York River, Virginia, Chesapeake Bay)
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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1986 Estuarine zooplankton community structure in stratified and well- mixed environments (York River, Virginia, Chesapeake Bay) James Edward Price College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Price, James Edward, "Estuarine zooplankton community structure in stratified and well-mixed environments (York River, Virginia, Chesapeake Bay)" (1986). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539616816. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25773/v5-abrg-br58 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS While the most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this manuscript, the quality of the reproduction is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. For example: • Manuscript pages may have indistinct print. In such cases, the best available copy has been filmed. • Manuscripts may not always be complete. In such cases, a note will indicate that it is not possible to obtain missing pages. • Copyrighted material may have been removed from the manuscript. In such cases, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, and charts) are photographed by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each oversize page is also filmed as one exposure and is available, for an additional charge, as a standard 35mm slide or as a 17”x 23” black and white photographic print. Most photographs reproduce acceptably on positive microfilm or microfiche but lack the clarity on xerographic copies made from the microfilm. For an additional charge, 35mm slides of 6”x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by xerography. 8708824 Price, James Edward ESTUAR1NE ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN STRATIFIED AND WELL-MIXED ENVIRONMENTS The College of William and Mary PH.D. 1986 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 ESTUARINE ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN STRATIFIED AND WELL-MIXED ENVIRONMENTS A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Marine Science The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by James E. Price 1986 APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy James E. Price Approved, December 1986 7 ^ „ George C. <0rant Committee Chain fert J Leonard W. Haas Michael P. Weinstein Chris S." Welch --- *=> ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ................................................. vii ABSTRACT ........................................................ ix INTRODUCTION ................................................... 2 METHODS AND MATERIALS .......................................... 6 RESULTS .......................................................... 12 DISCUSSION ...................................................... 54 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................... 73 APPENDIX A ...................................................... 75 APPENDIX B ...................................................... 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................... 83 VITA ............................................................ 92 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. George Grant for his support, cooperation and patience with this project. His guidance and assistance with the numerous taxonomic and ecological aspects were a constant source of encouragement, George was consistently supportive by promoting scientific discovery and providing financial assistance during my studies. I also wish to recognize the other members of my committee, Dr. Larry Haas, Dr. Robert Diaz, Dr. Chris Welch and Dr. Michael Weinstein for their critical review of all aspects of this project and for their patience. X extend a special appreciation to all the past members of the former Planktology Department for their cooperation and assistance with the field work and their participation in the many extended and informative discussions. Special regards to John Olney for his unbounded interest in plankton ecology and for offering numerous and usually informative critiques. Finally, I acknowledge my wife, Mayson Moore Price, for her constant support, encouragement, patience, and assistance during this endeavor. ' iv LIST OF TABLES Page Mean surface (lm) to bottom (18ra) differences and ranges for salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen during each of the sampling periods .... 14 _3 Density (no. m ) for species which had a mean density of a least 1 m for any cluster group during sampling period I . ........................ 17 _3 Density (no. m ) for sgecies which had a mean density of a least 1 m for any sampling stratum during sampling period 1 .................. .... 19 Relative abundance for dominant species in sampling period I comparing the cluster group and sampling stratum classifications ........................... 20 -3 Density (no. m ) for sgecies which had a mean density of at least 1 m for any cluster group during sampling period II ........................ 23 _3 Density (no. m ) for sggcies which had a mean density of at least 1 m for any sampling stratum during sampling period II ........................ 24 Relative abundance for dominant species in sampling period II comparing the cluster group and sampling stratum classifications ........................ 25 -3 Density (no. m ) for species which had a mean density greater than 1 m for any cluster group during sampling period III ...................... 28 _3 Density (no. m 23^or species with a mean density greater than 1 m for any sampling stratum during sampling period III ............................... , 29 Relative abundance for dominant species in sampling period III comparing the cluster group and sampling stratum classifications ........................... , 30 v LIST OF TABLES (continued) Table Page 11. Comparison of significant tests of log densities and relative abundance (arcsine transformed) between cluster groups and sampling strata for selected dominant species .............................. 31 12. Comparison of densities for dominant zooplankton species between upper and lower strata during the day and n i g h t ................................ 52 13. Comparison of densities for dominant zooplankton species between day and night for upper and lower sampling strata ......................................... 53 14. Selected water oxygen values in ml 1 * for each of the sampling periods .................. ...... 71 vl LIST OF FIGURES Page Location of sampling site . .................... 7 Vertical profile of mean temperature (°C), salinity ( /oo) and dissolved oxygen (ml 1 ) . 13 Cluster dendrograms for collections from the initial stratified sampling period (period I) . 16 Cluster dendrograms for collections from the well-mixed sampling period (period II) ...... 21 Cluster dendrograms for collections from the restratified sampling period (period II) ......... 26 Density of Acartia tonsa adults in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ........... 33 Density of Acartia tonsa late copepodids in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ............................................... 34 Acartia tonsa adults, as a percentage of the total sample, in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ...................................... 35 Acartia tonsa late copepodids, as a percentage of the total sample, in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period .................... 36 Density of Fseudodiaptomus coronatus adults, in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ................................. .. 37 Density of Pseudodiaptomus coronatus copepodids in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ............................................... 38 Density of Neomysis americana in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ............. 40 Density of Leucon americanus In the upper and lower strata for each sampling period ............. 41 vii LIST OF FIGURES (continued) Figure Page 14. Density of Sagitta tenuis in the upper and lower strata for each sampling period .............. 42 15. Length frequencies as a percentage of the total stratum for night collections of Sagitta tenuis ......................................... 43 16. Density of Anchoa spp. in the upper and lower strata for each sampling p e r i o d .......................45 17. Percentage of Acartia tonsa adults in the upper stratum during each sampling period ............... 46 18. Percentage of Acartia tonsa late copepodids In the upper stratum during each sampling period ................................................. 47 19. Percentage of Pseudodiaptomus coronatus adults in the upper stratum during each sampling period