Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
Distribution, Growth and Reproduction of Zooplankton in the Northern Barents Sea in Spring - Consequences for Global Change Scenarios
Hans-Jürgen Hirche1, Ksenia Kosobokova2
1Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse 1 , Building D-2300 , Bremerhaven, D-27568, Germany, Phone +49-471-4831-13, hhirche@awi-bremerhaven.de
2P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, 36 Nakhimov Ave, Moscow, Russia
Reproduction and growth of the dominant copepods Calanus finmarchicus, C. glacialis, C. hyperboreus, and Pseudocalanus minutus were studied on transects across the sea ice zone of the northern Barents Sea in May and June, 1997. C. glacialis and C. finmarchicus were numerically dominant and also the largest component of the biomass. C. hyperboreus was rather rare. Moderate levels of phytoplankton and eventually high concentrations of ice algae supported maximum egg production rates of 53.6 and 48.5 eggs female-1 d-1 of C. glacialis in May and June, respectively. Results of incubation experiments were supported by a tremendous abundance of C. glacialis eggs in the water column ranging from 7 x 103 to 4.4 x 104 m-2 in May and from 9.8 x 103 to a maximum of 9.7 x 104 m-2 in June. In contrast, C. finmarchicus spawned only in the vicinity of the ice edge at a maximum rate of 30 eggs female-1 d-1. Egg sacs of P. minutus were often observed in the preserved samples but contained only few eggs, which may be due to loss during sampling. The presence of considerable concentrations of young stages in May and June indicated successful recruitment of C. glacialis and P. minutus in early spring. Based on thesde observations we discuss potential responses of the zooplankton community of the Barents Sea to the expected warming due to climate change.
Abstract Categories: Changes in the Sea
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