Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea
Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015 Zooplankton are critical trophic links and important modifiers of organic carbon cycles, yet are poorly characterized for much of the Arctic's Beaufort Sea, particularly in mesopelagic (> 200 m) waters. Zooplankton were sampled with 150 and...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Other Authors: | , , |
Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6156 |
id |
ftunivalaska:oai:scholarworks.alaska.edu:11122/6156 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivalaska:oai:scholarworks.alaska.edu:11122/6156 2023-05-15T15:16:37+02:00 Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea Smoot, Caitlin A. Hopcroft, Russell Winsor, Peter Coyle, Kenneth 2015-08 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6156 en_US eng http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6156 Marine Sciences and Limnology Thesis ms 2015 ftunivalaska 2023-02-23T21:36:35Z Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015 Zooplankton are critical trophic links and important modifiers of organic carbon cycles, yet are poorly characterized for much of the Arctic's Beaufort Sea, particularly in mesopelagic (> 200 m) waters. Zooplankton were sampled with 150 and 505 μm mesh nets in the upper 200 m in sections of the Beaufort Sea between Barrow Canyon and the Mackenzie River during August and September 2010-2013 to characterize the species composition, abundance, and biomass of epipelagic Beaufort Sea zooplankton communities. I observed 106 taxonomic zooplankton categories during four field seasons across both mesh sizes; copepods exhibited the highest species richness (38 species), followed by cnidarians (16 species) and amphipods (14 species). Average holozooplankton abundance ranged from 1110-3880 ind. m⁻³ in the 150-μm net and 47-215 ind. m⁻³ in the 505-μm net. Average holozooplankton biomass ranged from 23.8-76.9 mg dry-weight (DW) m⁻³ and 13.9-57.6 mg DW m⁻³ in the 150-μm and 505-μm nets, respectively. Spatial structure of zooplankton communities reflected a blending of across- and along-shelf temperature and salinity gradients that were driven by relative contributions of different water mass types. To characterize mesopelagic zooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea, I collected stratified zooplankton samples and physical oceanographic data at stations along the Beaufort Sea slope during August 2013. I documented 93 taxonomic categories; greatest diversity was observed in the copepods (48 species), followed by the cnidarians (10 species) and amphipods (8 species). Distinct zooplankton communities were associated with the three main water masses in the study region: the Polar Mixed Layer (PML), Arctic Halocline Water (AHW), and Atlantic Water (AW). Average abundance and biomass were highest (1150 ind. m⁻³ and 27.1 mg DW m⁻³ , respectively) in the PML (0-50 m) and declined with depth, to a minimum in the 500-1000 m layer of AW (15 ind. m⁻³ and 0.6 mg DW m⁻³). Conversely, ... Thesis Arctic Barrow Beaufort Sea Mackenzie river Mesozooplankton Zooplankton Alaska Copepods University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA Arctic Barrow Canyon ENVELOPE(-154.000,-154.000,72.500,72.500) Fairbanks Mackenzie River |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalaska |
language |
English |
description |
Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015 Zooplankton are critical trophic links and important modifiers of organic carbon cycles, yet are poorly characterized for much of the Arctic's Beaufort Sea, particularly in mesopelagic (> 200 m) waters. Zooplankton were sampled with 150 and 505 μm mesh nets in the upper 200 m in sections of the Beaufort Sea between Barrow Canyon and the Mackenzie River during August and September 2010-2013 to characterize the species composition, abundance, and biomass of epipelagic Beaufort Sea zooplankton communities. I observed 106 taxonomic zooplankton categories during four field seasons across both mesh sizes; copepods exhibited the highest species richness (38 species), followed by cnidarians (16 species) and amphipods (14 species). Average holozooplankton abundance ranged from 1110-3880 ind. m⁻³ in the 150-μm net and 47-215 ind. m⁻³ in the 505-μm net. Average holozooplankton biomass ranged from 23.8-76.9 mg dry-weight (DW) m⁻³ and 13.9-57.6 mg DW m⁻³ in the 150-μm and 505-μm nets, respectively. Spatial structure of zooplankton communities reflected a blending of across- and along-shelf temperature and salinity gradients that were driven by relative contributions of different water mass types. To characterize mesopelagic zooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea, I collected stratified zooplankton samples and physical oceanographic data at stations along the Beaufort Sea slope during August 2013. I documented 93 taxonomic categories; greatest diversity was observed in the copepods (48 species), followed by the cnidarians (10 species) and amphipods (8 species). Distinct zooplankton communities were associated with the three main water masses in the study region: the Polar Mixed Layer (PML), Arctic Halocline Water (AHW), and Atlantic Water (AW). Average abundance and biomass were highest (1150 ind. m⁻³ and 27.1 mg DW m⁻³ , respectively) in the PML (0-50 m) and declined with depth, to a minimum in the 500-1000 m layer of AW (15 ind. m⁻³ and 0.6 mg DW m⁻³). Conversely, ... |
author2 |
Hopcroft, Russell Winsor, Peter Coyle, Kenneth |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Smoot, Caitlin A. |
spellingShingle |
Smoot, Caitlin A. Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea |
author_facet |
Smoot, Caitlin A. |
author_sort |
Smoot, Caitlin A. |
title |
Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea |
title_short |
Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea |
title_full |
Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea |
title_fullStr |
Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the Beaufort Sea |
title_sort |
contemporary mesozooplankton communities of the beaufort sea |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6156 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-154.000,-154.000,72.500,72.500) |
geographic |
Arctic Barrow Canyon Fairbanks Mackenzie River |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barrow Canyon Fairbanks Mackenzie River |
genre |
Arctic Barrow Beaufort Sea Mackenzie river Mesozooplankton Zooplankton Alaska Copepods |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barrow Beaufort Sea Mackenzie river Mesozooplankton Zooplankton Alaska Copepods |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6156 Marine Sciences and Limnology |
_version_ |
1766346916074881024 |