The North Atlantic Ocean as habitat for Calanus finmarchicus : environmental factors and life history traits

• Published in: Progress in Oceanography
• Main Authors: Melle, Webjorn, Runge, Jeffrey, Head, Erica, Plourde, Stephane, Castellani, Claudia, Licandro, Priscilla, Pierson, James, Jonasdottir, Sigrun, Johnson, Catherine, Broms, Cecile, Debes, Hogni, Falkenhaug, Tone, Gaard, Eilif, Gislason, Astthor, Heath, Michael, Niehoff, Barbara, Nielsen, Torkel Gissel, Pepin, Pierre, Steinevik, Erling Kaare, Chust, Guillern
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling; Probabilities. Mathematical statistics; Calanus finmarchicus; Labrador Sea; North Atlantic; Northeast Atlantic; Norwegian Sea
• Online Access: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/45090/; https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/45090/2/WP3_text_fig_caps_RESUBMITTED_FINAL_1.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2014.04.026

This paper addresses relationships between the distribution and abundance of zooplankton and its habitat in the northern North Atlantic Ocean. Distributions of ten representative zooplankton taxa, from recent (2000-2009) Continuous Plankton Recorder data, are presented, along with basin-scale patterns of annual sea surface temperature and phytoplankton color. The distribution patterns represent the manifestation of very different physiological, life history and ecological interactions of each taxon with the North Atlantic habitat characteristics. The paper then focuses on a pan-Atlantic compilation of demographic and life history information for the planktonic copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, perhaps one of the most ecologically important and certainly the most studied zooplankton species in the North Atlantic. Abundance, dormancy, egg production and mortality in relation to temperature and phytoplankton biomass, using chlorophyll a as a proxy, are analyzed in the context of understanding factors involved in determining the distribution and abundance of C. finmarchicus across its range. Several themes emerge: (1) transport of C. finmarchicus is from the south to the north in the northeast Atlantic, but from the north to the south in the western North Atlantic, which has implications for understanding population responses to climate forcing on coastal shelves, , (2) recruitment to the youngest copepodite stages occurs during or just after the phytoplankton bloom in the east while it occurs after the bloom in many western sites, (3) while the deep basins in the Labrador Sea and Norwegian Sea are primary sources of C. finmarchicus production, the western North Atlantic marginal seas have an important role in sustaining high C. finmarchicus abundance on the western North Atlantic shelves, (4) differences in mean temperature and chlorophyll concentration between the western and eastern North Atlantic are reflected in regional differences in female body size and egg production responses, (5) differences in functional ...