Copepod Diel Vertical Distribution in the Open Southern Adriatic Sea (NE Mediterranean) under Two Different Environmental Conditions
Institute for Marine and Coastal Research, University of Dubrovnik, Kneza Damjana Jude 12, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Academic Editor: Arantza Iriarte
Water 2022, 14(12), 1901; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14121901
Received: 20 May 2022
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Revised: 10 June 2022
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Accepted: 11 June 2022
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Published: 13 June 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plankton Biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea)
Diel vertical migration of the copepod the community was investigated in the open South Adriatic, in June 2020 and February 2021, under two very different hydrographical conditions. The influence of a winter wind-induced mixing event on copepod vertical migration at the species level was determined for the first time and compared to the situation in June when pronounced thermal stratification was observed. The samples were collected during a 24 h cycle in four depth layers from the surface down to 300 m depth, using a Nansen opening–closing net with 250-µm mesh size. In winter, the bulk of the copepod population remained in the epipelagic zone (0–100 m) over the entire 24 h cycle, with calanoids remaining the dominant group. An increasing trend of copepod standing stocks from midnight to early morning in the surface layer found in June is in agreement with previous records of copepod day–night variations in the Mediterranean Sea. Day–night differences in diversity and the number of taxa of the epipelagic area were more pronounced in June, confirming the higher intensity of diel vertical migration in summer. Although the epipelagic community was composed of numerous weak diel vertical migrant species, for the majority of investigated copepod taxa, migration patterns differed between the environmentally contrasting seasons. A multivariate non-metric analysis showed that the copepod community was strongly affected by temperature, thus exhibiting a clear seasonal structure.
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Keywords:
community structure; daily vertical migration; species diversity; marine crustaceans; Mediterranean Sea
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MDPI and ACS Style
Hure, M.; Batistić, M.; Garić, R. Copepod Diel Vertical Distribution in the Open Southern Adriatic Sea (NE Mediterranean) under Two Different Environmental Conditions. Water 2022, 14, 1901. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14121901
AMA Style
Hure M, Batistić M, Garić R. Copepod Diel Vertical Distribution in the Open Southern Adriatic Sea (NE Mediterranean) under Two Different Environmental Conditions. Water. 2022; 14(12):1901. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14121901
Chicago/Turabian StyleHure, Marijana, Mirna Batistić, and Rade Garić. 2022. "Copepod Diel Vertical Distribution in the Open Southern Adriatic Sea (NE Mediterranean) under Two Different Environmental Conditions" Water 14, no. 12: 1901. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14121901
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