Alternate Title
Distribution and Abundance of Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Ichthyoplankton, and Micronekton in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico
Abstract
Expeditions in the 1960s and 1970s are the basis for the general paradigm that standing stocks and productivity of phytoplankton are both low ( <0.1 mg chl·m-3; <150 mg C.m-2·d-1) seaward of the shelf-slope break in the Gulf of Mexico. The present review supports this description of the mean (stable) state but also shows "hot spots" in primary production (>2 g C·m-2·d-1) occur when/where nutrient availability is locally enhanced seaward of the shelf-slope break. Recent collections with Bongo and MOCNESS nets, midwater trawls, and bioacoustic surveys of the Loop Current and associated cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies in the Gulf of Mexico show that these deepwater "hot spots" have higher stocks of zooplankton and micronekton as well. The local aggregations ranged in size from coarse- to meso- spatial scales (10s to 100s of kilometers) though locations of such "oases" were spatially variable along the continental margin.
Recommended Citation
Biggs, D. C. and P. H. Ressler.
2001.
Distribution and Abundance of Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Ichthyoplankton, and Micronekton in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Gulf of Mexico Science
19
(1).
Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol19/iss1/2