Abundance and distribution of coastal, inshore zooplankton in the Huon Estuary and D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Tasmania, Australia (2004-2005)

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Description

Mesozooplankton community composition and structure were examined throughout the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, Huon Estuary and North West Bay, Tasmania, from November 2004 to October 2005.

The composition of the mesozooplankton community was typical of inshore, temperate marine habitats, with seasonally higher abundance in summer and autumn and lower numbers in winter and spring. Copepods were the largest contributors to total abundance across all seasons and stations, while cladocerans and appendicularians were proportionally abundant in spring and summer. The faecal pellets of these three main groups, along with those of krill and amphipods, also contributed significantly to material recovered from sediment traps. Meroplanktonic larvae of benthic animals showed short-term peaks in abundance and were often absent from the water column for long periods. Spatially, North West Bay and the Channel had a higher representation of typically marine species, including Calanus australis and Labidocera cervi, while truly estuarine species, such as the copepod Gladioferens pectinatus, were more important in the Huon Estuary.

Data sourced from the IMAS Metadata catalogue https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/metadata.show?uuid=b89e4a97-4ce5-455a-ae3a-a88415b50541 on 2021-02-03

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Bibliographic Citations

1. Swadling K.M., Macleod, C.K., Foster, S. and Slotwinski, A.S. (2008) Zooplankton in the Huon Estuary and D’Entrecasteaux Channel: community structure, trophic relationships and role in biogeochemical cycling. Technical Report, Aquafin CRC Project 4.2(2) (FRDC Project No. 2004/074), 25 pp -
2. Richardson, A.J., McKinnon, A.D. and Swadling, K.M. (2009) Chapter 13: Zooplankton. In Report Card of Marine Climate Change for Australia; detailed scientific assessment, NCCARF Publication 05/09, ISBN 978-1-921609-03-9. -