Contact information:
S.L. Smith
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149
(305) 361-4819
ssmith@rsmas.miami.edu
Copepods dominate the pelagic plankton community in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas where they are key components of the food web. Taxonomic identification of copepod species is essential to define their distribution, which is determined by the physical processes occurring in the region. The purpose of this study is to generate a molecular-based copepod species identification database that will allow rapid and precise identification of all life history stages. Copepods were collected from the USCGC Healy during the summer Shelf-Basin Interactions cruise in 2002, preserved in ethyl alcohol and identified from morphological characteristics. Sequences from the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rDNA (circa 700 bp) were determined for 22 species belonging to the genera Augaptilus, Calanus, Centropages, Eucalanus, Metridia, Microcalanus, Neocalanus, Oithona, Oncaea, Paraeuchaeta, Pseudocalanus, Scaphocalanus and Spinocalanus. The rD1/D2 domains discriminated among most copepod species, with important exceptions such as the morphologically distinct species Calanus marshallae and C. glacialis which were identical in the mitochondrial 16S RNA (circa 400 bp) and in the rD1/D2 domains. Molecular analyses are ongoing in an attempt to differentiate between these two species.