Community structured production of zooplankton in the eastern boundary upwelling system off central/southern Chile (2003–2012)

Medellín-Mora, J, Atkinson, A, Escribano, R and Ji, R 2019 Community structured production of zooplankton in the eastern boundary upwelling system off central/southern Chile (2003–2012). ICES Journal of Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsz193

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Abstract/Summary

Eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) are highly productive and climatically sensitive ecosystems of the ocean. A critical component sustaining EBUS is the zooplankton secondary production (ZSP) which links primary production (PP) and the higher trophic levels. However, estimating ZSP is a complex task and many questions remain regarding its controlling factors. Here, we used automated analysis to assess taxonomic-structured biomass of zooplankton from a time series (2003–2012) at a fixed station off central-southern Chile. Zooplankton biomasses combined with empirically estimated growth rates, as a function of temperature, Chorophyll-a concentration, and body size, were used to estimate seasonal and interannual changes in ZSP. The annual integrated ZSP yielded a mean of 8.0 g C m2 y 1 , with a minimum in 2009 of 5.7 g C m2 y 1 and a maximum in 2011 of 13 g C m2 y 1 , and an average annual P/B ratio of 35. The transfer efficiency from PP to ZSP was only 0.8%, indicating a surplus of PP to the system and/or the importance of intermediate microzooplankton levels. Seasonal variation in biomass, ZSP and the P/B ratio were explained mostly by changes in taxonomic structure while interannual variation reflected largescale climatic changes, such as the Pacific decadal oscillation.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Additional Keywords:	community structure, growth rate, upwelling, zooplankton biomass, zooplankton production
Divisions:	Plymouth Marine Laboratory > Science Areas > Marine Ecology and Biodiversity
Depositing User:	S Hawkins
Date made live:	12 Feb 2020 14:07
Last Modified:	25 Apr 2020 10:02
URI:	https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/8889

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