Tracking seasonal changes in North Sea zooplankton trophic dynamics using stable isotopes

Trophodynamics of meso-zooplankton in the North Sea (NS) were assessed at a site in the southern NS, and at a shallow and a deep site in the central NS. Offshore and neritic species from different ecological niches, including Calanus spp., Temora spp. and Sagitta spp., were collected during seven cruises over 14 months from 2007 to 2008. Bulk stable isotope (SI) analysis, phospholipid-derived fatty acid (PLFA) compositions, and δ 13CPLFA data of meso-zooplankton and particulate organic matter (POM) were used to describe changes in zooplankton relative trophic positions (RTPs) and trophodynamics. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that the RTPs of zooplankton in the North Sea vary spatially and seasonally, in response to hydrographic variability, with the microbial food web playing an important role at times. Zooplankton RTPs tended to be higher during winter and lower during the phytoplankton bloom in spring. RTPs were highest for predators such as Sagitta sp. and Calanus helgolandicus and lowest for small copepods such as Pseudocalanus elongatus and zoea larvae (Brachyura). δ 15NPOM-based RTPs were only moderate surrogates for animals’ ecological niches, because of the plasticity in source materials from the herbivorous and the microbial loop food web. Common (16:0) and essential (eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA and docosahexaenoic acid, DHA) structural lipids showed relatively constant abundances. This could be explained by incorporation of PLFAs with δ 13C signatures which followed seasonal changes in bulk δ 13CPOM and PLFA δ 13CPOM signatures. This study highlighted the complementarity of three biogeochemical approaches for trophodynamic studies and substantiated conceptual views of size-based food web analysis, in which small individuals of large species may be functionally equivalent to large individuals of small species. Seasonal and spatial variability was also important in altering the relative importance of the herbivorous and microbial food webs

SUDDEN POLARIZATION IN THE TWISTED, PHANTOM STATE OF TETRAPHENYLETHYLENE DETECTED BY TIME-RESOLVED MICROWAVE CONDUCTIVITY

Photoexcitation of the symmetrical molecules tetraphenylethylene and tetra-p-methoxyphenylethylene dissolved in saturated hydrocarbon solvents results in a transient increase in the dielectric loss of the solutions as monitored using the nanosecond time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) technique. This provides direct evidence for the dipolar, or ''zwitterionic'', nature of the 1p* phantom state formed from S1 by rotation around the central carbon-carbon bond. Dipole relaxation occurs mainly by charge inversion between the two energetically equivalent zwitterionic configurations, Z+/-, on a timescale of several picoseconds. A minimum dipole moment of ca. 7.5 D for the individual Z+/- states is found. The fluorescence of TPE in alkane solvents has two decay components, one with a decay time less than 200 ps and a second with a decay time of 1.9 ns. The former (lambda(max) almost-equal-to 490 nm) is assigned to emission from the partially relaxed S1 state prior to twisting. The latter (lambda(max) almost-equal-to 540 nm) is assigned to emission from a small, ca. 1%, concentration of the relaxed S1 state in equilibrium with the 1p* state in saturated hydrocarbon solvent