Disentangling the mechanisms behind climate effects on zooplankton

Overview
TitleDisentangling the mechanisms behind climate effects on zooplankton
AuthorsKvile KØ, Langangen Ø, Prokopchuk I, Stenseth NC, Stige LC
TypeJournal Article
Journal NameProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
VolumeN/A
IssueN/A
Year2016
Page(s)N/A
CitationKvile KØ, Langangen Ø, Prokopchuk I, Stenseth NC, Stige LC. Disentangling the mechanisms behind climate effects on zooplankton. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2016 Feb 1.

Abstract

Understanding how climate influences ecosystems is complicated by the many correlated and interrelated impacting factors. Here we quantify climate effects on Calanus finmarchicus in the northeastern Norwegian Sea and southwestern Barents Sea. By combining oceanographic drift models and statistical analyses of field data from 1959 to 1993 and investigating effects across trophic levels, we are able to elucidate pathways by which climate influences zooplankton. The results show that both chlorophyll biomass in spring and C. finmarchicus biomass in summer relate positively to a combination of shallow mixed layer depth and increased wind in spring, suggesting that C. finmarchicus biomass in summer is influenced by bottom-up effects of food availability. Furthermore, spatially resolved C. finmarchicus biomass in summer is linked to favorable transport from warmer, core areas to the south. However, increased mean temperature in spring does not lead to increased C. finmarchicus biomass in summer. Rather, spring biomass is generally higher, but population growth from spring to summer is lower, after a warm compared with a cold spring. Our study illustrates how improved understanding of climate effects can be obtained when different datasets and different methods are combined in a unified approach.

Properties
Additional details for this publication include:
Property NameValue
Publication ModelPrint-Electronic
ISSN1091-6490
eISSN1091-6490
Publication Date2016 Feb 1
Journal AbbreviationProc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Elocation201525130
LanguageEnglish
Language AbbrENG
Publication TypeJournal Article
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PMID: PMID:26831099