Zooplankton abundance increasing during the Tagoro submarine volcano post-eruptive process at El Hierro (Canary Islands, Subtropical North Atlantic Ocean)

• Main Authors: Fernández-de-Puelles, María Luz, Gazá, Magdalena, Santandreu, María Mar, Herrera , Inma, Lozano, Fernando, Hernández, Fátima, Fraile-Nuez, Eugenio
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares; Zooplankton; Medio Marino; Abundance; Structure; Submarine volcano; El Hierro; Canary Islands; North Atlantic; Copepods
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10508/11287; http://hdl.handle.net/10261/317780

The biomass, abundance and diversity of the mesozooplankton community was analyzed during the Tagoro submarine volcano post-eruptive process at El Hierro (27º37’07’’N; 17º59’28’’W, Canary's, World Biosphere Reserve, 2000). Our objective was to establish: 1) a baseline for future research and 2) the recovering of the submarine area. The sampling started 15 months after the volcanic eruption, from morning to midnight,in the epipelagic strata during the oceanographic cruises carried out in March, 2013, 2014 and 2016. Large quantities of mantle-derived gases solutes and heat were released into the surrounding waters during the eruption. Extreme physical-chemical perturbations were seen, which comprising thermal changes, water acidification, deoxygenating and metal-enrichment resulted in significant alterations to the activity of plankton communities. The zooplankton abundance was increasing along the study, and high similarity (>85%) found on composition and diversity, observing significant variability due to the sampled years. The copepods were the dominant group (>75%) with 110 spp identified and high diversity. No significant differences on abundance were found between day/night samples. Oncaea and Oithona were the most abundant copepods, followed by Clausocalanus and Paracalanus. They with small Calanoids (N. minor, M. tenuicornis and M. clausi) and their juveniles highly contributed to the whole copepod community. A faunistic enrichment was found and the singularity of El Hierro in the most western side of the Canary’s should be highlighted, as well as the necessity of monitoring the protected area for studies of natural changes in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean