Temperature, Salinity and Plankton in the Eastern North Atlantic and Coastal Waters of Britain, 1957.: II. The Relationships Between Species and Water Bodies

Abstract

Occurrences of seventeen species of zooplankton from near-surface oceanic and coastal waters about Britain have been correlated with temperatures and salinities, in temperature-salinity-plankton (T-S-P) diagrams, for the 12 months of 1957. Species exhibit distinctive relationships to the several water bodies, as these have been defined in temperature-salinity (T-S) diagrams. Similar relationships between species have been used as a basis to group species together and 6 such groups are discussed. The species of three of the groups are oceanic; one of these groups is restricted to warm water, but the others are less restricted. A fourth group consists of species confined to coastal waters. The remaining two occur in oceanic, mixed oceanic-coastal and coastal waters. The relationships to the water bodies are shown to persist throughout the seasonal fluctuations of properties in the waters.