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Zooplankton communities of the North-Eastern Atlantic: Portuguese offshore waters

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Resumo:Zooplankton plays a key role in ecosystem functioning, as they represent the interface for energy transfer between primary producers and planktivores. Data on zooplankton, although essential to correctly assess the state of marine ecosystems, is still lacking for several regions were the need for answers is crucial. This work aims at establishing a baseline of knowledge on the zooplankton communities in the study area and finding relationships between copepod distribution (beta-diversity) and environmental and spatial factors. The study area was located off the coast of Portugal, limited between 42º and 35ºN and 14º and 9,5ºW. Sampling was conducted on 22 sites using a Bongo net towed from the rear of the ship in a double oblique design until a maximum depth of 215m, and at each site two samples were collected, one for biomass quantification and the other for taxonomical identification. Results showed that spatial effects were the primary drivers of variation on zooplankton biomass, MTG assemblages’ composition and copepod beta-diversity, along with spatially structured environmental variation, which also had an important role. Zooplankton biomass showed the greatest dependence on spatial effects (along with spatially structured environmental variation), showing that biomass alone might not be so susceptible to occasional changes in the environmental variables. MTG assemblages’ composition and copepod beta-diversity showed more complex patterns of variation, but the predominance of spatial effects is a result that, although contrary to the general trend, is in accordance with the hypothesis that inter-regional variability is more complex than a correlation with Sea Surface Temperature. The establishment of a baseline of data for our study area on the studied parameters, especially copepods, is probably the most important conclusion. Calanoid copepods were, as expected, dominant throughout the study area, represented by the genus Calanus, and more specifically, Calanus helgolandicus (Claus, 1863).
Autores principais:Ferreira, Bruno Alexandre da Silva Panta
Assunto:Ciências Naturais::Ciências Biológicas
Ano:2014
País:Portugal
Tipo de documento:dissertação de mestrado
Tipo de acesso:acesso aberto
Instituição associada:Universidade do Minho
Idioma:inglês
Origem:RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho

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