Effects of silt loading on the feeding and mortality of the mysid Mesopodopsis africana in the St. Lucia Estuary, South Africa

Mesopodopsis africana is an abundant zooplankton species in the currently drought stricken St. Lucia Estuary. The estuary is freshwater-starved, partly because its connection with the large Mfolozi catchment has been discontinued. This is due to the extremely high silt load carried by its waters. A series of in vitro experiments were conducted in May, July, August and December 2006, in order to determine the effect of silt loading on the feeding rate and mortality of M. africana. Mysids were subjected to different sediment concentrations in controlled experiments for a 12-hour period. The turbidity regimes were generated by adding pre-weighed silt concentrations, ranging from 0.03 g/L to 13 g/L, to natural estuarine water. Results in all cases showed a major effect of high silt levels upon food availability, as water chlorophyll losses increased with increased silt concentration. Hindrance in the food collecting abilities appears to have a compounding influence as on two occasions, May and August, ingestion rates decreased with an increase in silt concentration. However, in July, mysid ingestion and clearance rates were higher under increased suspended silt concentrations. In such cases, mysids may be clearing more water under conditions of low food concentration, or alternatively, they may switch to feeding on metazoan prey. In the December experiment, there was no relationship between ingestion rate and silt concentration, possibly because food supplies were sufficient to sustain constant ingestion rates or because mysids increased their clearance rates in the more turbid treatments to compensate for any negative effects of silt. Mysid health also declined, with the mean percentage of survivors decreasing consistently with an increase in silt concentration. Results indicate that the overall effect of increased silt load is negative, and subsequently, increased silt loading in the St. Lucia estuary is expected to have detrimental effects on communities of mysids within the estuary.