Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Distribution and Abundance of Micronekton and Macrozooplankton in the NW Weddell Sea: Relation to a Spring Ice-Edge Bloom

ORCID

0000-0002-5280-7071

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Polar Biology

ISSN

0722-4060

Publication Date

3-1-2006

Abstract

Micronekton and macrozooplankton were collected during the austral spring of 1993 in the NW Weddell Sea. Sampling was done in three areas of the marginal ice zone: pack ice, ice edge, and open water, to examine the short-term effects of the spring phytoplankton bloom on the distribution and abundance of dominant fish and invertebrate species. Significant differences were observed for several common species, including Salpa thompsoni, Euphausia superba, Electrona antarctica, Gymnoscopelus braueri, and G. opisthopterus. Increased abundance seaward of the pack ice for these species is attributed to elevated phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass at the ice edge and in the open water areas. Distribution of the hyperiid amphipods, Cyllopus lucasii and Vibilia stebbingi mirrored that of S. thompsoni. No distributional trends between the areas were observed for Thysanoessa macrura, the amphipods Cyphocaris richardi and Primno macropa, the decapod shrimp Pasiphaea scotiae, the scyphomedusae Atolla wyvilli and Periphylla periphylla, and chaetognaths, indicating a trophic independence from the ice-edge bloom for these species. Lower occurrence of the mesopelagic fish Bathylagus antarcticus and Cyclothone microdon under the ice suggested that trophic repercussions of the spring bloom can also extend to deeper living species.

DOI

10.1007/s00300-005-0051-z

Volume

29

Issue

4

First Page

280

Last Page

293

Comments

©Springer-Verlag 2005

Additional Comments

NSF grant #s: OPP 9220493, NSF OPP 9910100

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