Short-term population dynamics of Tisbe cucumariae (Copepoda: Harpacticoida)

Population dynamics of a benthic harpacticoid copepod (T. cucumariae ) were studied in a seawater-system holding tank during fall - spring, 1979/1980, and January, 1981. These populations were opportunistic scavengers, especially on the dead bodies of Ciona intestinalis . Copepod population densities, life-history stage structures, sex ratio and percentages of females with egg sacs were determined in the absence or in the presence of dead tunicates. Taken together, all the data are consistent with a hypothesis for food-dependent cycling of populations of T. cucumariae through the following 4 density states: (1) a maintenance state of low density; (2) a colonization state of moderate density; (3) a bloom state at the food source; (4) a dispersal state of moderate density as the copepods emigrate from the site of the consumed food.