MESOZOOPLANKTON OF SHELIKOF STRAIT, ALASKA - ABUNDANCE AND COMMUNITY COMPOSITION

Zooplankton was sampled in Shelikof Strait and some of the surrounding shelf waters from March to October 1985, and then in Shelikof Strait during spring 1986-1989, using 150 and 333 mu m mesh nets. The median integrated abundance of copepods in spring was 1-2 orders of magnitude greater in the Strait (maximum depth >250 m) than over shallower, adj acent regions of continental shelf. Zooplankton fauna was a mixture of oceanic and continental shelf taxa, and among the copepods was strong ly influenced by abundance of two deep-water species, Neocalanus plumc hrus and Metridia pacifica. Seasonal development of the copepod commun ity in Shelikof Strait followed similar patterns over the 5-year perio d. Biomass of copepods showed some large interannual differences relat ed mostly to abundance of the oceanic taxa. Large interannual differen ces were found for some of the other zooplanktonic taxa as well, but t here did not appear to be any correspondence between the patterns show n by these groups and those shown by the copepods. Although euphausiid s were not quantitatively sampled, the taxonomic composition and relat ive abundance and seasonality of species within this group are reporte d. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd