Abstract
Shallow coastal areas are ecosystems with high productivity. Although the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea is oligotrophic, the shallow coastal waters of the northern Aegean, such as Kavala Gulf, are productive due to the influence of the Black Sea water and the presence of freshwater input from three rivers. The aim of this work was to determine the structure of zooplankton communities in Kavala Gulf in the summer of 2002 and 2003 and to investigate their relation to environmental variables. Zooplankton communities were characterized by the presence of common coastal Cladocera, such as Penilia avirostris, small pelagic Copepoda, such as the calanoida Acartia clausi and the cyclopoida Oithona plumifera, and Tunicata, such as Oikopleura, Fritillaria and Doliolidae. The abundances corresponded to the peak of the warm period and were significantly greater in 2002 because of a P. avirostris bloom, which seemed to have better exploited the environmental sources favouring its dominance in the area. Overall, the structure of summer mesozooplankton communities in Kavala Gulf follows the pattern exhibited by mesozooplankton communities in other Greek coastal areas of the northern Aegean Sea.
Highlights
Zooplankton play an important role in marine pelagic food webs, connecting primary producers, small pelagic fish populations and benthic communities, and transferring organic matter through the pelagic food webs (Fenchel 1988)
Its hydrodynamic complexity is closely linked to the influence of the Black Sea water masses, which outflow in the upper part of the water column through the Dardanelles Straits and are characterized by low salinity and temperature (Zodiatis and Balopoulos 1993, Zervakis and Georgopoulos 2002)
One branch of the Black Sea current follows a northward direction towards the Thracian Sea, where it is captured by an anticyclonic gyre formed around the island of Samothraki and is mainly restricted to the upper 0 to 20 m layer (Zodiatis and Balopoulos 1993, Zervakis and Georgopoulos 2002)
Summary
Zooplankton play an important role in marine pelagic food webs, connecting primary producers, small pelagic fish populations and benthic communities, and transferring organic matter through the pelagic food webs (Fenchel 1988). Plankton and fish larvae communities are often structured in assemblages that are closely related to environmental characteristics (Cowen et al 1993). The water circulation pattern in the northern Aegean has a considerable influence on the horizontal oceanographic variability of zooplankton assemblages (Isari et al 2006, 2007, Zervoudaki et al 2006). These hydrological conditions lead to high productivity, in contrast with the rest of the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Lykousis et al 2002), making the northern Aegean one of the most productive areas in the region (Bosc et al 2004)
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