13 research outputs found

    11 Year zooplankton time-series related to North Atlantic climate changes in waters of the Balearic Sea (western Mediterranean)

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    Workshop I: Climate impact on ecosystem dynamics of marginal and semi-enclosed sea

    Decadal changes in hydrographic and ecological time-series in the Balearic Sea (western Mediterranean) identifying links between climate and zooplankton

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    We investigated possible relationships between climate, hydrography, and zooplankton abundance in the Balearic Sea (BS), during a 10-year survey period spanning January 1994 to December 2003. It was demonstrated that large-scale atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic (NA) Ocean acts as a driver of regional meteorological variations and hydrographic patterns in the BS. The results also revealed that the variability of copepods, appendicularians, cladocerans, siphonophores, doliolids, and ostracods is closely related to variations in water temperature recorded during strong anomalies of the NA climate (>1 s.d.). Although the time-series that we analysed cover a period that is relatively short for investigating climate effects on marine ecosystems, the statistical results reported were consistent enough to emphasize the NA’s climate effect on the BS. The cascade of links identified by these results should be considered and integrated into the assessment and modelling studies of pelagic ecosystem and biogeochemical fluxes in the western Mediterranean SeaPublicado

    Increasing zooplankton variance in the late 1990s unveils hydroclimate modifications in the Balearic Sea, Western Mediterranean

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    We examined seasonal and interannual patterns of zooplankton functional groups in the Balearic Sea from 1994 to 2003 and revealed a conspicuous increase in zooplankton variance at community and population levels. The change occurred in 1999–2000, and paralleled modifications in the North Atlantic climate that cascaded down affecting the water column thermal gradient in the Balearic Sea. The observed modifications in both hydroclimate and ecological compartments raise the question of a potential ecological shift in the pelagic ecosystem of the Western Mediterranean in the late 1990sPublicado
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