The spatio-temporal distribution of zooplankton communities in the Southern Ocean: high resolution sampling and its implications for long-term monitoring

This thesis was conducted under the auspices of the Southern Ocean Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey. The research conducted had the dual aims of providing baseline data for this long-term monitoring program and providing the first detailed analysis of zooplankton communities and distribution patterns in the Southern Ocean south of Australia. Data were principally collected between October 2001 and March 2002, during five voyages. As a primary step I investigated the sampling characteristics of CPR, and assessed the utility of the CPR as a long-term monitoring apparatus in the Southern Ocean. Given the shallow sampling depth of the CPR (~10.5m), a major requirement of this calibration was quantification of the fine-scale vertical distributions zooplankton. This was done through direct comparison of CPR samples with depth integrated NORPAC net hauls. The CPR-NORPAC comparison identified the component of the zooplankton sampled by the CPR and provided a means for comparison between past and present data sets. As a final component of this calibration, it was demonstrated that the CPR was effective at identifying biogeographic boundaries.

An essential requirement for the identification of long-term ecological change is baseline data on natural ecosystem variability, particularly seasonality. Therefore, after calibration of the CPR the two fundamental components of spatial and seasonal variability were investigated. Firstly, the fine-scale horizontal structure of zooplankton communities was quantified from a 1170 nautical mile transect, along the 140oE meridian, spanning all of the major oceanographic zones south of Australia. Applying multivariate analyses a unique community zonation was identified which was strongly related to the complex oceanographic environment, characterised by multiple branches of the major fronts. The seasonal component of temporal variability was investigated separately in two major and distinctly different regions, the Seasonal Ice Zone and the Sub-Antarctic / Polar Frontal Zone. Multivariate analyses were used to quantify seasonal changes in species composition, Bray-Curtis dissimilarity, species densities, and the proportional contribution of species to communities. The spatial and temporal variation of zooplankton community structure was discussed in the light of environmental controls, species' vertical distributions, population cycles, and ecosystem functioning. Finally,the application of these data to long-term monitoring was discussed, and recommendations made for future research.

The fields in this dataset are:

CPR

Segment Number

Time (GMT)

Date

Latitude

Longitude

Segment Length (nautical miles)

Salinity

Sea Surface Temperature

Species

Fish Larvae

Fish Scales

Egg Mass

Volume

Bongo

CTD

Depth

Identification info

Alternate title: The spatio-temporal distribution of zooplankton communities in the Southern Ocean: high resolution sampling and its implications for long-term monitoring

Date (Publication): 2010-08-17

Edition: 1

Citation identifier

Dataset DOI

Title: Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system

Date (Publication): 2012-04-23

Citation identifier: ISO 26324:2012

Citation identifier: doi:10.4225/15/5812c740d05df

Originator

Hunt, B. and Hosie, G.

Publisher

Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Principal investigator

HUNT, BRIAN

Australian Antarctic Division,

203 Channel Highway

Kingston

Tasmania

7050

Australia

Principal investigator

HOSIE, GRAHAM

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

Kingston

Tasmania

7050

Australia

Collaborator

HUNT, BRIAN

Australian Antarctic Division,

203 Channel Highway

Kingston

Tasmania

7050

Australia

Name: CAASM Metadata

Website: https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_472_Hunt

Status: Completed

Custodian

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

Kingston

Tasmania

7050

Australia

+61 3 6232 3244

+61 3 6232 3351 (facsimile)

Topic category

Biota
Oceans

Extent

Description: Temporal Coverage

Temporal extent

TimePeriod: 2001-11-02 2002-03-11

Extent

Description: Vertical Extent - Depth

Vertical element

Minimum value: 0

Maximum value: 150

Identifier: urn:x-ogc:def:cs:EPSG:6498

Name: Vertical CS. Axis: depth (D). Orientation: down. UoM: m.

Identifier: urn:x-ogc:def:axis:EPSG:113

Name: depth