Abstract
A Lagrangian module has been developed and coupled with the 3D circulation model Symphonie to study the influence of hydrodynamic processes on zooplankton transport and distributions in the North Western Mediterranean (NWM). Individuals are released every 3 days from March to August 2001 in two initial areas: around the DYFAMED sampling station in the central Ligurian Sea and in the Rhône river plume. Then the individuals are tracked for 40 days either as passive particles or with a simple diel vertical migration (DVM) pattern. The simulations suggest strong seasonal patterns in the distributions of the individuals released around the DYFAMED sampling station. Individuals spread all over the NWM basin after 40 days but different patterns occur depending on the season, the initial depths of release and the capacity of DVM. Offshore-shelf transport only occurs in April and May with particles ending up in the Gulf of Lions (GoL) in low concentrations. In other months, the Northern Current (NC) can be considered as a barrier for particles entering the GoL from the offshore sea. A quarter to a half of passive individuals released in the Rhône river plume remain in the GoL. The rest is transported by the NC towards the Catalan Sea. Applying a simple DVM scheme does not increase the retention of particles on the shelf.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, it has become clear that physical processes are important drivers of population dynamics in the oceans (Miller et al, 1998; Batchelder et al, 2002)
We have developed a Lagrangian tool to simulate the transport and distributions of particles coupled with the 3D circulation model Symphonie
The Lagrangian tool has been used to estimate the influence of hydrodynamic processes on zooplankton transport and distributions in the North Western Mediterranean (NWM)
Summary
Over the past few decades, it has become clear that physical processes are important drivers of population dynamics in the oceans (Miller et al, 1998; Batchelder et al, 2002). Zooplankton organisms are critically dependent on their physical environments but they are not necessarily passive particles (Batchelder et al, 2002; Cianelli et al, 2007; Sentchev and Korotenko, 2007; Carr et al, 2008). They swim vertically which influences their spatio-temporal distributions. Zooplankton transport in a variety of physical conditions can be considered as the combination of two closely linked processes. The first is zooplankton transport by non-stationary flow fields and the second is the behavioural response of zooplankton, mainly by swimming, to the changes of environmental conditions
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