Zooplankton species composition, abundance and biomass on the eastern Bering Sea shelf during summer: The potential role of water-column stability and nutrients in structuring the zooplankton community

Coyle, Kenneth O.; Pinchuk, Alexei I.; Eisner, Lisa B.; Napp, Jeffrey M.

doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.04.029

Cited by 135 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The ∼1700 km advance and retreat of sea ice over the Bering Sea Shelf is the largest in any of the Arctic or Subarctic regions (Walsh and Johnson, 1979), making it a significant source and sink for freshwater over the shelf. Increases in freshwater content caused by melting modify the water column density gradients, contributing to the maintenance of the summer stratification necessary for production (see Optimum Stability estimates by Coyle et al, 2008). Because sea-ice retreat begins in the south (Pease, 1980;Neibauer et al, 1990), ice persists longer over the northern shelf and northern bottom water temperatures in summer and fall are lower, leading to the division of the cross-shelf domains at ∼60 • N. Sea-ice persistence also plays a role in the formation of a cold water mass (<2 • C; Maeda, 1977;Khen, 1998) isolated by thermal stratification in the Middle Domain Wyllie-Escheveria, 1995;Wyllie-Escheveria and Wooster, 1998).…”

Section: Hydrographic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon and net community production on the Bering Sea shelf

et al. 2010

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Abstract. In order to assess the current state of net community production (NCP) in the southeastern Bering Sea, we measured the spatio-temporal distribution and controls on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations in spring and summer of 2008 across six shelf domains defined by differing biogeochemical characteristics. DIC concentrations were tightly coupled to salinity in spring and ranged from ∼1900 µmoles kg −1 over the inner shelf to ∼2400 µmoles kg −1 in the deeper waters of the Bering Sea. In summer, DIC concentrations were lower due to dilution from sea ice melt, terrestrial inputs, and primary production. Concentrations were found to be as low ∼1800 µmoles kg −1 over the inner shelf. We found that DIC concentrations were drawn down 30-150 µmoles kg −1 in the upper 30 m of the water column due to primary production and calcium carbonate formation between the spring and summer occupations. Using the seasonal drawdown of DIC, estimated rates of NCP on the inner, middle, and outer shelf averaged 28 ± 9 mmoles C m −2 d −1 . However, higher rates of NCP (40-47 mmoles C m −2 d −1 ) were observed in the "Green Belt" where the greatest confluence of nutrient-rich basin water and iron-rich shelf water occurs. We estimated that in 2008, total NCP across the shelf was on the order of ∼96 Tg C yr −1 . Due to the paucity of consistent, comparable productivity data, it is impossible at this time to quantify whether the system is becoming more or less productive. However, as changing climate continues to modify the character of the Bering Sea, we have shown that NCP can be an important indicator of how the ecosystem is functioning.

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Section: Hydrographic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon and net community production on the Bering Sea shelf

et al. 2010

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“…Hill et al, 2005;Coyle et al, 2008;Sambrotto et al, 2008). To understand how thermal stratification develops in correspondence to the yearly change in the sea ice retreat timing in the region, the changes in the ocean heat content ( OHC) during the MIZ bloom season (see 2.3) were used as a proxy of the surface-mixed-layer-depth development.…”

Section: Calculation Of Heat Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of timing of sea ice retreat on phytoplankton size during marginal ice zone bloom period on the Chukchi and Bering shelves

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The size structure and biomass of a phytoplankton community during the spring bloom period can affect the energy use of higher-trophic-level organisms through the predator-prey body size relationships. The timing of the sea ice retreat (TSR) also plays a crucial role in the seasonally ice-covered marine ecosystem, because it is tightly coupled with the timing of the spring bloom. Thus, it is important to monitor the temporal and spatial distributions of a phytoplankton community size structure. Prior to this study, an ocean colour algorithm was developed to derive phytoplankton size index F L , which is defined as the ratio of chlorophyll a (chl a) derived from cells larger than 5 µm to the total chl a, using satellite remote sensing for the Chukchi and Bering shelves. Using this method, we analysed the pixel-bypixel relationships between F L during the marginal ice zone (MIZ) bloom period and TSR over the period of 1998-2013. The influences of the TSR on the sea surface temperature (SST) and changes in ocean heat content ( OHC) during the MIZ bloom period were also investigated. A significant negative relationship between F L and the TSR was widely found in the shelf region during the MIZ bloom season. However, we found a significant positive (negative) relationship between the SST ( OHC) and TSR. Specifically, an earlier sea ice retreat was associated with the dominance of larger phytoplankton during a colder and weakly stratified MIZ bloom season, suggesting that the duration of the nitrate supply, which is important for the growth of large-sized phytoplankton in this region (i.e. diatoms), can change according to the TSR. In addition, under-ice phytoplankton blooms are likely to occur in years with late ice retreat, because sufficient light for phytoplankton growth can pass through the ice and penetrate into the water columns as a result of an increase in solar radiation toward the summer solstice. Moreover, we found that both the length of the ice-free season and the annual median of F L positively correlated with the annual net primary production (APP). Thus, both the phytoplankton community composition and growing season are important for the APP in the study area. Our findings showed a quantitative relationship between the interannual variability of F L , the TSR, and the APP, which suggested that satellite remote sensing of the phytoplankton community size structure is suitable to document the impact of a recent rapid sea ice loss on the ecosystem of the study region.

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“…We know that not all zooplankton are equally likely to be preyed upon by pollock, which likely contributed to this apparent mismatch. Coyle et al (2008) found that while copepods were always an important prey item for Age-0 pollock, large copepods were more abundant and were consumed in the cold year they sampled, but smaller copepods were more abundant and were consumed during a warm year. Similar to other studies in this area , Winter et al 2005, we found that Age-0 pollock distributions were most variable in the Outer Shelf Zone, so we chose this zone for further analysis of the 2009 zooplankton samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Nested scales of spatial heterogeneity in juvenile walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma in the southeastern Bering Sea

Benoit‐Bird¹,

McIntosh²,

Heppell³

2013

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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We sought to characterize the distribution of juvenile walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma in an area of intense predator−prey interactions and to describe habitat features that lead to their observed distributions. The distribution of juvenile walleye pollock around the Pribilof Islands in the southeastern Bering Sea in 2008 and 2009 was patchy, at spatial scales ranging from a few meters to several 10s of kilometers. These patches, and the spaces between them, were hierarchically nested with small, dense patches clustered together into larger aggregations which were further aggregated over the region sampled. Vertical physical habitat structure affected the vertical distribution of juvenile pollock similarly in both years. However, despite largely similar physical characteristics in both years, there were significant differences between years in the horizontal distribution, patch structure, and abundance of juvenile pollock. In neither year did biological or physical environment characteristics explain the broad-scale variability in the horizontal distribution of juvenile pollock, but at small horizontal scales a behavioral component was evident, with fish changing their group coherence as conditions changed despite consistent group sizes. It is clear that if we are to understand the processes that drive the distribution of juvenile pollock, we must consider multiple scales of heterogeneity. Only then will we begin to understand the role of pollock in the ecosystem and be able to predict the consequences of large sources of variability such as climate change, a critical question in the rapidly changing physical and biological environment of the Bering Sea.

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Zooplankton species composition, abundance and biomass on the eastern Bering Sea shelf during summer: The potential role of water-column stability and nutrients in structuring the zooplankton community

Cited by 135 publications

References 55 publications

Seasonal distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon and net community production on the Bering Sea shelf

Seasonal distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon and net community production on the Bering Sea shelf

Influence of timing of sea ice retreat on phytoplankton size during marginal ice zone bloom period on the Chukchi and Bering shelves

Nested scales of spatial heterogeneity in juvenile walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma in the southeastern Bering Sea

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