Predator-Induced Vertical Behavior of a Ctenophore

Although many studies have focused on Mnemiopsis leidyi predation, little is known about the role of this ctenophore as prey when abundant in native and invaded pelagic systems. We examined the response of the ctenophore M. leidyi to the predatory ctenophore Beroe ovata in an experiment in which the two species could potentially sense each other while being physically separated. On average, M. leidyi responded to the predator’s presence by increasing variability in swimming speeds and by lowering their vertical distribution. Such behavior may help explain field records of vertical migration, as well as stratified and near-bottom distributions of M. leidyi

Langtidsovervåking av miljøkvaliteten i kystområdene av Norge. Kystovervåkingsprogrammet. Hydrografi/hydrokjemi/plankton. Datarapport 2004

Rapporten gjengir hydrografiske/hydrokjemiske observasjoner fra 5 stasjoner i kystvannet mellom svenskegrensen og Lista i 2004 og planktontellinger fra en stasjon utenfor Arendal (St. 2). Det er gjennomført 10 tokt til Færder, 22 tokt til Jomfruland, 22 tokt til Arendal St. 2, 12 tokt til Arendal St. 3 og 12 tokt til Lista, jevnt fordelt over året.Statens forurensningstilsy

The Bathypelagic Biome of the Atlantic Ocean: Character and Ecological Discreteness of the Fish Fauna

Recent global synthetic analyses have revealed that marine taxonomic inventories are far from complete, nowhere more so than in the deep-pelagic ocean. At over a billion km3, it is the largest biome on Earth, yet only a tiny fraction of the biogeographic records include the bathypelagic fauna. This data gap served as the impetus for recent deepwater surveys, many of which have altered our perceptions of pelagic ecosystems. Here we examine data from four deep-pelagic (0-5000+ m) sampling programs in the Atlantic (60°N-25°S) in order to assess the character of bathypelagic fish communities with respect to faunal distinctiveness and ecological connectivity. Regions studied include the Gulf of Mexico, Sargasso 702 Sea, eastern North/South Atlantic, and mid-North Atlantic. Quantitative analyses give contrasting pictures with respect to faunal composition and ecosystem operation. The discreteness of the bathypelagic zone is exhibited faunistically by the suite of ―holobathypelagic‖ species found only below 1000 m, most of which are highly modified morphologically. Geometric abundance class analyses reveal that the character of relative species abundance distributions between the meso- and bathypelagic zones is fundamentally dissimilar; the former exhibit a much higher proportion of common species, while the latter exhibit a much higher percentage of rarer species. From a community energetics perspective, however, the bathy- and mesopelagic zones are highly interconnected. Approximately 70% of fish species collected below 1000 m are also found in the mesopelagic zone, and in the far North Atlantic, are also found in the epipelagial. These species comprised 66 to \u3e90% of individuals collected below 1000 m in the regions sampled. In the mid-North Atlantic, these species contribute to the unexpected water-column biomass maximum observed between 1500-2300 m. Thus, the ―transient‖ taxa (primarily mesopelagic migrators and spanner taxa) add considerably to the ichthyofaunal diversity of the world ocean below 1000 m, and appear to be the vectors that support the diverse array of holobathypelagic fishes whose taxonomic composition is dominated by piscivores. Data from the four regions studied suggests that classic pelagic biogeographic boundaries do not apply to bathypelagic realm, as shared species are the rule rather than the exception. Last, cumulative species curves suggest we are far from understanding the true complexity of the bathypelagic zone

MesopTroph, a database of trophic parameters to study interactions in mesopelagic food webs

Mesopelagic organisms play a crucial role in marine food webs, channelling energy across the predator-prey network and connecting depth strata through their diel vertical migrations. The information available to assess mesopelagic feeding interactions and energy transfer has increased substantially in recent years, owing to the growing interest and research activity in the mesopelagic realm. However, such data have not been systematically collated and are difficult to access, hampering estimation of the contribution of mesopelagic organisms to marine ecosystems. Here we present MesopTroph, a georeferenced database of diet, trophic markers, and energy content of mesopelagic and other marine taxa compiled from 203 published and non-published sources. MesopTroph currently includes data on stomach contents, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, major and trace elements, energy density, fatty acids, trophic positions, and diet proportion estimates for 498 species/genera. MesopTroph will be expanded with new data emerging from ongoing studies. MesopTroph provides a unique tool to investigate trophic interactions and energy flow mediated by mesopelagic organisms, and to evaluate the ecosystem services of this community

Biogeography of key mesozooplankton species in the North Atlantic and egg production of Calanus finmarchicus

Here we present a new, pan-North-Atlantic compilation of data on key mesozooplankton species, including the most important copepod, Calanus finmarchicus. Distributional data of eight representative zooplankton taxa, from recent (2000–2009) Continuous Plankton Recorder data, are presented, along with basin-scale data of the phytoplankton colour index. Then we present a compilation of data on C. finmarchicus, including observations of abundance, demography, egg production and female size, with accompanying data on temperature and chlorophyll. This is a contribution by Canadian, European and US scientists and their institutions: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.820732, http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.824423, http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.828393 (please also see Melle et al., 2013; Castellani and Licandro, 2013; Jónasdóttir et al., 2014)

Langtidsovervåking av miljøkvaliteten i kystområdene av Norge. Kystovervåkingsprogrammet. Årsrapport for 2009

Sammendrag Rapporten beskriver miljøkvaliteten i kystområdene av Sør-Norge i 2009, med spesiell fokus på tilstand og utvikling i næringssalttilførsler, vannkvalitet og det biologiske mangfoldet i plankton-, bløt- og hardbunns­samfunn. NAO-indeksen for vinteren 2009 var negativ, på grunn av kaldt klima i februar. Eutrofiutviklingen har vært positiv de siste årene. Vannføringen i Glomma var noe større enn normalt i 2009, men tilførslene av næringsalter fra elver har gått noe ned. Vannkvaliteten i Skagerrak var i 2009 i klasse God eller Meget god med hensyn til N, P, siktdyp og klorofyll, unntatt i Ytre Oslofjord hvor hvor det ble registrert tot-P og siktdyp i klasse Mindre god. For hele perioden er det i Skagerrak en tendens til avtakende risiko for opp­blom­string av skadelige alger. Økende oksygenforbruk i Risørfjorden og avtagende oksygen­konsentrasjoner i kystvannet generelt, gjenspeiler økt organisk belastning langs kysten. I 2009 var siktdypet som gjennomsnittet for 1991-2005, men i februar var sikten dårligere langs Skagerrakkysten. Det kan skyldes våroppblomstringen og innstrømmende vann fra Kattegat. 2009 var det åttende året på rad med lav algemengde. En kraftig våroppblomstring kom i februar. Lite alger kan være årsaken til nedgang i biomassen av kopepoder. Det ble registrert flere sørlige arter i våre områder i 2009. Tilstanden for bunndyr, både på bløtbunn og hardbunn, var generelt god i 2009, men tilstanden for tare har vært dårligere de siste to år.Klima- og forurensningsdirektoratet (Klif

The effect of the North Atlantic Subpolar Front as a boundary in pelagic biogeography decreases with increasing depth and organism size

Broad-scale patterns in the distribution of deep-sea pelagic species and communities are poorly known. An important question is whether biogeographic boundaries identified from surface features are important in the deep mesopelagic and bathypelagic. We present community analyses of discrete-depth samples of mesozooplankton and micronekton to full-ocean depth collected in the area where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is crossed by the Subpolar Front. The results show that the distributional discontinuity associated with the front, which is strong near the surface, decreases with increasing depth. Both the frontal separation near the surface and the community convergence at increasing depths were clearer for mesozooplankton than for micronekton

Toward a global reference database of COI barcodes for marine zooplankton

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Bucklin, A., Peijnenburg, K. T. C. A., Kosobokova, K. N., O'Brien, T. D., Blanco-Bercial, L., Cornils, A., Falkenhaug, T., Hopcroft, R. R., Hosia, A., Laakmann, S., Li, C., Martell, L., Questel, J. M., Wall-Palmer, D., Wang, M., Wiebe, P. H., & Weydmann-Zwolicka, A. Toward a global reference database of COI barcodes for marine zooplankton. Marine Biology, 168(6), (2021): 78, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03887-y.Characterization of species diversity of zooplankton is key to understanding, assessing, and predicting the function and future of pelagic ecosystems throughout the global ocean. The marine zooplankton assemblage, including only metazoans, is highly diverse and taxonomically complex, with an estimated ~28,000 species of 41 major taxonomic groups. This review provides a comprehensive summary of DNA sequences for the barcode region of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) for identified specimens. The foundation of this summary is the MetaZooGene Barcode Atlas and Database (MZGdb), a new open-access data and metadata portal that is linked to NCBI GenBank and BOLD data repositories. The MZGdb provides enhanced quality control and tools for assembling COI reference sequence databases that are specific to selected taxonomic groups and/or ocean regions, with associated metadata (e.g., collection georeferencing, verification of species identification, molecular protocols), and tools for statistical analysis, mapping, and visualization. To date, over 150,000 COI sequences for ~ 5600 described species of marine metazoan plankton (including holo- and meroplankton) are available via the MZGdb portal. This review uses the MZGdb as a resource for summaries of COI barcode data and metadata for important taxonomic groups of marine zooplankton and selected regions, including the North Atlantic, Arctic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans. The MZGdb is designed to provide a foundation for analysis of species diversity of marine zooplankton based on DNA barcoding and metabarcoding for assessment of marine ecosystems and rapid detection of the impacts of climate change.Funding sources for authors of the review paper are described here: Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), and a grant to SCOR from the U.S. National Science Foundation (OCE-1840868). Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Vidi Grant/Award Number: 016.161.351 to K.T.C.A.P. European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 746186 (POSEIDoN) to D.W.P. The work of K.N.K. was performed in the framework of the state assignment of IO RAS (Theme No. 0128-2021-0007) and partially supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research grants No. 18-05-60158 and No. 19-04-00955. The work of A.W.Z. was supported by a grant from HIDEA—Hidden diversity of the Arctic Ocean (No. 2017/27/B/NZ8/01056) from the National Science Centre, Poland, and a Fulbright Senior Award. The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative of the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre provided funding for A.H. and L.M. (Project Nos. 70184233/HYPNO and 70184240/NORHYDRO), and for T.F. (Project Nos. 70184233/COPCLAD and 70184241/HYPCOP). The work of R.R.H. and J.M.Q. was supported by Census of Marine Life and NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research (NA05OAR4601079 and NA15OAR0110209). The work of S.L. was conducted at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB). HIFMB is a collaboration between the Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz-Center for Polar and Marine Research, and the Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, initially funded by the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation through the Niedersächsisches Vorab’ grant program (Grant No. ZN3285)

Catchability of pelagic trawls for sampling deep-living nekton in the mid-North Atlantic

Material collected in summer 2004 from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores with three pelagic trawls was used to estimate relative catchabilities of common fish, cephalopod, decapod, and jellyfish species. Catchability is defined as the ratio of numbers caught between two trawls, standardized for towed distance. Taxon-specific catchability coefficients were estimated for two large pelagic trawls with graded meshes, using a smaller pelagic trawl with a uniform mesh size as the reference trawl. Two of the trawls were equipped with multiple opening–closing codends that allowed sampling of different depth layers. Generalized linear and mixed models suggest that most of the taxa have catchabilities much lower than expected from the area of opening alone, indicating that only a few species are herded by the large mesh at the mouth of larger trawls. Catchability coefficients across taxa show a very large spread, indicating that the sampled volume for the larger trawls with graded meshes was highly taxon-specific. Part of this variability can be explained by body size and taxonomic group, the latter probably reflecting differences in body form and behaviour. The catchability estimates presented here form the basis for combining data for quantitative analyses of community structure