On the post-glacial history ofAcartia tonsa(Copepoda: Calanoida) in the gulf of maine and the gulf of St. Lawrence

✍ Scribed by B. J. McAlice

• Book ID: 104753748
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 664 KB
• Volume: 64
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00393626

✦ Synopsis

Acartia tonsa Dana is thought to have invaded summerwarm estuarine headwaters north of Cape Cod, USA in modern times. However, these northern populations are relict ones, derived from a distribution which was once continuous from Cape Cod to the Northumberland Strait. The conclusion is based on: (1) the presence of other relict warm-water faunal elements; (2) the reproductive ecology of A. tonsa; (3) present and post-glacial oceanographic conditions. A. tonsa is not a relict holoplankter. Because of its dormant winter eggs, the species is analogous to a meroplanktonic species having high fecundity and a long pelagic larval stage. The disjunction ofA. tonsa in its present refuges may make it useful for studies on rates of speciation in marine calanoid copepods.