Biological drivers of zooplankton patchiness

Until recently, biological drivers of plankton aggregation were underapprec iated, because most studies concentrated on physical processes. New technol ogical advances, novel experiments and theory have shifted focus to the piv otal role of behaviour in plankton patch dynamics. Our review highlights fo ur biological drivers of zooplankton spatial patchiness and brings together recent research on well studied marine and freshwater taxa, primarily cope pods and cladocerans. Diverse and powerful behavioural responses by zooplan kton to physical and chemical signals are shown to contribute to the format ion and breakdown of zooplankton patches over several different spatial sca les.