Phosphorus content and elemental ratios of gelatinous and soft-bodied zooplankton from the Northeast Pacific ...

• Main Authors: Lüskow, Florian, Galbraith, Moira D, Hunt, Brian P V, Perry, R Ian, Boersma, Maarten, Pakhomov, Evgeny A
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2021
• Subjects: Ctenophore; Heteropod; Jellyfish; Salish Sea; Salp; stoichiometry; Subarctic Northeast Pacific; Event label; Station label; DATE/TIME; Year of observation; Month; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Vessel; Gear; Species; Identification; DEPTH, water; Duration; Parameter; Size; Wet mass; Tissue, dry mass; Phosphorus, total; Carbon/Phosphorus ratio; Nitrogen/Phosphorus ratio; Sample type; Life stage; Location; Hand net; Midwater trawl; Bongo net; Multiple opening/closing net; Ring net; Edwards Modulyo Freeze Dryer Oakville, Ontario, CA; Measured using callipers; Weighted; Methods of Seawater Analysis, Third Edition Grasshoff et al., 1999; Calculated; British Columbia; Canada; Pacific; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.933356; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.933356

Climate change and anthropogenic disturbances, among other factors, can change the seawater stoichiometry (C/N/P) and consequently elemental ratios of phytoplankton. This change in prey stoichiometry may not be tolerated by all grazer/predator species. Gelatinous and soft-bodied zooplankton (GZ) are suggested to be more resilient to such changes. We sampled GZ species (12 taxa in total) in the Northeast Pacific off British Columbia (Canada), determined their phosphorus (P) content and elemental ratios (C/P, N/P), and analysed intraspecific variability associated with size and ontogeny. P was determined as orthophosphate after acidic oxidative hydrolysis with 5 % H2SO4 according to Grasshoff et al. (1999). Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) data were taken from Lüskow et al. (2021). P % DW (dry weight) decreased with size for Aequorea sp., Aurelia labiata, Cyanea capillata, and Salpa aspera (species with sufficient sample sizes). P % DW differed significantly for two development stages of the salp S. aspera. C/P and ...