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Long-term variability in North Sea zooplankton off the Northumberland coast: productivity of small copepods and analysis of trophic interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

John C. Roff ,
Ken Middlebrook  and
Frank Evans
John C. Roff
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada NIG 2W1
Ken Middlebrook*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada NIG 2W1
Frank Evans
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Dove Marine Laboratory, Cullercoats, North Shields, Tyne and Wear NE30 4PZ.
*
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
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Abstract

All groups of meso- and macro-zooplankton in the North Sea off Northumberland, at a depth of 53 m, were studied during a 15-year period (1969–83); copepod productivity was estimated from biomass and growth rates. Phytoplankton were seasonally bi-modal with peaks in April and August–October; copepods were uni-modal peaking in June–July. The predatory zooplankters: larval fish, decapods, ctenophores, medusae (the summer-autumn predators) peaked between May and September, while chaetognaths and euphausiids (the winter predators) peaked in December–January. Copepods and the summer-autumn predators were seasonally and inter-annually positively correlated, and declined in abundance from 1974 to 1980. Euphausiids and chaetognaths on the contrary increased in abundance during these years, and were seasonally and inter-annually negatively correlated to the copepods. The mean annual abundance of copepods was positively related to the previous winter's minimum, and inversely related to the abundance of chaetognaths and euphausiids. Annual copepod productivity averaged 1260 kJ m-2 year-1, and showed no relationship to other groups of plankton.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 68 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 143 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1988

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