[Submission]: Zooplankton Center of Gravity

[sgaichas]

Primary Contact

[email protected]

Secondary Contact

No response

Data Name (This will be the displayed title in Catalog)

Zooplankton Center of Gravity

Indicator Name (as exists in ecodata)

New Indicator

Family (Which group is this indicator associated with?)

• Oceanographic
• Habitat
• Lower trophic levels
• Megafauna
• Social
• Economic

Data Description

Model-based annual center of gravity indices for zooplankton groups sampled by NEFSC surveys

Introduction to Indicator (Please explain your indicator)

Zooplankton are primary consumers in marine ecosystems that transfer energy from phytoplankton to fish, marine mammals, and birds. The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has conducted zooplankton surveys since the 1970s. Spatially explicit indices of abundance for several zooplankton groups were estimated using spatio-temporal modeling.

The groups include:

Copepods

• Calanus finmarchicus, = Large copeopds SOE (used in small-large index)

• Large copepods ALL: Calanus finmarchicus, Metridia lucens, Calanus minor, Eucalanus spp., Calanus spp.

• Small copepods ALL: Centropages typicus, Pseudocalanus spp., T_emora longicornis_, Centropages hamatus, Paracalanus parvus, Acartia spp., Clausocalanus arcuicornis, Acartia longiremis, Clausocalanus furcatus, Temora stylifera, Temora spp., Tortanus discaudatus, Paracalanus spp.

• Small copeopods SOE (used in small-large index): Centropages typicus, Pseudocalanus spp., Temora longicornis, Centropages hamatus

Euphausiids

Zooplankton volume

Key Results and Visualization

Small copepods in fall are trending northeast similar to forage fish and aggregated survey species. Small copepods in spring are trending north. Large copepods in fall are trending west, similar to benthos. No significant change for Calfin, Euphausiids, or Zooplankton volume center of gravity over time.

Implications

Distribution shifts for zooplankton may result in mismatches with zooplankton feeding fish, marine mammal, and seabirds.

Spatial Scale

Full shelf

Temporal Scale

Spring (January-June), Fall (July-December)

Synthesis Theme

• Multiple System Drivers
• Regime Shifts
• Ecosystem Reorganization

Define Variables

Waiting until we aggregate the datasets, if formatted similarly to forage and benthos, the cog data will be part of the zooplankton indices dataset

Indicator Category

• Published Methods
• Extensive analysis, not yet published
• Syntheses of published information
• Database pull
• Database pull with analysis
• Other

If other, please specify indicator category

No response

Data Contributors

Sarah Gaichas and Harvey Walsh

Point(s) of Contact

Sarah Gaichas [email protected]

Affiliation

NEFSC

Public Availability

Source data are NOT publicly available.

Accessibility and Constraints

Request from Harvey Walsh, [email protected]