Zooplankton From a Reef System Under the Influence of the Amazon River Plume.

At the mouth of the Amazon River, a widespread carbonate ecosystem exists below the river plume, generating a hard-bottom reef (∼9500 km2) that includes mainly large sponges but also rhodolith beds. The mesozooplankton associated with the pelagic realm over the reef formation was characterized, considering the estuarine plume and oceanic influence. Vertical hauls were carried out using a standard plankton net with 200 µm mesh size during September 2014. An indicator index was applied to express species importance as ecological indicators in community. Information on functional traits was gathered for the most abundant copepod species. Overall, 179 zooplankton taxa were recorded. Copepods were the richest (92 species), most diverse and most abundant group, whereas meroplankton were rare and less abundant. Species diversity (>3.0 bits.ind-1) and evenness (>0.6) were high, indicating a complex community. Small holoplanktonic species dominated the zooplankton, and the total density varied from 107.98 ind. m-3 over the reef area to 2,609.24 ind. m-3 in the estuarine plume, with a significant difference between coastal and oceanic areas. The most abundant copepods were the coastal species ithona plumifera and Clausocalanus furcatus and early stages copepodites of Paracalanidae. The holoplanktonic Oikopleura, an important producer of mucous houses, was very abundant on the reefs. The indicator species index revealed three groups: (1) indicative of coastal waters under the influence of the estuarine plume [Euterpina acutifrons, Parvocalanus crassirostris, Oikopleura (Vexillaria) dioica and Hydromedusae]; (2) characterized coastal and oceanic conditions (Clausocalanus); (3) characterized the reef system (O. plumifera). Two major copepods functional groups were identified and sorted according to their trophic strategy and coastal-oceanic distribution. The species that dominated the coastal area and the area over the rhodolith beds are indicators of the estuarine plume and are mixed with species of the North Brazil Current. These species practically disappear offshore, where occur oceanic species commonly found in other oligotrophic tropical areas. This ecosystem shows a mixture of estuarine, coastal and oceanic communities coexisting in the waters over the Amazon reefs, with no significant differences among these areas. However, the MDS clearly separated the communities along the salinity gradient in the plume.

Copepod distribution and production in a Mid-Atlantic Ridge archipelago.

The Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago (SPSPA) are located close to the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean. The aim of this study was to assess the spatial variations in the copepod community abundance, and the biomass and production patterns of the three most abundant calanoid species in the SPSPA. Plankton samples were collected with a 300 µm mesh size net along four transects (north, east, south and west of the SPSPA), with four stations plotted in each transect. All transects exhibited a tendency toward a decrease in copepod density with increasing distance from the SPSPA, statistically proved in the North. Density varied from 3.33 to 182.18 ind.m-3, and differences were also found between the first perimeter (first circular distance band) and the others. The total biomass varied from 15.25 to 524.50 10-3 mg C m-3 and production from 1.19 to 22.04 10-3 mg C m-3d-1. The biomass and production of Undinula vulgaris (Dana, 1849), Acrocalanus longicornis Giesbrecht, 1888 and Calocalanus pavo (Dana, 1849) showed differences between some transects. A trend of declining biodiversity and production with increasing distance from archipelago was observed, suggesting that even small features like the SPSPA can affect the copepod community in tropical oligotrophic oceanic areas.