Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:00:43.898Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variations in time and space: is biogeography relevant to studies of long-time scale change?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Martin V. Angel
Martin V. Angel
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Deacon Laboratory, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey, GUUB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Simple community parameters, such as number of species caught and the species diversity of a planktonic group (in this case Ostracoda), have been found to be stable enough in time and space to detect shifts in these parameters likely to be generated by interannual and decadal variation, especially if sampling is conducted at mesopelagic depths. At this time scale, changes in spatial variability will be expressed most clearly as shifts in zoogeographical boundaries. The clearest boundary to be detected in the North-east Atlantic occurs in the vicinity of 40°N, across which is a rapid equatorwards reduction in the total available nutrient as a result of a reduction in the depth of the mixed layer in winter. The boundary at 40°N is marked in satellite images by a sharp reduction in seasonality of surface chlorophyll concentrations. In the planktonic ostracods there is a sharp decline in both species numbers and diversity on the poleward side to a depth of at least 2000 m. If these changes are related to the degree of seasonality in the production cycle, then they can be expected to be climatically controlled. Monitoring this boundary will give an unambiguous signal of any future climate change, natural or anthropogenic, having a significant biological impact on the oceanic ecosystem and on fluxes of material within the water column.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 191 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AngelM. V., M. V., 1977. Studies on Atlantic halocyprid ostracods: vertical distributions of the species in the top 1000 m in the vicinity of 44°N, 13°W. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 57, 239–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
AngelM.V., M.V., 1979. Studies on Atlantic halocyprid ostracods: their vertical distributions and community structure in the central gyre region along latitude 30°from Africa to Bermuda. Progress in Oceanography, 8,3–124.Google Scholar
AngelM.V., M.V., 1984. The diurnal migrations and distributions of a mesopelagic community in the North-east Atlantic. 3. Planktonic ostracods, a stable component in the community. Progress in Oceanography, 13, 319–351.Google Scholar
Angel, M.V. & FashamM.J.R., M.J.R., 1975. Analysis of the vertical and geographic distribution of the abundant species of planktonic ostracods in the North-east Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Bio-logical Association of the United Kingdom, 55, 709–737.Google Scholar
AngelM.V., M.V.,HargreavesP.M., P.M.,Kirkpatrick, P. & DomanskiP., P., 1982. Low variability in planktonic and micronektonic populations at 1000 m depth in the vicinity of 42°N 17°W; evidence against diel migratory behavior in the majority of species. Biological Oceanography, 1, 287–319.Google Scholar
BackusR.H., R.H., 1986. Biogeographical boundaries in the open ocean. UNESCO Technical Papers in Marine Science, 49, 9–13.Google Scholar
Cline, R.M. & Hayes, J.D. (ed.), 1976. Investigation of late Quaternary paleoceanography and paleoclimatology. Memoirs. Geological Society of America, 145, 1–464.Google Scholar
DeuserW.G., W.G., 1986. Seasonal and interannual variations in deep-water particle fluxes in the Sargasso Sea and their relation to surface hydrography. Deep-Sea Research, 33, 225–246.Google Scholar
DeuserW.G., W.G., 1987. Variability of hydrography and particle flux: transient and long-term relation-ships. In Particle Flux in the Oceans (ed. Degens, E.T. et al.), pp. 179–193. [Mitteilungen aus dem Geologisch-Paldontologischen Institut der Universitdt Hamburg, vol. 62.]Google Scholar
FairbanksR.G., R.G.,Wiebe, P.H. & BéA.W.H., A.W.H., 1980. Vertical distribution and isotopic composition of living planktonic Foraminifera in the Western North Atlantic. Science, New York, 207, 61–63.Google Scholar
HauryL.R., L.R.,McGowan, J.A. & WiebeP.H., P.H., 1978. Patterns and processes in the time-space scales of plankton distributions. In Spatial Patterns in Plankton Communities, ed. Steele, J. A.), pp. 277–328. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
LevitusS., S., 1982. Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean. Rockville, Maryland: US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [Noaa Professional paper 13.]Google Scholar
LevitusS., S., 1988. Ekman volume fluxes for the world ocean and individual ocean basins. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 18, 271–279.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGowan, J. A. & HaywoodT.L., T.L., 1978. Mixing and oceanic productivity. Deep-Sea Research, 25, 771–793.Google Scholar
McGowan, J.A. & WalkerP.W., P.W., 1979. Structure in the copepod community of the North Pacific Gyre. Ecological Monographs, 49,195–226.Google Scholar
Menzel, D.W. & RytherJ.H., J.H., 1960. The annual cycle of primary production in the Sargasso Sea off Bermuda. Deep-Sea Research, 6, 351–367.Google Scholar
MerrettN.R., N.R., 1987. A zone of faunal change in assemblages of abyssal demersal fish in the eastern North Atlantic: a response to seasonally in production? Biological Oceanography, 5,137–151.Google Scholar
ReidJ.L., J.L.,BrintonE., E.,FlemingerA., A.,Venrick, E.L. & McGowanJ.A., J.A., 1978. Ocean circulation and marine life. In Advances in Oceanography, (ed. Charnock, H. and Deacon, G.E.R.) pp. 65–130. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
RoeH.S.J., H.S.J.,AngelM. V., M. V.,BadcockJ., J.,DomanskiP., P.,JamesP.T., P.T.,Pugh, P.R. & ThurstonM.T., M.T., 1984. The diurnal migrations and distributions of a mesopelagic community in the North-east Atlantic. Progress in Oceanography, 13, 245–511.Google Scholar
Roe, H.S.J. & ShaleD.M., D.M., 1979. A new multiple rectangular trawl (RMT 1+8M) and some modifications to the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences' RMT 1+8. Marine Biology, 50, 283–288.Google Scholar
Spoel, S. van der & Pierrot-Bults, A.C. (ed.), 1979. Zoogeography and Diversity in Plankton. Utrecht: Bunge Scientific Publishers.Google Scholar
StommelH., H., 1965. Some thoughts about planning the Kuroshio survey. In Proceedings of a Symposium on the Kuroshio, Tokyo, 1963, pp. 22–33. Tokyo: Oceanographical Society of Japan and UNESCO.Google Scholar
WeferG., G., 1989. Particle flux in the ocean: effects of episodic production. In Productivity of the Ocean: Present and Past (ed. Berger, W.H.et al) pp. 139–154. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
WroblewskiJ.C., J.C., 1989. A model of the spring bloom in the North Atlantic and its impact on ocean optics. Limnology and Oceanography, 34, 565–573.Google Scholar
WroblewskiJ.C., J.C.,Sarmiento, J.C. & FlierlG.R., G.R., 1988. An ocean basin scale model of plankton dynamics in the North Atlantic. 1. Solutions for the climatological oceanographic conditions in May. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 21,199–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar