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Microzooplankton Community Structure in the North-Eastern Atlantic: Trends with Latitude, Depth and Date, Between May and Early August

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

M.A. Sleigh ,
E.S. Edwards ,
A.W.G. John  and
P.H. Burkill
M.A. Sleigh
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Southampton, School of Biological Sciences, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton, SO16 7PX.
E.S. Edwards
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Southampton, School of Biological Sciences, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton, SO16 7PX. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH.
A.W.G. John
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Southampton, School of Biological Sciences, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton, SO16 7PX. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH.
P.H. Burkill
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH.
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Extract

Microzooplankton from water samples collected from depths of between 10 and 50 m at four stations between 47° and 60°N along the 20°W line of longitude during each of three cruises were classified into taxonomic groups and measured to estimate their abundance and biomass. Metazoan members of the microzooplankton were rarely found and their overall biomass was negligible in comparison with protists. The mean numbers of protistan microzooplankton cells >15 μn ranged between 3 and 11 cells ml-1, with mean biomass values between 2 and 14 μgC 1-1. Numbers and biomass increased towards midsummer and then decreased again, except at the most northerly station where the values were highest in the early August sample. The ratio of dinoflagellate to ciliate biomass tended to increase through the summer to levels of three or four and then decrease again, with later changes further north; this ratio also tended to be higher at deeper levels than in the mixed layer. Gymnodinioid forms usually dominated dinoflagellate numbers and biomass, but they were overshadowed by Protoperidinium and others at the two southern stations in June and July samples. Strombidium species were the dominant ciliates, commonly providing 25–50% of total microzooplankton biomass, while predatory haptorid ciliates were occasionally numerous, but tintinnids never formed more than 10% of the biomass.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 76 , Issue 2 , May 1996 , pp. 287 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1996

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