Reconstruction of zooplankton dynamics by using archived ADCP data

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26450250
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Aquatic bioproduction science
• Research Institution: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: KITAMURA Minoru 国立研究開発法人海洋研究開発機構, 地球環境観測研究開発センター, 技術研究員 (00392952)
• Research Collaborator: INOUE Ryuichiro ; ITOH Motoyo ; UEKI Iwao
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 動物プランクトン / 現存量 / 長期変動 / 音響 / ADCP

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To understand responses of oceanic zooplankton communities against environmental changes, we constructed long-term zooplankton dynamics by using archived mooring ADCP data. In this study, two data sets of ADCP collected from the subtropical North Pacific and the Arctic Ocean were used.
The acoustic backscattering strengths derived from ADCP data were significantly correlated with zooplankton biomasses derived from plankton net samples in our study. So, we considered that temporal change of zooplankton biomasses can be reconstructed from long-term mooring ADCP data. Vertical distribution of subtropical zooplankton were influenced by winter mixing, stratification, passage of mesoscale eddy, and age of moon. In the Arctic Ocean, zooplankton biomasses were increased from early 2000s to early 2010s. The increasing was probably associated with decreasing of sea ice and increasing of sea surface water temperature.

Free Research Field

海洋生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

地球温暖化やエルニーニョなど海洋環境の変化は生物群集に影響を与えるが、外洋域における生物応答の具体的な事例報告は少ない。これは継続的に得られた外洋域の生物サンプルシリーズが極めて少ないため、生物群集に現れる変化の抽出が困難なためである。本研究では、海洋物理学分野で使われる音響式流向流速計（ADCP）の長期データを利用した動物プランクトン動態の復元を行い、その有用性を明らかにした。