The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a biologically rich area supporting large standing stocks of krill and top predators (including whales, seals and seabirds). Physical forcing greatly affects productivity, recruitment, survival and distribution of krill in this area. In turn, such interactions are likely to affect the distribution of baleen whales. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC research program aims to explore the relationships and interactions between the environment, krill and predators around Marguerite Bay (WAP) in autumn 2001 and 2002. Bathymetric and environmental variables including acoustic backscattering as an indicator of prey abundance were used to model whale distribution patterns. We used an iterative approach employing (1) classification and regression tree (CART) models to identify oceanographic and ecological variables contributing to variability in humpback Megaptera novaeangliae and minke Balaenoptera acutorstrata whale distribution, and (2) generalized additive models (GAMs) to elucidate functional ecological relationships between these variables and whale distribution. The CART models indicated that the cetacean distribution was tightly coupled with zooplankton acoustic volume backscatter in the upper (25 to 100 m), and middle (100 to 300 m) portions of the water column. Whale distribution was also related to distance from the ice edge and bathymetric slope. The GAMs indicated a persistent, strong, positive relationship between increasing zooplankton volume and whale relative abundance. Furthermore, there was a lower limit for averaged acoustic volume backscatter of zooplankton below which the relationship between whales and prey was not significant. The GAMs also supported an annual relationship between whale distribution, distance from the ice edge and bathymetric slope, suggesting that these are important features for aggregating prey. Our results demonstrate that during the 2 yr study, whales were consistently and predictably associated with the distribution of zooplankton. Thus, humpback and minke whales may be able to locate physical features and oceanographic processes that enhance prey aggregation.
Thirteen species of planktonic foraminifera collected with vertically stratified zooplankton tows in the slope water, Gulf Stream cold core ring, and northern Sargasso Sea show significant differences in their vertical distributions in the upper 200 meters of these different hydrographic regimes. Gulf Stream cold core rings may be responsible for a southern displacement of the faunal boundary associated with the Gulf Stream when reconstructed from the deep-sea sediment record. Oxygen isotope analyses of seven species reveal that nonspinose species (algal symbiont-barren) apparently calcify in oxygen isotope equilibrium, whereas spinose species usually calcify out of oxygen isotope equilibrium by approximately -0.3 to -0.4 per mil in delta(18)O values. The isotope data indicate that foraminifera shells calcify in depth zones that are significantly narrower than the overall vertical distribution of a species would imply.
Mathematical scattering models are derived and compared with data from zooplankton from several gross anatomical groups-fluidlike, elastic shelled, and gas bearing. The models are based upon the acoustically inferred boundary conditions determined from laboratory backscattering data presented in part I of this series ͓Stanton et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103, 225-235 ͑1998͔͒. The models use a combination of ray theory, modal-series solution, and distorted wave Born approximation ͑DWBA͒. The formulations, which are inherently approximate, are designed to include only the dominant scattering mechanisms as determined from the experiments. The models for the fluidlike animals ͑euphausiids in this case͒ ranged from the simplest case involving two rays, which could qualitatively describe the structure of target strength versus frequency for single pings, to the most complex case involving a rough inhomogeneous asymmetrically tapered bent cylinder using the DWBA-based formulation which could predict echo levels over all angles of incidence ͑including the difficult region of end-on incidence͒. The model for the elastic shelled body ͑gastropods in this case͒ involved development of an analytical model which takes into account irregularities and discontinuities of the shell. The model for gas-bearing animals ͑siphonophores͒ is a hybrid model which is composed of the summation of the exact solution to the gas sphere and the approximate DWBA-based formulation for arbitrarily shaped fluidlike bodies. There is also a simplified ray-based model for the siphonophore. The models are applied to data involving single pings, ping-to-ping variability, and echoes averaged over many pings. (k i •r tan ) where r tan is the tangent to the body axis at point r pos ͑ tilt ϭ0 corresponds to broadside incidence to the disk axis at the arbitrary point on the body axis͒.  tilt is not to be confused with the orientation angle, , of the body, although the two are the same when the body axis is straight.  L imaginary part of L ; attenuation coefficient of Lamb wave on elastic shelled sphere
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