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Life cycles of the large suspension-feeding copepods, Eucalanus bungii and Neocalanus cristatus were investigated by seasonal sampling in the western subarctic Pacific. Eucalanus bungii has a diapause from August to March at copepodite stages between copepodite 3 (C3) and C6 female. We propose that individuals with early birth dates are young of overwintering C5 and C6-females that develop to C4 in their birth year, while individuals with late birth dates are young of overwintering C4 that develop to C3 in their birth year. Thus, a majority of the population has annual generations alternating with biennial generations. Neocalanus cristatus showed life history almost identical to the population in the Alaskan gyre. Timing of the life cycle in N. cristatus is very close to that in the eastern subarctic gyre, but that of E. bungii is 2 months earlier than in the eastern subarctic. This difference is probably caused by the timing difference in the maximum primary production in the two areas and the plasticity of the life cycle strategy in E. bungii.

The spring bloom of phytoplankton is a well‐established, regular, seasonal event in the western subarctic Pacific and is considered one of the most important conditions of massive production of pelagic fishes. A series of 12 cruises was conducted from 1990 to 1992 to examine the timing and magnitude of the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Oyashio region, the western subarctic Pacific off Hokkaido, Japan. An interannual variability in the bloom events was also analysed. On the basis of hydrographical characteristics, the study area was divided into three water masses: the Oyashio Water Mass, the Mixed Water Mass, and the Coastal Water Mass. Spring blooms were observed first in April in the Oyashio and the Coastal Water Masses, and continued to May in 1991 and 1992. However, no bloom was recorded in the Mixed Water Mass. High nutrient supply into the surface mixed layer during winter is likely to be one of the factors supporting an intense spring bloom in the Oyashio Water Mass. A significant positive relationship between log‐transformed surface chlorophyll a concentration and maximum density gradient (MDG) within the euphotic layer was obtained in April, indicating the importance of vertical stability of the water column in the initiation of spring blooms in the Oyashio and the Coastal Water Masses. The spring blooms in 1991 were much more extensive and lasted longer than in 1990. It is suggested that meteorological conditions and abundance of grazers were responsible for this interannual difference.

Monitoring zooplankton communities is important to understand dynamics in marine ecosystems. However, it is difficult to identify cryptic species and immature stages of zooplankton using morphological classification, which is time-consuming and requires high skill levels. Here, we conducted a metagenetic analysis of the 18S region in 101 zooplankton samples collected weekly throughout 2014 and 2015 at the Okhotsk Tower in Mombetsu, Hokkaido, Japan, and compared the results of this analysis with those provided by morphological analysis. The metagenetic analysis detected 561 molecular taxonomic units (MOTUs), whereas the morphological analysis detected 201 taxonomic groups. Zooplankton communities were dominated by copepods throughout the sampling period; however, non-copepod taxa, which comprised high proportions of both MOTUs (mean 51.1%) and sequence reads (mean 19.1%), were also important. Cryptic diversity detected by the metagenetic analysis was primarily driven by Copepoda and by the larvae of benthic taxa such as Bivalvia, Gastropoda, and Polychaeta. Community structure and diversity varied between periods of warm and cold water, indicating strong correlations with water temperature and thus seasonality. Furthermore, metagenetic analysis revealed detailed seasonal changes in dominant taxa, including larval stages of metazoans with high taxonomic resolutions; these included commercially important organisms such as Japanese scallops. The metagenetic analysis revealed that changes in both water mass and bentho-pelagic interactions sustain ecosystems rich in zooplankton diversity in this area. Metagenetic analysis provides novel insight into zooplankton diversity, and generates massive sequence data that may be used in future research; thus, it is considered an effective tool for monitoring zooplankton communities.

The spatial distribution and seasonal variability of epipelagic chaetognaths along the Kurile Islands and off south‐east Hokkaido, in the western subarctic Pacific Ocean. were investigated during the period from May 1990 to October 1992. Sagitta elegans was the dominant species among the epipelagic chaetognaths in the study area. Juvenile S. elegans were distributed mainly along the path of the mixed water which was determined by the acceleration potential anomaly (APA) at the iso‐pycnal density surface of 26.6 σθ. The location of the path of The mixed water meandered around cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies. Catches of S. elegans were made at temperatures ranging from 4.5 to 22.2d̀C. The juvenile distribution, however, was mostly restricted to between 1 and 4d̀C of the potential temperature determined at the isopycnal density surface of 26.6 σθ. Variability in the juvenile abundance within the path of the mixed water could be caused by predation rather than by food limitation because microzooplankton, which are known to he prey for juveniles, were abundant enough to meet the food requirements of juveniles in the study area. Adults occurred in spring (April‐May) and young individuals (juvenile and stage 1) were abundant in summer (June‐July), when a strong thermocline developed. The main spawning period appears to be during April‐May, with a possible second spawning period in the autumn.

Trade-off relationships are considered key to understanding the mechanisms supporting the coexistence of multiple species within kelp beds. Thus, information on trade-offs is expected to contribute to conservation of kelp bed diversity. To test the existence of a trade-off between productivity and thallus toughness, thallus traits and relationships between the traits were examined for seven species of Laminariales including 24 populations. For each population, photosynthetic capacity per unit biomass (as A mass ) and nitrogen (i.e., photosynthetic nitrogen-use efficiency, PNUE), nitrogen content (as N mass ), thallus mass per unit thallus area (as TMA) and force required to penetrate the thallus (as F p , a common index of leaf toughness in land plants by punch test) were determined. A mass increased with increasing N mass . Blades with high N mass showed high A mass . These blades may invest a large proportion of nitrogen to the photosynthetic parts, and consequently exhibit high metabolic rates. Moreover, blades with high N mass tended to be associated with low TMA, and N mass decreased with increasing TMA. A significant negative correlation was observed between TMA and A mass because of the linkage of high A mass with high N mass and high N mass associated with low TMA, while a significant positive correlation was observed between TMA and F p . The two correlations indicate the existence of a trade-off between productivity and thallus toughness in Laminariales. PNUE showed a significant negative correlation with TMA, which also showed a significant positive correlation with F p as the index of thallus toughness, and therefore a trade-off relationship between productivity and thallus toughness.

We evaluated the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) at various stages of the spring bloom in the Oyashio region of the western subarctic Pacific Ocean by means of samples obtained during 3 cruises in April, May, and June 2003. In April, the average concentration (±1 SD) of nitrate plus nitrite ions was 23.3 ± 0.39 µmol l -1 in surface waters, and this decreased to below the detection limit (< 0.05 µmol l -1 ) during the bloom period. About 80% of newly accumulated organic carbon was partitioned into POM. Whereas the C:N ratios of bulk DOM ranged from 13 to 20, the average C:N ratio of newly accumulated DOM was 7.3 ± 1.5. The lability of DOM was assessed by seawater culture-type incubation experiments on surface seawater samples from each observation site. Although the newly accumulated DOM was relatively rich in nitrogen, most of it escaped rapid (d to wk) bacterial consumption in the seawater culture experiments.