Materials for plankton modelling: Vertical distribution of Atlantic zooplankton in summer

A novel approach reveals high zooplankton standing stock deep in the sea

“…Fewer results concern deep-sea zooplankton distribution over larger areas (Longhurst and Williams, 1979;Gaard et al, 2008). The data regarding quantitative distribution of the deep-sea zooplankton for the equatorial Atlantic and the South Atlantic Gyre are lacking.…”

Biohydro-optical classification of the northwestern Indian Ocean

“…Nutrient fluxes to the euphotic zone, the rate of vertical mixing, and the stratification of the water column affect phytoplankton production and are driven by physical processes. These physical processes, together with loss terms such as sinking and grazlng (Longhurst & Williams 1979, Banse 1992, are significant controls on the ambient plankton species assemblage (Frost 1980), phytoplankton photoadaptation, and the vertical distribution of photosynthetic pigments. In a recent estimate of global-ocean primary production from satellite radiometer observations, Longhurst et al (1995) introduced a hierarchical classification scheme, which recognized 4 primary domains of the global pelagic ecosystem based on physical forcing (Polar, Westerlies, Trade Winds, and Coastal), which are further split into 57 biogeochernical provinces.…”

Plasticity in coloration as an antipredator strategy among zooplankton

“…Like its congeners, it may perform diel vertical migrations with amplitudes of hundreds of meters (Longhurst and Williams 1979;Mauchline 1992;Zmijewska and Yen 1993), but several studies also report quite similar nighttime and daytime distributions (Skarra and Kaartvedt 2003;Vestheim et al 2005). In a previous study, we noted that the most shallow-living specimens were more transparent than their deeper-living conspecifics, although no quantifications were made (Vestheim et al 2005).…”