Hidden diversity in gelatinous zooplankton assemblages from selected Pacific Ocean ecosystems ...

• Main Author: Lüskow, Florian
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2022
• Subjects: Subarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0422471; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0422471

Gelatinous and soft-bodied zooplankton (GZ) are critical components of almost all marine food webs. They act as intermediate predators and prey, contribute to nutrient cycling, and help shape microbial communities. Despite these characteristics, GZ were traditionally seen as ‘trophic dead-ends’ with limited ecosystem value. This view has changed in recent decades. As a result, improved representation of GZ in food web, fisheries, and biogeochemical models is now possible. Despite GZ assemblages being comparably well-studied in the Pacific Ocean, many questions beyond the taxonomic class or species levels remain unanswered. This dissertation aims to provide new insights into inter- and intraspecific differences in GZ biology, demography, stoichiometry, bioenergetics, and distribution in the subarctic Northeast Pacific and the Chatham Rise in the Southwest Pacific. This dissertation demonstrates that GZ organic content, elemental composition, and energy content vary among species, between life cycle stages, ...