Accelerated recruitment of copepod Calanus hyperboreus in pelagic slope waters of the western Arctic Ocean

• Published in: Acta Oceanologica Sinica
• Main Authors: Xu Zhiqiang, Zhang Guangtao, Sun Song
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: SPRINGER 2018
• Subjects: continental slope; prosome length; population structure; food availability; life cycle; Oceanography; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi Abyssal Plain; Chukchi Sea; Arctic copepod; Calanus hyperboreus; Chukchi
• Online Access: http://ir.qdio.ac.cn/handle/337002/157576; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-018-1166-8

Shelf-basin advection is essential to subsistence of the Arctic copepod Calanus hyperboreus population in high basin area. Its abundance, population structure and body size in pelagic layer were investigated with samples collected over a large range in the western Arctic Ocean during summer 2003, to evaluate the geographical variation in recruitment pattern. Calanus hyperboreus was absent from the shallow areas of the Chukchi Sea and most abundant in the slope area between the Chukchi Sea and Chukchi Abyssal Plain (CS-slope). Total abundance varied between 1 110.0 and 5 815.0 ind./m(2) in the CS-slope area and ranged from 40.0 to 950.0 ind./m(2) in the other areas. Early stages (CI-IV) dominated in the CS-slope area, whereas CV and adult females were frequently recorded only in deep basin areas. Geographical difference of prosome length was most evident in CIII, with average ranging from 2.48 to 2.61 mm at the CS-slope stations and 2.16-2.37 mm at the others. Abundance of early developmental stages (CI-CIV) correlated positively with Chl a concentration, but negative correlation was observed in late stages (CV-adult). Our results indicated that C. hyperboreus can benefit from primary production increase through accelerated development in the first growth season and the productive CS-slope area is a potential source for slope-basin replenishment.