TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiscale variability of tropical ocean zooplankton biomass
AU - Piontkovski, S. A.
AU - Williams, R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank many colleagues at the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas and Marine Hydrophysical Institute, particularly A. Andruschenko, E. Baldina, G. Goldberg, Yu. Goryachkin, 0. Junev, L. Kuzmenko, T. Melnik, N. Minkina, M. Nemirovski, P. Scherbatenko, V. Vladimirov, G. Chepurin, and other colleagues whose data we have used. S. Piontkovski thanks the Royal Society and the Leverhulme Trust for funding his research at PML. Both authors are grateful for the comments and criticism of an anonymous referee.
PY - 1995
Y1 - 1995
N2 - The variability of zooplankton biomass on a scale of thousands, hundreds, and tens of kilometres was estimated from the data bank of over 40 expeditions to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and seas of the Mediterranean basin. Thirty oceanographic grid surveys were used to estimate variability on a scale of hundreds of kilometres. Continuous records within these grids were used to estimate zooplankton variability on the scale of tens of kilometres, and high-resolution sampling was used to investigate variability of kilometre scale. In the multiscale variability of zooplankton biomass, the maximum variability was observed on the thousands of kilometres scale, with the quantitative values of biomass represented in a form of normalized variance. The local peak of variability of zooplankton biomass in the range of hundreds of kilometres, in the tropical ocean, was probably due to the enhanced water dynamics with the same scale range. This activity is linked with open-ocean mesoscale eddy fields in the tropical zones of both oceans. The other typical feature of the structure of the zooplanktonic fields is its spatial anisotropy, which indicates different properties of spatial variation of parameters along directions through space. The anisotropy was evaluated by means of two-dimensional spatial autocorrelation functions. Two-dimensional correlation ellipses of the zooplankton biomass fields were orientated by their main axes in accordance with the direction of transport of the main water mass, the direction of motion of the eddies, and the orientation of divergence or convergence zones. The spatial heterogeneity of zooplankton biomass distribution in the horizontal plane can be characterized by the frequency of occurrence of patches. On a log scale the frequency of occurrence of different size patches diminishes proportionally with their linear size. Zooplankton biomass is distributed more heterogeneously than that of phytoplankton (chlorophyll a). Synchronous measurements of the three-level system "phytoplankton-mesozooplankton-flying fish" (where each component acts as a prey item for the next one) exhibit the same trend of spatial autocorrelation functions, diminishing over the trophic levels on a scale from hundreds to tens of kilometres. This means that relatively heterogeneous fields of predators exist on more uniformly distributed fields of their prey.
AB - The variability of zooplankton biomass on a scale of thousands, hundreds, and tens of kilometres was estimated from the data bank of over 40 expeditions to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and seas of the Mediterranean basin. Thirty oceanographic grid surveys were used to estimate variability on a scale of hundreds of kilometres. Continuous records within these grids were used to estimate zooplankton variability on the scale of tens of kilometres, and high-resolution sampling was used to investigate variability of kilometre scale. In the multiscale variability of zooplankton biomass, the maximum variability was observed on the thousands of kilometres scale, with the quantitative values of biomass represented in a form of normalized variance. The local peak of variability of zooplankton biomass in the range of hundreds of kilometres, in the tropical ocean, was probably due to the enhanced water dynamics with the same scale range. This activity is linked with open-ocean mesoscale eddy fields in the tropical zones of both oceans. The other typical feature of the structure of the zooplanktonic fields is its spatial anisotropy, which indicates different properties of spatial variation of parameters along directions through space. The anisotropy was evaluated by means of two-dimensional spatial autocorrelation functions. Two-dimensional correlation ellipses of the zooplankton biomass fields were orientated by their main axes in accordance with the direction of transport of the main water mass, the direction of motion of the eddies, and the orientation of divergence or convergence zones. The spatial heterogeneity of zooplankton biomass distribution in the horizontal plane can be characterized by the frequency of occurrence of patches. On a log scale the frequency of occurrence of different size patches diminishes proportionally with their linear size. Zooplankton biomass is distributed more heterogeneously than that of phytoplankton (chlorophyll a). Synchronous measurements of the three-level system "phytoplankton-mesozooplankton-flying fish" (where each component acts as a prey item for the next one) exhibit the same trend of spatial autocorrelation functions, diminishing over the trophic levels on a scale from hundreds to tens of kilometres. This means that relatively heterogeneous fields of predators exist on more uniformly distributed fields of their prey.
KW - Indian and Atlantic Oceans
KW - spatial heterogeneity
KW - zooplankton biomass
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U2 - 10.1016/1054-3139(95)80078-6
DO - 10.1016/1054-3139(95)80078-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0029538367
SN - 1054-3139
VL - 52
SP - 643
EP - 656
JO - ICES Journal of Marine Science
JF - ICES Journal of Marine Science
IS - 3-4
ER -