THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE DEVELOPMENT RATE OF THE MAJOR LIFE STAGES OF <i>DIAPTOMUS PALLIDUS</i> HERRICK1

Diaptomus pallidus Herrick were raised from the egg to adulthood at 10, 15, 20, and 25C under ad libitum feeding conditions. Times spent in the egg, nauplius, and preadult life stages were recorded. Egg to adult times ranged from 66.2 days at 10C to 14.6 at 25C. Development rate plateaued between 15 and 20C, largely because of the similarity in time spent in the preadult copepodid stages. Such a plateau, well documented for other temperature related physiological functions in invertebrates, is inconsistent with the suggestion that it may be possible to predict the entire range of temperature response of development rate for all stages of copepods using Bělehrádek’s equation with certain minimal measurements.