Holoplankton, Meroplankton, and Meiofauna Associated with Marine Snow
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES Vol. 156: 75-86, 1997 Published September 25 Mar Ecol Prog Ser Holoplankton, meroplankton, and meiofauna associated with marine snow Alan L. Shanks1#*,Keith Walters2 'Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon, PO Box 5389, Charleston, Oregon 97420, USA '~epartmentof Biology, PO Box 60, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37132, USA ;\BSTRACT. The associations of holoplankton, meroplankton and me~ofaunawith marine snow, as well CIS thelr behavior upon encountering marine snow, were investigated using SCUBA in the field and a vertical flume in the laboratory. Field san~pleswere collected in the Atlantic Ocean off Charleston, South Carolina, USA. (3 dates) and in the Pacific Ocean at 2 locations in the San Juan Islands, Wash- ington, USA (7 dates). Aggregates were present and abundant on all days (range 1 to 63 aggregates I-') but constituted a small percentage of the water column by volume (avg 0.078%). Holoplanktonic adult caldnoid and cyclopoid copepods, larvaceans, and copepod nauplii were found on aggregates. On average cl "/o of the calanoid and cyclopoid copepods sampled were on aggregates, indicating a weak dasociation with marine snow. In contrast, on average 2.6'%) of the larvaceans and 4.8% of the copepod nauplii sampled resided on aggregates, where they were, respectively, 33 to 62 times more concen- trated on marine snow compared to the surrounding water. Percentages of harpacticoid copepods, nematodes, and foraminiferans on aggregates were 12.4, 69.9 and 47.2% respectively, and all were significantly concentrated on aggregates. Cyprids, bryozoan cyphonautes, and Iarval echinoderms were either weakly assoc~atedwith or not found on aggregates.
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