheQ10 values are compared with values for other species derived from the literature. From these limited data a dichotomy emerges: species with aQ10=2 which apparently feed on diatoms and bacteria, the abundance of which are subject to large short term variability, and species withQ10=1 apparently dependent on more stable food sources.
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