In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 16, No. 1 ( 2021-1-22), p. e0244960-
Kurzfassung:
Spatial structuring of mid-trophic level forage communities in the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) is poorly understood, even though it has clear implications for the health of fisheries and marine wildlife populations. Here, we test the hypothesis that summertime (May-August) mesozooplankton communities are spatially-persistent across years of varying ocean conditions, including during the marine heatwave of 2014–2016. We use spatial ordinations and hierarchical clustering of Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) sampling over 17 years (2000–2016) to (1) characterize typical zooplankton communities in different regions of the GoA, and (2) investigate spatial structuring relative to variation in ocean temperatures and circulation. Five regional communities were identified, each representing distinct variation in the abundance of 18 primary zooplankton taxa: a distinct cluster of coastal taxa on the continental shelf north of Vancouver Island; a second cluster in the western GoA associated with strong currents and cold water east of Unimak Pass; a shelf break cluster rich in euphausiids found at both the eastern and western margins of the GoA; a broad offshore cluster of abundant pelagic zooplankton in the southern GoA gyre associated with stable temperature and current conditions; and a final offshore cluster exhibiting low zooplankton abundance concentrated along the northeastern arm of the subarctic gyre where ocean conditions are dominated by eddy activity. When comparing years of anomalous warm and cold sea surface temperatures, we observed change in the spatial structure in coastal communities, but little change (i.e., spatial persistence) in the northwestern GoA basin. Whereas previous studies have shown within-region variability in zooplankton communities in response to ocean climate, we highlight both consistency and change in regional communities, with interannual variability in shelf communities and persistence in community structure offshore. These results suggest greater variability in coastal food webs than in the central portion of the GoA, which may be important to energy exchange from lower to upper trophic levels in the mesoscale biomes of this ecosystem.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g006
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g007
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g008
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g009
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.g010
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.t002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.t003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.t004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0244960.s003
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publikationsdatum:
2021
ZDB Id:
2267670-3
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