Spectral Analysis of Zooplankton Spatial Heterogeneity

Abstract

Continuous estimates were obtained of zooplankton abundance, chlorophyll fluorescence, and water temperature along 10-to 100-kilometer transects of the North Sea. Spectral analysis methods were applied to the data. The "patchiness" of the plankton was distributed over all the length scales resolved with no indication of a characteristic patch size. The relative intensity of the zooplankton patchiness was greater than that of the phytoplankton at all spatial scales, with this difference becoming progressively greater for finer-scale features. In the North Sea data, the concentrations of phytoplankton and zooplankton consistently showed negative spatial correlations.