Seasonal vertical strategies in a high-Arctic coastal zooplankton community
Marine Ecology Progress Series ()
1 Akvaplan-niva (nåværende ansatt)
3 Akvaplan-niva (tidligere ansatt)
Forfattere (6)
- K Bandara
- Ø Varpe
- JE Søreide
- J Wallenschus
- J Berge
- K Eiane
Description
Paid Open Access
Abstract
We studied the larger (>1000 µm) size fraction of zooplankton in an Arctic coastalwater community in Billefjorden, Svalbard (78°40’ N), Norway, in order to describe seasonal verticaldistributions of the dominant taxa in relation to environmental variability. Calanus spp.numerically dominated the herbivores; Aglantha digitale, Mertensia ovum, Beroë cucumis, andParasagitta elegans were the dominant carnivores. Omnivores and detritivores were numericallyless important. Descent to deeper regions of the water column (>100 m) between August andOctober, and ascent to the shallower region (<100 m) between November and May was the overallseasonal pattern in this zooplankton community. In contrast to other groups, P. elegans did notexhibit pronounced vertical migrations. Seasonal vertical distributions of most species showedstatistical associations with the availability of their main food source. The vertical distribution oflater developmental stages of Calanus spp. was inversely associated with fluorescence, indicatingthat they descended from the shallower region while it was still relatively productive, andascended before the primary production had started to increase. Strong associations between thevertical distributions of secondary consumer M. ovum and Calanus spp., and tertiary consumerB. cucumis and M. ovum indicated that these carnivores seasonally followed their prey throughthe water column. We conclude that seasonal vertical migrations are a widespread trait in the highArctic community studied, and predator−prey interactions seem particularly central in shapingthe associations between the seasonal vertical strategies of adjacent trophic levels.