Yesterday, Dr. Kam Tang from Swansea University presented a lecture entitled “Copepod Carcasses: Occurrence, Fate and Ecological Importance” at the University of Concepción’s (UdeC) Faculty of Natural and Oceanographic Sciences building.
On this occasion, Professor Tang, who works at Swansea University’s Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research (CSAR), told UdeC students about the key role copepods play in proper marine ecosystem functioning.
Copepods are one of our oceans’ most abundant zooplankton species, which is why their study allows us to understand their ecological role in the marine food web while also making us see them as indicators for different phenomena taking place in those waters.
Studying their location, their food sources, their reproduction, and their main causes of death allows us to gain a deeper holistic understanding of one of the main food sources for a large number of marine species, since, as Dr. Tang explains, “zooplankton are the link between phytoplankton and a great number of species that cannot feed directly on the latter. This means that if we were to eliminate zooplankton, the entire food system would collapse.”
Moreover, Dr. Tang emphasized that field samples commonly tend to ignore whether copepods are dead or alive, which unavoidably results in a partial, incomplete understanding of their causes of death and population dynamics. However, he also mentioned that it is possible to distinguish copepods that are alive from those that are dead by using simple staining techniques, which also allow us to tell whether those deaths were caused by predation or other reasons.
On top of that, we must not forget that the increase in the prevalence of carcasses along the coasts may indicate a greater impact exerted by anthropogenic pollution and climate change. Therefore, as Dr. Tang observes, “copepods are the key because small coasts tend to be the most important ones in the marine environment.”
Finally, Professor Tang qualified his first visit to Chile as a very enriching experience that allowed him to exchange information and discuss scientific issues related to certain lines of research that are being explored by his colleagues at UdeC as well as by him. This contact lays the foundation for promising future collaborative projects.
