| Summary: | A multidecadal record of a local zooplankton community, stored in an open-access database, was analyzed with wind data to examine the impact of wind-induced turbulence on vertical distribution of zooplankton. Two major findings were made. First, the abundance of zooplankton assemblage (composed of copepods, cladocerans, etc.) in the upper layer (<10 m deep) decreased with increasing turbulence intensity, suggesting turbulence avoidance by zooplankton. Second, when focusing on each species, it was found that ambush (sit-and-wait) feeders showed statistically significant changes in response to turbulence, whereas suspension (filter) feeders did not. This is the first clear evidence that ambush feeders change vertical distribution in response to turbulence.
|
|---|