Trophodynamics of nekton communities in the epipelagic layer of the North-West Pacific in summer and winter seasons

Abstract

Trophic links between nekton and plankton are analyzed using the data collected in trawl surveys conducted by Pacific Fish. Res. Center (TINRO) in the Pacific waters at Kuril Islands and East Kamchatka in June-July of 2004-2016 and in the central and western parts of the Subarctic Front zone and adjacent subarctic waters in February-April of 2009-2011. Spatial, seasonal and interannual dynamics of nekton communities are detected, as well as changes in their composition and abundance. The most significant changes were caused by mass migrations of subtropical species, as in summer of 2014-2016. In these cases, new components were involved in the food web and energy flows between the low and upper trophic levels were changed, in the first place concerning to copepods, then to euphausiids, amphipods, and small-sized nekton prey. There were no such significant interannual changes in the energy flows in winter. The estimates of daily and seasonal energy flows between low and upper trophic levels, as well as the consumption rate of forage resources indicate no excess of allowable grazing pressure upon forage resources in the upper pelagic layer of the surveyed areas.