Estimations of mesozooplankton biomass in a coastal upwelling area off NW Spain
Bode, A.; Alvarez-Ossorio, M.T.; González, N. (1998). Estimations of mesozooplankton biomass in a coastal upwelling area off NW Spain. J. Plankton Res. 20(5): 1005-1014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plankt/20.5.1005
In: Journal of Plankton Research. Oxford University Press: New York,. ISSN 0142-7873; e-ISSN 1464-3774, more
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| Authors | | Top | Dataset |
- Bode, A.
- Alvarez-Ossorio, M.T.
- González, N.
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| Abstract |
The abundance and several estimators of mesozooplankton biomass (dry weight, ash-free dry weight, displacement volume, carbon and nitrogen) were measured in a coastal upwelling area off La Coruna (NW Spain) at monthly intervals between 1990 and 1995. Holoplanktonic copepods dominated in most of the samples, but meroplanktonwere also important near the coast, especially during late spring and through summer. Gelatinous organisms (medusae, siphonophores and larvaceans) reached significant abundances (-10%) in shelf waters by late summer, but also near the coast in spring. Log-linear equations were computed between dry weight, displacement volumeand the other biomass estimators, to allow for interconversion among different measurements. To prevent the influence of meroplankton and gelatinous zooplankton in the estimations of biomass, the equations were adjusted using only samples in which the abundance of each of these groups was <10% of total individuals. Our equations produced carbon and ash-free dry weight estimates that are comparable to those obtained with the ratiosgiven in other studies in the region. However, the esti mations of mesozooplankton carbon from displacement volume using the adjusted equation with our data are lower than those reported previously for the area, which werecomputed using equations adjusted with data from a different ecosystem. The use of interconversion factors taken from the literature is discussed, along with the implications of the estimations of mesozooplankton biomass in the computations of the flux of carbon through the ecosystem. |
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- Zooplankton monitoring RADIALES - section off A Coruña (NW Spain, Galicia); inner-shelf (station depth 77m), more
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