Calanoid copepod resting egg abundance and hatching success in the sediment of the Seine estuary (France)

Benthic, viable resting eggs of calanoid copepods were found for the first time in the Seine estuary (France) during July 2008. Vertical distribution of the resting eggs in the sediment was determined up to 10 cm depth. Hatching success of the eggs extracted from different 1-cm thick sediment layers was experimentally tested immediately after extraction and after a long refractory phase (i.e. 11 months) of storage at low temperature (4–5 °C). The hatching success of resting eggs obtained immediately after sediment incubation was lower (0.72%) than the value observed after 11 months (4.50%) with an overall hatching success of 2.37%. The marine, calanoid copepod Temora longicornis was the primary species to hatch from the eggs; however, the estuarine calanoid copepod Eurytemora affinis also hatched from resting eggs. The mean abundance of eggs found in sediment (1.42 × 106 eggs m−2) was comparable to that reported for other marine and estuarine calanoid copepods. The Seine estuary sediment had a high variability of egg abundance (between 0.14 and 8.10 × 107 eggs m−3) suggesting that the hydrodynamics of this macrotidal estuary are likely responsible for this variability. Significant sediment resuspension occurs in the Seine estuary during flood periods and spring tides leading to resting eggs to contribute along the year to the nauplii recruitment of calanoid copepods. On average, around 400,000 nauplii m−3 month−1 of the main calanoid copepods can emerge from the surface layer sediment in the Seine estuary, suggesting that resting eggs could play an important role in the population dynamics of key calanoid copepods in the Seine estuary.

► Resting eggs of calanoid copepods were found for the first time in the Seine estuary.
► Hatching success observed in this study was very low (2.3%).
► More than 400,000 nauplii can emerge every month from the sediment.
► Resting eggs could contribute to the population dynamics of the calanoid copepods.