The vertical nitrogen flux caused by zooplankton diel vertical migration

• Main Authors: Graeme Hays, RP Harris, RN Head
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: Ecology not elsewhere classified; Zoology not elsewhere classified; Oceanography not elsewhere classified; zooplankton; diel vertical migration; nitrogen; vertical export; biogeochemical impact; n-flux; Atlantic; PRIME; North Atlantic; Copepods
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30100289; https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_vertical_nitrogen_flux_caused_by_zooplankton_diel_vertical_migration/20846065

Three species of vertically migrating copepods (Pleuromamma pisekii, P. gracilis and P. abdominalis) were collected at dawn and at dusk from the upper 200 m in the North Atlantic (36.5°N, 19.2°W) between 11 and 18 July 1996. For all 3 species, the nitrogen content of individuals caught at dawn was significantly greater than for individuals caught at dusk. Theoretical considerations suggest that this dawn-dusk difference in nitrogen content represents material that is exported from the surface each day (the so called active N-flux). The rate of this active N-flux was 0.46 μg N ind. -1 d -1 for P. pisekii, 0.34 μg N ind. -1 d -1 for P. gracilis and 5.17 μg N ind. -1 d -1 for P. abdominalis.