Biogeography of the Southern Ocean: environmental factors driving mesoplankton distribution South of Africa

• Published in: PeerJ
• Main Authors: Alexander Vereshchaka, Eteri Musaeva, Anastasiia Lunina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PeerJ Inc. 2021
• Subjects: Zooplankton; Southern ocean; Distribution; Environmental factors; Medicine; R; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11411; https://doaj.org/article/88349f0977ee4076927065f4d8d1bba5

Spatial distribution of zooplankton communities depends on numerous factors, especially temperature and salinity conditions (hydrological factor), sampled depth, chlorophyll concentration, and diel cycle. We analyzed and compared the impact of these factors on mesoplankton abundance, biodiversity, quantitative structure based on proportion of taxa and qualitative structure based on presence/absence of taxa in the Southern Ocean. Samples (43 stations, three vertical strata sampled at each station, 163 taxa identified) were collected with a Juday net along the SR02 transect in December 2009. Mesoplankton abundance in discrete vertical layers ranged from 0.2 to 13,743.6 ind. m−3, i.e., five orders of magnitude, maximal and minimal values were recorded in the upper mixed and in the deepest layer, respectively. Within the combined 300-m layer, abundances ranged from 16.0 to 1,455.0 ind. m−3, i.e., two orders of magnitude suggesting that integral samples provide little information about actual variations of mesoplankton abundances. A set of analyses showed that depth was the major driver of mesoplankton distribution (abundance, biodiversity, quantitative structure), hydrological factors influenced two of them (quantitative and qualitative structure), chlorophyll concentration strongly affected only quantitative structure, and diel cycle had an insignificant effect on mesoplankton distribution. Using our current knowledge of the fine structure of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, we compared effects of four hydrological fronts, i.e., boundaries between different water-masses with distinct environmental characteristics, and eight dynamic jets (narrow yet very intense currents) on mesoplankton distribution. Subtropical, Polar, and Subantarctic Fronts drove quantitative and qualitative structure of mesoplankton assemblages (decreasing in order of influence), while the Southern Boundary affected only qualitative structure. Effects of dynamic jets were insignificant. We suggest that mesoplankton composition is driven by ...