An overview of Southern Ocean zooplankton data: abundance, biomass, feeding and functional relationships

There is an enormous amount of data on Southern Ocean (SO) zooplankton, mostly on their distribution with a minority addressing rate processes. This review aims to summarise these data and show where it resides, to assist SO food-web modellers or those with limited specialist knowledge of SO zooplankton. First, a brief overview is provided of the diversity and basic biology of SO zooplankton, with an emphasis on abundance, distribution and feeding. Second, advice is provided on the uses, strengths and limitations of zooplankton data as inputs to SO data compilations or food-web models. Copepods overall comprise >75% of the SO zooplankton biomass (excluding Euphausia superba). Total mesozooplankton biomass density differs little between the Antarctic sectors, but latitudinally it is maximal in the Polar Frontal Zone and declines to the north and south. Those compiling data on numerical density (no. m–2 or no. m–3) need to allow for differences in the extent of identification of early larval stages. Likewise, the time of year, depth of sampling and mesh size of sampler greatly influence the recorded abundance, since the populations can make seasonal vertical migrations and their pulsed reproduction causes great seasonal changes in size structure and abundance. Other issues are specific to polar environments, for example, lipid storage which leads to significantly different length-mass and mass-rate relationships than are reported in global literature compilations. Likewise, stenothermy (narrow temperature tolerance) means that fixed (Q10-type) temperature relationships based on global literature compilations must be applied with great caution in SO-specific studies. Protozoa/micrometazoa (<200 μm) are the main grazers in the SO, since mesozooplankton typically remove <30% of primary production. This emphasises the dominant role of microbial food chains involving small metazoans, relative to the classic short diatom-krill-whale type food chains. Even within regions of abundant krill, copepod production in summer roughly triples that of postlarval E. superba. This fact reflects a large flow of energy through multiple trophic levels, via copepods and their major invertebrate predators such as other predatory copepods, chaetognaths, small omnivorous euphausiids, amphipods up to myctophid fish and birds

Pteropods in Southern Ocean ecosystems

To date, little research has been carried out on pelagic gastropod molluscs (pteropods) in Southern Ocean ecosystems. However, recent predictions are that, due to acidification resulting from a business as usual approach to CO2 emissions (IS92a), Southern Ocean surface waters may begin to become uninhabitable for aragonite shelled thecosome pteropods by 2050. To gain insight into the potential impact that this would have on Southern Ocean ecosystems, we have here synthesized available data on pteropod distributions and densities, assessed current knowledge of pteropod ecology, and highlighted knowledge gaps and directions for future research on this zooplankton group. Six species of pteropod are typical of the Southern Ocean south of the Sub-Tropical Convergence, including the four Thecosomes Limacina helicina antarctica, Limacina retroversa australis, Clio pyramidata, and Clio piatkowskii, and two Gymnosomes Clione limacina antarctica and Spongiobranchaea australis. Limacina retroversa australis dominated pteropod densities north of the Polar Front (PF), averaging 60 ind m(-3) (max = 800 ind m(-3)) and 11% of total zooplankton at the Prince Edward Islands. South of the PF L. helicina antarctica predominated, averaging 165 ind m(-3) (max = 2681 ind m(-3)) and up to > 35% of total zooplankton at South Georgia, and up to 1397 ind m(-3) and 63% of total zooplankton in the Ross Sea. Combined pteropods contributed < 5% to total zooplankton in the Lazarev Sea, but 15% (max = 93%) to macrozooplankton in the East Antarctic. In addition to regional density distributions we have synthesized data on vertical distributions, seasonal cycles, and inter-annual density variation. Trophically, gymnosome are specialist predators on thecosomes, while thecosomes; are considered predominantly herbivorous, capturing food with a mucous web. The ingestion rates of L. retroversa australis are in the upper range for sub-Antarctic mesozooplankton (31.2-4196.9 ng pig ind(-1) d(-1)), while those of L. helicina antarctica and C. pyramidata are in the upper range for ail Southern Ocean zooplankton, in the latter species reaching 27,757 ng pig ind(-1) d(-1) and > 40% of community grazing impact. Further research is required to quantify diet selectivity, the effect of phytoplankton composition on growth and reproductive success, and the role of carnivory in thecosomes. Life histories are a significant knowledge gap for Southern Ocean pteropods, a single study having been completed for L. retroversa australis, making population studies a priority for this group. Pteropods appear to be important in biogeochemical cycling, thecosome shells contributing > 50% to carbonate flux in the deep ocean south of the PF. Pteropods may also contribute significantly to organic carbon flux through the production of fast sinking faecal pellets and mucous flocs, and rapid sinking of dead animals ballasted by their aragonite shells. Quantification of these contributions requires data on mucous web production rates, egestion rates, assimilation efficiencies, metabolic rates, and faecal pellet morphology for application to sediment trap studies. Based on the available data, pteropods are regionally significant components of the Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem. However, there is an urgent need for focused research on this group in order to quantify how a decline in pteropod densities may impact on Southern Ocean ecosystems

Seasonal changes in the vertical distribution and community structure of Antarctic macrozooplankton and mikronekton

The macrozooplankton and micronekton community of the Lazarev Sea (Southern Ocean) was investigated at 3 depth layers during austral summer, autumn and winter: (1) the surface layer (0-2 m); (2) the epipelagic layer (0-200 m); and (3) the deep layer (0-3000 m). Altogether, 132 species were identified. Species composition changed with depth from a euphausiid-dominated community in the surface layer, via a siphonophore-dominated community in the epipelagic layer, to a chaetognath-dominated community in the deep layer. The surface layer community predominantly changed along gradients of surface water temperature and sea ice parameters, whereas the epipelagic community mainly changed along hydrographical gradients. Although representing only 1% of the depth range of the epipelagic layer, mean per-area macrofauna densities in the surface layer ranged at 8% of corresponding epipelagic densities in summer, 6% in autumn, and 24% in winter. Seasonal shifts of these proportional densities in abundant species indicated different strategies in the use of the surface layer, including both hibernal downward and hibernal upward shift in the vertical distribution, as well as year-round surface layer use by Antarctic krill. These findings imply that the surface layer, especially when it is ice-covered, is an important functional node of the pelagic ecosystem that has been underestimated by conventional depth-integrated sampling in the past. The exposure of this key habitat to climate-driven forces most likely adds to the known susceptibility of Antarctic pelagic ecosystems to temperature rise and changing sea ice conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Macrozooplankton and micronekton diversity and associated carbon vertical patterns and fluxes under distinct productive conditions around the Kerguelen Islands

International audienceMesopelagic communities are characterized by a large biomass of diverse macrozooplankton and micronekton (MM) performing diel vertical migration (DVM) connecting the surface to the deeper ocean and contributing to biogeochemical fluxes. In the Southern Ocean, a prominent High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) and low carbon export region, the contribution of MM to the vertical carbon flux of the biological pump remains largely unknown. Furthermore, few studies have investigated MM communities and vertical flux in naturally iron fertilized areas associated with shallow bathymetry. In this study, we assessed the MM community diversity, abundance and biomass in the Kerguelen Island region, including two stations in the HNLC region upstream of the islands, and two stations in naturally iron fertilized areas, one on the Plateau, and one downstream of the Plateau. The MM community was examined using a combination of trawl sampling and acoustic measurements at 18 and 38 kHz from the surface to 800 m. A conspicuous three-layer vertical system was observed in all areas - a shallow scattering layer, SSL, between 10 and 200 m; mid-depth scattering layer, MSL, between 200 and 500 m; deep scattering layer, DSL, between 500 and 800 m - but communities differing among stations. While salps (Salpa thompsoni) dominated the biomass at the productive Kerguelen Plateau and the downstream station, they were scarce in the HNLC upstream area. In addition, crustaceans (mainly Euphausia vallentini and Themisto gaudichaudii) were particularly abundant over the Plateau, representing a large, although varying, carbon stock in the 0–500 m water layer. Mesopelagic fish were prominent below 400 m where they formed permanent or migrant layers accounting for the main source of carbon biomass. Through these spatial and temporal sources of variability, complex patterns of the MM vertical distribution and associated carbon content were identified. The total carbon flux mediated by migratory myctophids at the four stations was quantified. While this flux was likely underestimated, this study identified the main components and mechanisms of active carbon export in the region and how they are modulated by complex topography and land mass effects

A global Continuous Plankton Recorder programme

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