Relationship Between the Fine-scale Vertical Distributions of Macrozooplankton, Marine Snow, and Turbulences in the Upper Water Column.

摘要

Recent evidence indicates that large detrital aggregates, known as marine snow, are highly concentrated at pycnoclines and other density discontinuities in the water column due to turbulence, shear, and reduced sinking rates as the particles encounter denser fluid. The consequences of these thin layers of high particle abundance to the fine scale vertical distributions of zooplankton, many of which are voracious consumers of marine snow, is presently unknown, but likely to be significant. Our long term goal is to develop a predictive understanding of the relationship between the vertical distributions of zooplankton, marine snow, and turbulence in the ocean and the impacts of their patchy distribution in thin layers on optical and acoustical properties of the water column.