RESEARCH ARTICLE Variability of epipelagic macrozooplankton/micronekton community

Abstract Macrozooplankton/micronekton in the epipe-lagic zone (0–100 m) of the NW Weddell Sea were sampled with a 10 m2 multiple opening-closing net environmental sampling system (MOCNESS) trawl during three cruises in 1995 and 1996. A total of 40 species were collected during all cruises. Community...

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Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
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Language:English
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Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.453.5190
http://home.sandiego.edu/~kaufmann/Fisher_et_al_2004.pdf
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Summary:Abstract Macrozooplankton/micronekton in the epipe-lagic zone (0–100 m) of the NW Weddell Sea were sampled with a 10 m2 multiple opening-closing net environmental sampling system (MOCNESS) trawl during three cruises in 1995 and 1996. A total of 40 species were collected during all cruises. Community composition, as measured using Bray-Curtis analysis and multi-dimensional scaling, permitted separation into two groups: group 1 included samples collected during September–October 1995 and group 2 contained samples collected during April-May 1996 and November– December 1996. Zooplankton collections were domi-nated by Thysanoessa macrura in September–October 1995 (high pack-ice cover) and by bothEuphausia superba and Salpa thompsoni in April–May 1996 (intermediate pack-ice cover) and November–December 1996 (open water). Copepods were not sampled quantitatively by the MOCNESS trawl and were not included in this analysis. Trends in measured parameters of community structure are discussed with respect to environmental characteris-tics during each sampling period.