2021 State of the Environment Report Marine Chapter – Expert Assessment – State and Trend – Secondary production (zooplankton)

• Other Authors: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (hasAssociationWith), Davies, Claire (author), Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) (publisher), Dr Jason Everett (author), Emma Flukes (pointOfContact), Everett, Jason (author), National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub (hasAssociationWith), Professor Anthony Richardson (author), Richardson, Anthony (author), Rochester, Wayne (author), The University of Queensland (UQ) (hasAssociationWith)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: biota; oceans; secondary production; expert assessment; zooplankton; Antarctic; Bonney; Antarc*; Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies; Copepods
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.26198/2rsb-x342; https://researchdata.edu.au/2021-state-environment-production-zooplankton/1698315

Statement: QUALITY OF DATA USED IN THE ASSESSMENT IMOS data used in this assessment are the only zooplankton time series information available in Australia. Before the introduction of IMOS, no assessment of secondary production was possible. Collecting and counting zooplankton data in IMOS adheres to strict quality control protocols (Eriksen et al. 2019, Batten et al. 2019, Richardson et al. 2006). For collection of data on zooplankton in Coastal areas, we use a fine mesh net (100 µm), which retains much of the zooplankton community. The diversity index we calculated should be robust, as we used data on 272 species of copepods. Credit Peer reviews of this assessment were provided by: Kerrie Swadling (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania) The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Expert Assessment "State and Trend of secondary production (zooplankton)". ***A PDF of the full Expert Assessment, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "EXPERT ASSESSMENT 2021 - Secondary Production (Zooplankton)"*** --- DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES/COMMUNITY/PROCESS FOR EXPERT ASSESSMENT Secondary production in the ocean is the generation of biomass by zooplankton – the primary consumers of phytoplankton. The most common zooplankton, the copepods, are the most abundant animals on Earth, even potentially outnumbering insects (Schminke 2006). Zooplankton are important components of the biological pump, shunting carbon from surface to deeper waters through sinking of faeces, exuviae and carcasses (Turner 2015). The recruitment of fish and the carrying capacity of marine ecosystems – the mass of fish, squid, shellfish, marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles – is regulated by secondary production (Bakun 2006). Productivity hotspots, such as Eden and Bonney upwelling zones, have high densities of ...