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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 1996 53(1):97-106; doi:10.1006/jmsc.1996.0009
© 1996 by ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer
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Diel variations in the vertical distribution of copepods off the north coast of Spain

M. L. Fernández de Puelles, L. Valdés, M. Varela, M. T. Alvarez-Ossorio and N. Halliday

Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares P.O. Box 29, 07080 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Santander P.O. Box 140, 39080 Santander, Spain
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de La Coruña P.O. Box 130, 15080 La Coruña, Spain
Plymouth Marine Laboratory Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, U.K

Diel variations in the vertical distribution of copepods were studied in the north coast of Spain and related to the physical and biological structure of the water column. Zooplankton samples were taken at three different stations during a 24 h period, in the proximity of a drogue buoy using a Longhurst Hardy Plankton Recorder (LHPR) sampling net, so that it is assumed that the same water mass was sampled continuously. Physical and other biological parameters were monitored by Conductivity Temperature Depth Recorder (CTD) profiles and vertical Undulating Oceanographic Recorder (UNDULATOR) dips for temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a. Copepods were counted and classified into seven categories according to their size, and their distribution in the vertical plane was analysed using univariate and multivariate statistical techniques.

Vertical distribution of copepods and their developmental stages were mainly determined by chlorophyll distribution and, when a subsurface chlorophyll maximum was present, small copepods and copepodite stages appeared aggregated in this layer. Nocturnal upward movements of the population and an ontogenetic component in the position and behaviour of the community were also important features that characterised the distribution of the community. Those patterns may explain a part of the observed variability of the abundances and distribution of the copepods in the water column. However, the water mass displacement in the 24 h period of study must also be considered as a main variability factor in the spatial and temporal distribution of the zooplankton populations.

Keywords: copepods, vertical distribution, Longhurst Hardy Plankton Recorder, diel variability, zooplankton behaviour, Bay of Biscay

Received 29 December 1994; accepted 6 April 1995.


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