Mesozooplankton grazing and metabolism at the equator in the central Pacific: Implications for carbon and nitrogen fluxes

Abstract

Primary productivity and chlorophyll in the equatorial Pacific are lower than expected based on ambient nutrient concentrations. We tested the hypothesis that these conditions are due to a balance between phytoplankton growth and mesozooplankton grazing. Grazing rates and biomasses of three size classes of zooplankton in the size range of 200-200 μm were measured during March-April and October of 1992 at the equator (140°W). El Niño conditions prevailed in March–April, whereas in October a tropical instability wave (TIW) passed through the study area. Weight-specific pigment ingestion rates of mesozooplankton tended to be higher in March–April than in October while the opposite was the case for biomass. There were no discernible temporal trends in mesozooplankton community grazing rates in March–April, but there were changes in October associated with the passage of the TIW. Mesozooplankton grazing removed 1–9% day −1 of the total chlorophyll and 1–12% of the primary production within the euphotic zone. Therefore, the grazing hypothesis as stated above is rejected, although a simple chlorophyll budget suggests that grazing (mostly by microzooplankton) and phytoplankton growth are roughly in balance. Most of the phytoplankton was < 2 μm and presumably unavailable as food for mesozooplankton. If we assume that mesozooplankton only fed on > 2-μm phytoplankton, we estimate removal rates of the > 2-μm chlorophyll standing stock of up to 27% day −1. Another question of biogeochemical importance is the rate of the production of large diatoms. Mesozooplankton grazing could have balanced growth of the large (> 20-μm) diatoms in March–April, but not in October. From estimates of respiration and excretion based on water temperature and body size, we infer that: (1) > 80% of the carbon ingested by mesozooplankton is not phytoplankton; (2) mesozooplankton excretion supports < 7% of the nitrogen demands of phytoplankton; (3) the flux of carbon passing through the mesozooplankton would be equivalent to 23% of the primary production; (4) mesozooplankton fecal carbon could account for 100% of the sinking POC flux in this region. Finally, a simple food chain analysis suggests that a significant fraction of the microzooplankton production probably passes through mesozooplankton.