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JPR Advance Access originally published online on September 24, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(12):1475-1492; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbp084
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Seasonal succession and composition of the zooplankton community along an eutrophication and salinity gradient exemplified by Danish waters

Soultana Zervoudaki1,*, Torkel Gissel Nielsen2 and Jacob Carstensen2

1 Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, PO box 712, 19013 Athens, Greece 2 Department of Marine Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute, University of Aarhus, PO Box 358, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: tanya{at}ath.hcmr.gr

Received on March 27, 2009; accepted on August 22, 2009


  Abstract

The seasonal distribution of the major components of the zooplankton community, protozooplankton, copepods and cladocerans, along a eutrophication gradient were examined in order to establish if eutrophication through increases in phytoplankton biomass and productivity has an impact on biomass and composition of the zooplankton community. Data on salinity, temperature, inorganic nutrients, chlorophyll a, phytoplankton biomass and production, protozooplankton and mesozooplankton biomass were collected during routine sampling at seven stations representing a eutrophication gradient from open to estuarine waters. Mesozooplankton biomass varied seasonally in all areas with a unimodal pattern characterized by a peak between mid-spring and mid-summer. Total mesozooplankton biomass as well as copepod and cladoceran biomass, decreased with DIN concentration. Salinity and the type of ecosystem (well-mixed shallow estuaries versus stratified open waters) were the major factors controlling the biomass proportion of copepod species. Annual production of the total copepod community as well as the total grazing impact of copepods on primary production was higher in open waters than in estuarine waters. In estuarine type ecosystems, phytoplankton production is underexploited by copepod grazing, whereas in the open type ecosystems, the phytoplankton production alone could not satisfy the carbon demand of copepods stressing the potential importance of protozoans in the copepod diet.

Corresponding editor: Roger Harris


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