Cues, not an endogenous rhythm, control the water-column entry by benthic copepods
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Abstract
Individuals of some benthic species swim out of or away from the sediment surface into the water column, i.e., they emerge. Individuals of both emergent and nonemergent benthic species can be entrained by near-bottom flows. Both emergence and entrainment are of interest, e.g., for their roles in benthopelagic coupling, but the controlling factors are poorly understood. Our experiments with benthic copepods from contrasting environments showed that a factor (or factors) associated with the onset of darkness, rather than an endogenous rhythm, controls their dusk emergence. In addition, we argue that entrainment and emergence can interact in at least two ways: (1) light-induced changes in oxygenation of the sediment pore water may affect the entrainment flux of benthic copepods, and (2) if large numbers of individuals are entrained in the time leading up to sunset, few will remain in the sediment to be part of the dusk peak in emergence.