Planktonic interactions and particulate flux in Ellis Fjord, east Antarctica ...
The Southern Ocean is one of the largest marine ecosystems in the world, and is a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Thus, it plays a considerable role in the mitigation of the greenhouse effect and resultant global warming. Marine micro-organisms dominate the plankton biomass in Antarctic w...
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | unknown |
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University Of Tasmania
2023
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Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23246999.v1 https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Planktonic_interactions_and_particulate_flux_in_Ellis_Fjord_east_Antarctica/23246999/1 |
Summary: | The Southern Ocean is one of the largest marine ecosystems in the world, and is a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Thus, it plays a considerable role in the mitigation of the greenhouse effect and resultant global warming. Marine micro-organisms dominate the plankton biomass in Antarctic waters, consume much of the primary production, and are principal determinants of the transfer and vertical flux of photosyntheticallyfixed carbon. This thesis examines the composition and trophodynamics of a plankton community dominated by microzooplankton grazers, and their role in vertical carbon flux in an east Antarctic fjord. Ellis Fjord is a semiisolated marine inlet that is usually ice-covered throughout the year, and supports a zooplankton community that has low species richness and is dominated by microzooplankton. As such, it is akin to a macrocosm in which the role of microzooplankton in carbon dynamics can be studied in detail, in the relative absence of strong hydrodynamic forcing and the influence of ... |
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