Long-term declining trend of zooplankton biomass in the Tropical Atlantic

Piontkovski, SA and Castellani, C 2009 Long-term declining trend of zooplankton biomass in the Tropical Atlantic. Hydrobiologia, 632 (1). 365-370.

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Abstract/Summary

We report evidences that the zooplankton biomass in the tropical Atlantic has declined with an almost 10-fold drop from the 1950s to 2000. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that the decline in zooplankton biomass was positively related to the NAO-index and to phosphate concentration. We also found that the depth of the thermocline has decreased over the period of our investigation. Thus, the decline we report in zooplankton biomass may be related to the combined effect of two phenomena driven by global temperature increase: (1) the widening of the distributional range of tropical species due to the expansion of the ‘tropical belt’ and (2) a decrease in primary production resulting from the thinning of the thermocline. The decline of zooplankton biomass we report suggests that global warming of the ocean may be altering tropical food webs, and through them, it may also indirectly impact tropical oceans biogeochemical cycles.

Item Type: Publication - Article
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.: non-CPR
Divisions: Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science
Depositing User: Miss Gemma Brice
Date made live: 26 Mar 2014 14:09
Last Modified: 06 Jun 2017 16:11
URI: https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/5894

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