Microzooplankton Community Structure in the North-Eastern Atlantic: Trends with Latitude, Depth and Date, Between May and Early August

Abstract

Microzooplankton from water samples collected from depths of between 10 and 50 m at four stations between 47° and 60°N along the 20°W line of longitude during each of three cruises were classified into taxonomic groups and measured to estimate their abundance and biomass. Metazoan members of the microzooplankton were rarely found and their overall biomass was negligible in comparison with protists. The mean numbers of protistan microzooplankton cells >15 μn ranged between 3 and 11 cells ml-1, with mean biomass values between 2 and 14 μgC 1-1. Numbers and biomass increased towards midsummer and then decreased again, except at the most northerly station where the values were highest in the early August sample. The ratio of dinoflagellate to ciliate biomass tended to increase through the summer to levels of three or four and then decrease again, with later changes further north; this ratio also tended to be higher at deeper levels than in the mixed layer. Gymnodinioid forms usually dominated dinoflagellate numbers and biomass, but they were overshadowed by Protoperidinium and others at the two southern stations in June and July samples. Strombidium species were the dominant ciliates, commonly providing 25–50% of total microzooplankton biomass, while predatory haptorid ciliates were occasionally numerous, but tintinnids never formed more than 10% of the biomass.