Layered organization in the coastal ocean: An introduction to planktonic thin layers and the LOCO project

Sullivan, James; Holliday, D. V.; McFarland, Malcolm; McManus, Margaret A.; Cheriton, Olivia M.; Benoit‐Bird, Kelly J.; Goodman, Louis; Wang, Zhankun; Ryan, John P.; Stacey, Mark T.; Greenlaw, Charles F.; Moline, Mark A.

doi:10.1016/j.csr.2009.09.001

Cited by 58 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Biological hotspots of vertically restricted (on a scale of centimeters to meters) but horizontally dispersed thin layers of marine plankton are common in stratified ecosystems and typically persist from hours to weeks (23,24). Stratification of the water column facilitates the formation of thin layers of organic material by providing a density surface where settling marine snow reaches neutral buoyancy and can form a mucus-rich mat of aggregated phytoplankton during the spring bloom (25,26).…”

Section: Stratification Enhances Mehg Bioaccumulation In Planktonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater discharges drive high levels of methylmercury in Arctic marine biota

Schartup

Balcom

Soerensen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

118

148

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Elevated levels of neurotoxic methylmercury in Arctic food-webs pose health risks for indigenous populations that consume large quantities of marine mammals and fish. Estuaries provide critical hunting and fishing territory for these populations, and, until recently, benthic sediment was thought to be the main methylmercury source for coastal fish. New hydroelectric developments are being proposed in many northern ecosystems, and the ecological impacts of this industry relative to accelerating climate changes are poorly characterized. Here we evaluate the competing impacts of climate-driven changes in northern ecosystems and reservoir flooding on methylmercury production and bioaccumulation through a case study of a stratified sub-Arctic estuarine fjord in Labrador, Canada. Methylmercury bioaccumulation in zooplankton is higher than in midlatitude ecosystems. Direct measurements and modeling show that currently the largest methylmercury source is production in oxic surface seawater. Water-column methylation is highest in stratified surface waters near the river mouth because of the stimulating effects of terrestrial organic matter on methylating microbes. We attribute enhanced biomagnification in plankton to a thin layer of marine snow widely observed in stratified systems that concentrates microbial methylation and multiple trophic levels of zooplankton in a vertically restricted zone. Large freshwater inputs and the extensive Arctic Ocean continental shelf mean these processes are likely widespread and will be enhanced by future increases in water-column stratification, exacerbating high biological methylmercury concentrations. Soil flooding experiments indicate that near-term changes expected from reservoir creation will increase methylmercury inputs to the estuary by 25-200%, overwhelming climate-driven changes over the next decade. mercury | plankton | estuary | biomagnification | hydroelectric reservoir

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Section: Stratification Enhances Mehg Bioaccumulation In Planktonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater discharges drive high levels of methylmercury in Arctic marine biota

Schartup

Balcom

Soerensen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

118

148

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“…The penetration depth may be seasonal and area dependent and a function of the strength and character of the physical forcing causing the FZFEs. (Estrada, 1996); (f) the FTFE contribution may affect the calculation of nutrient and carbon budgets in the Mediterranean; (g) thin layers of plankton in the Mediterranean may be found similar to those found elsewhere in frontal areas (Sullivan et al, 2010).…”

Section: Unresolved Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical forcing and physical/biochemical variability of the Mediterranean Sea: a review of unresolved issues and directions for future research

Artale²,

et al. 2014

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Abstract. This paper is the outcome of a workshop held in Rome in November 2011 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the POEM (Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Mediterranean) program. In the workshop discussions, a number of unresolved issues were identified for the physical and biogeochemical properties of the Mediterranean Sea as a whole, i.e., comprising the Western and Eastern sub-basins. Over the successive two years, the related ideas were discussed among the group of scientists who participated in the workshop and who have contributed to the writing of this paper.Three major topics were identified, each of them being the object of a section divided into a number of different subsections, each addressing a specific physical, chemical or biological issue:1. Assessment of basin-wide physical/biochemical properties, of their variability and interactions.2. Relative importance of external forcing functions (wind stress, heat/moisture fluxes, forcing through straits) vs. internal variability.3. Shelf/deep sea interactions and exchanges of physical/biogeochemical properties and how they affect the sub-basin circulation and property distribution.Furthermore, a number of unresolved scientific/methodological issues were also identified and are reported in each sub-section after a short discussion of the present knowledge. They represent the collegial consensus of the scientists contributing to the paper. Naturally, the unresolved issues presented here constitute the choice of the authors and therefore they may not be exhaustive and/or complete. The overall goal is to stimulate a broader interdisciplinary discussion among the scientists of the Mediterranean oceanographic community, leading to enhanced collaborative efforts and exciting future discoveries.

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“…Some species of marine zooplankton vertically colocate with maxima in their phytoplankton food, while others do not (Dagg et al 1989;Pierson et al 2005;Rollwagen-Bollens et al 2006). So-called thin layers of phytoplankton in the ocean (Cowles et al 1998;Bochdansky and Bollens 2009;Sullivan et al 2010) are a type of DCM within which marine zooplankton have been shown to aggregate (Clay et al 2004;Ignoffo et al 2005) or visit for short-term feeding bouts Bochdansky et al 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a more comprehensive theory of zooplankton diel vertical migration: Integrating ultraviolet radiation and water transparency into the biotic paradigm

Williamson

Fischer

Bollens

et al. 2011

Limnology & Oceanography

186

202

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The current prevailing theory of diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton is focused largely on two biotic drivers: food and predation. Yet recent evidence suggests that abiotic drivers such as damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation and temperature are also important. Here we integrate current knowledge on the effects of abiotic factors on DVM with the current biologically based paradigm to develop a more comprehensive framework for understanding DVM in zooplankton. We focus on ''normal'' (down during the day, up at night) DVM of holoplanktonic, primarily herbivorous zooplankton. This new transparency-regulator hypothesis differentiates between structural drivers, such as temperature and food, that vary little over a 24-h period and dynamic drivers, such as damaging UV radiation and visual predation, that show strong variation over a 24-h period. This hypothesis emphasizes the central role of water transparency in regulating these major drivers of DVM. In less transparent systems, temperature and food are often optimal in the surface waters, visual predators are abundant, and UV radiation levels are low. In contrast, in more transparent systems, vertical thermal gradients tend to be more gradual, food quality and quantity are higher in deeper waters, and visual predator abundance is often lower and damaging UV radiation higher in the surface waters. This transparency-regulator hypothesis provides a more versatile theoretical framework to explain variation in DVM across waters of differing transparency. This hypothesis also enables clearer predictions of how the wide range of ongoing transparency-altering local, regional, and global environmental changes can be expected to influence DVM patterns in both inland and oceanic waters of the world.Diel vertical migrations (DVM) of zooplankton in the world's lakes and oceans comprise some of the most widespread and massive migrations of animals on Earth. These striking migrations across strong vertical habitat gradients have inspired numerous ecological and evolutionary studies addressing mechanisms of habitat selection and consequences for species interactions. These migrations also have important implications for water quality and fisheries production as well as biogeochemical cycling. Natural and anthropogenic environmental changes, such as shifting local land use patterns and regional to global climate change, are altering water transparency and have the potential to affect DVM in lakes and oceans worldwide. The purpose of this article is to provide a common theoretical framework for understanding variation in the drivers of DVM across transparency gradients with a particular emphasis on recent advances in our understanding of the role of ultraviolet radiation (UV).Many environmental factors are recognized as providing both important proximate cues as well as ultimate consequences of adaptive significance for DVM, including light, temperature, food availability, and predation pressures (Table 1; Lampert 1989;Ringelberg 1993;Hays 2003). In spite of the wides...

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Layered organization in the coastal ocean: An introduction to planktonic thin layers and the LOCO project

Cited by 58 publications

References 52 publications

Freshwater discharges drive high levels of methylmercury in Arctic marine biota

Freshwater discharges drive high levels of methylmercury in Arctic marine biota

Physical forcing and physical/biochemical variability of the Mediterranean Sea: a review of unresolved issues and directions for future research

Toward a more comprehensive theory of zooplankton diel vertical migration: Integrating ultraviolet radiation and water transparency into the biotic paradigm

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