The vertical nitrogen flux caused by zooplankton diel vertical migration

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 160:57-62 (1997) - doi:10.3354/meps160057 The vertical nitrogen flux caused by zooplankton diel vertical migration Graeme C. Hays1,*, Roger P. Harris2, Robert N. Head2 1School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom 2Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth PL1 3DH, United Kingdom *E-mail: [e-mail] Three species of vertically migrating copepods (Pleuromamma pisekii, P. gracilis and P. abdominalis) were collected at dawn and at dusk from the upper 200 m in the North Atlantic (36.5°N, 19.2°W) between 11 and 18 July 1996. For all 3 species, the nitrogen content of individuals caught at dawn was significantly greater than for individuals caught at dusk. Theoretical considerations suggest that this dawn-dusk difference in nitrogen content represents material that is exported from the surface each day (the so called active N-flux). The rate of this active N-flux was 0.46 µg N ind.-1 d-1 for P. pisekii, 0.34 µg N ind.-1 d-1 for P. gracilis and 5.17 µg N ind.-1 d-1 for P. abdominalis. Zooplankton · Diel vertical migration · Nitrogen · Vertical export · Biogeochemical impact · N-flux · Atlantic · PRIME Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 160. Publication date: December 15, 1997 Print ISSN:0171-8630; Online ISSN:1616-1599 Copyright © 1997 Inter-Research.