Diapause within the Context of Life-History Strategies in Calanid Copepods (Calanoida: Crustacea).

ABSTRACT

Post-embryonic diapause in copepods is an adaptation that allows species in the copepod family Calanidae to thrive in high-latitude environments by transforming a short spring phytoplankton bloom into large numbers of lipid-rich individuals capable of surviving a long period of starvation. The copepods, with their high-energy lipid reservoirs, are a critical food source for higher trophic levels, making the Calanidae a key component of high-latitude marine ecosystems. The physiological ecology of the developmental program remains poorly understood. However, new studies using high-throughput RNA sequencing approaches are giving detailed access to physiological status by generating gene expression profiles for both field-collected and laboratory-incubated individuals. These are beginning to characterize the diapause phenotype, elucidate the transcriptional and physiological progression through the diapause program, and illustrate the effects of organism-environment interactions. This paper reviews gene expression profiling studies on the life cycle and diapause program of Neocalanus flemingeri Miller (1988) that were conducted as part of a long-term observation program in the northern Gulf of Alaska. It summarizes recent findings and relates them to the ecology of this species and to that of other calanids.