Variability and spatial distribution of zooplankton communities in the western Chukchi Sea during early fall

• Published in: Polar Science
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Zooplankton; Copepoda; Composition; Spatial distribution; Chukchi sea; Arctic; Bering Sea; Chukchi Sea; Anadyr; Anadyr’; Chukchi Shelf; Anadyr'; Calanus glacialis; Chukchi; Polar Science; Copepods
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=16020; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00015908/

The western Chukchi Sea ecosystems are among the most productive systems in waters of the Russian sector of the Arctic. Chukchi Sea is of exceptional interest not only for the assessment of biological resources, but also for the analysis of quantitative distribution of key species in the study of long-term zooplankton fluctuations under the effect of various natural and anthropogenic factors. In this study, we compared the zooplankton composition, abundance, biomass, and spatial distribution in relationship with water characteristics on the western Chukchi Sea shelf. The community was dominated in number by copepods of the genera Pseudocalanus, Oithona, Microsetella, and bivalve larvae; in biomass, it was dominated by the copepod Calanus glacialis. The highest abundance and biomass of zooplankton were observed at the stations with the cold Winter Water and Melt Water. The zooplankton communities in the eastern corner of the Herald Canyon were influenced by the Anadyr/Bering Sea Water; in contrast, the zooplankton in the western corner of the Herald Canyon was more similar to the communities of the shallow Arctic seas. The trend of changes in the Chukchi Sea zooplankton community structure towards the predominance of small-sized crustacean species and their southward expansion along the southwestern Chukchi shelf are discussed.