Published 2001

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Publication details

Journal : Marine Biology , vol. 139 , p. 561–574 , 2001

Publisher : Springer

International Standard Numbers :
Printed : 0025-3162
Electronic : 1432-1793

Publication type : Academic article

Contributors : Dale, Trine; Kaartvedt, Stein; Ellertsen, Bjørnar; Amundsen, Rita

Issue : 3

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Kjetil Aune
Chief Librarian
kjetil.aune@nofima.no

Summary

The investigation was carried out from 62 degreesN to 73 degreesN and from WE to I PW in the Norwegian Sea during 19 June-12 July 1997. Regional differences in the phase of the seasonal development of the plankton community were evident, most pronounced across the Arctic front. In the Coastal and eastern Atlantic domains, post-bloom conditions prevailed, characterised by low chlorophyll a (chl a) levels and a phytoplankton assemblage dominated by coccolithophorids and small flagellates. During the study period, egg production rates of Calanus finmarchicus were low (< 10 eggs female I day(-1)), older copepodite stages dominated, and the seasonal descent to deeper waters had started. In the Arctic domain, bloom conditions were evident by high chl a levels and a high abundance of large diatoms. Egg production rates were higher (a maximum of 29 eggs female(-1) day(-1)), but the dominance of stages' CI-CIII indicated that considerable spawning had already occurred prior to the spring bloom. The seasonal descent had barely started. Both invertebrate and fish predators were most abundant in the Coastal and eastern Atlantic domains, with abundance strongly decreasing northwestwards. No tight relationship between total abundance of invertebrate or fish predators and that of C. finmarchicus was apparent. However, a weak, but significant, relationship between abundance of young stages of chaetognaths and Euchaeta spp. versus young stages of C. finmarchicus was found, indicating that these invertebrate predators develop parallel to the development of the new cohort of C. finmarchicus. In early summer, C. finmarchicus had reached overwintering stages, and had started to accumulate in deeper waters in areas with the highest abundance of horizontally migratory planktivorous fish.