Seasonal changes in the vertical distribution of mesozooplankton in the Greenland Sea Gyre (75{degrees}N): distribution strategies of calanoid copepods

• Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
• Main Author: Richter, Claudio
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1995
• Subjects: Articles; Greenland; Greenland Sea; Pseudocalanus minutus; Copepods
• Online Access: http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/52/3-4/533; https://doi.org/10.1016/1054-3139(95)80067-0

Seasonal changes in the vertical distribution of zooplankton abundance and biomass are described for a 3000 m water column in the Greenland Sea basin, covering late fall, winter, spring, early and late summer. Three different distribution strategies, exemplified by calanoid copepods, are highlighted: (1) Seasonal migrants: herbivorous species undergoing diapause at great depths and surfacing in summer ( Calanus spp., Pseudocalanus minutus ); (2) mesopelagic residents: omnivores with broadly overlapping but stationary depth distribution throughout the year and vertical partitioning of the water column among the species ( Chiridius obtusifrons, Gaidius tenuispinus, Aetideopsis multiserrata ); (3) bathypelagic residents: large omnivorous species with broadly overlapping but stationary depth distribution throughout the year and vertical partitioning of the deepest layers ( Gaidius brevispinus, Aetideopsis rostrata ). No epipelagic residents appear to have evolved in this open ocean high latitude ecosystem, underscoring the potential role of deep water as a refuge for plankton in periods of low or nil surface production.