Nancy Marcus

Research

copepod eggs Dormancy is an important phase in the life cycle of many species because it synchronizes active periods of the life cycle with favorable conditions in the environment and enables survival during periods of adversity. My research has primarily focused on the phenomenon of dormancy in marine copepods. These studies have mostly considered the egg dormancy of calanoid copepods, but we have also conducted some investigations of the CV dormancy exemplified by Calanus. We have shown that photoperiod and temperature are the primary factors affecting the induction of diapause egg production and that accumulations of dormant eggs in the sea bed of coastal waters provide a seed bank for recruitment of nauplii into the plankton. In some cases these eggs can survive for many years in the sea bed. In recent years we have also turned our attention to evaluating the impact of reduced oxygen concentrations on the population dynamics of copepods.

copepodid After more than 20 years of conducting "basic" research on the phenomenon of dormancy we are now applying the knowledge we have acquired to the field of marine aquaculture. We are particularly interested in developing copepods as a routine and reliable source of food for rearing marine larval fish. Our approach is to use diapause eggs as a source of nauplii to feed young larvae. Our research was highlighted in a past issue of Florida Aquaculture (PDF Document), by the Division of Aquaculture. Procedures for rearing Acartia tonsa for aquaculture are described in the online manual, "A Guide to the Meso-Scale Production of the Copepod Acartia tonsa"

Collaborators in this effort have included the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, the US Department of Agriculture, and the Mote Marine Laboratory.

We conduct work in our laboratory on the main campus at Florida State University and also at the FSU Marine Laboratory that is located about 1 hour south of Tallahassee.