Winter distribution of zooplankton and ichthyoplankton assemblages in the North Sea and the English Channel.

Autor: Neven CJ; Ifremer, Channel and North Sea Fisheries Research Unit, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France., Giraldo C; Ifremer, Channel and North Sea Fisheries Research Unit, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France., Girardin R; Ifremer, Channel and North Sea Fisheries Research Unit, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France., Lefebvre A; Ifremer, Laboratoire Environment Ressources, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France., Lefebvre S; Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, CNRS, IRD, UMR 8187 Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, Univ. Lille, Station Marine de Wimereux, Lille, France., Loots C; Ifremer, Channel and North Sea Fisheries Research Unit, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France., Meunier CL; Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Helgoland, Germany., Marchal P; Ifremer, Channel and North Sea Fisheries Research Unit, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Oct 07; Vol. 19 (10), pp. e0308803. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 07 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308803
Abstrakt: Although zooplankton were extensively studied in the North Sea, knowledge about winter zooplankton assemblages is still scarce, despite potential influence of zooplankton overwintering stocks on seasonal plankton succession and productivity. Furthermore, several economically and ecologically important fish species reproduce during winter contributing to the zooplankton community as passive members (eggs) or predators (larvae). To elucidate on winter zooplankton distribution, abundance and composition in the Southern North Sea and Eastern English Channel, we defined assemblages based on mesozoo- and ichthyoplankton data sampled between January and February 2008 using fuzzy-clustering and indicator species. Mesozoo- and ichthyoplankton (eggs+larvae) were integrated in a common analysis by using a spatial grid adapted to the datasets and defined by means of a geostatistical method developed in agronomics. Potential environmental drivers of assemblage distribution were evaluated by means of GLMM and comparison with data from 2022 facilitated insight about the inter-annual representativeness of the assemblages. Five zooplankton assemblages were found varying with regard to total zooplankton abundance, dominant and indicator taxa. Spatial variability of abiotic (dissolved nutrients, salinity, depth, temperature, organic matter in suspension, chlorophyll a), biotic variables (phyto- and microplankton composition), water masses and fish spawning grounds were revealed as potential drivers of assemblage distribution. Assemblages off the Rhine-Scheldt estuary and in the German Bight harbored the biggest zooplankton overwintering stocks that might influence the grazing pressure on phytoplankton spring production. Assemblages off the Rhine-Scheldt estuary and covering the English Channel and the Southern Bight were found to be of high importance for herring and plaice larvae. Although further analyses suggested inter-annual representativeness of the assemblages found (2008 vs 2022), the assessment of further years would be necessary to account for potential inter-annual variability. Future studies could profit from the assessment of microzooplankton facilitating insight in fish larvae feeding potential and zooplankton overwintering strategies.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Neven et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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