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JPR Advance Access originally published online on July 3, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(9):1059-1073; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbp054
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Plankton trophodynamics at the subtropical convergence, Southern Ocean

Nicole B. Richoux* and P. William Froneman

Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: n.richoux{at}ru.ac.za

Received on March 29, 2009; accepted on June 10, 2009


  Abstract

Stable isotope signatures ({delta}13C, {delta}15N) in zooplankton tissues and particulate organic matter (POM) were determined to assess regional differences in the trophodynamics of zooplankton communities between 38 and 43°S, where the cool nutrient-rich subantarctic waters of the Southern Ocean meet the warm nutrient-poor subtropical waters of the southwest Indian Ocean at the subtropical convergence (STC). Significantly enriched values of {delta}15N were noted in populations of all major zooplankton groups inhabiting the warm and saline water mass north of the STC (maximum surface temperature 21°C), including the euphausiids, salps, amphipods, copepods, ostracods, pyrosomes, pteropods and chaetognaths, compared with those in the cool, less saline southern water mass (minimum surface temperature 11°C). Similar patterns of {delta}15N in POM collected throughout the region suggest that the large changes in zooplankton {delta}15N values across the frontal region are driven by variations in the phytoplankton communities. The differing trophodynamics in communities north and south of the STC provide compelling evidence of distinct bottom-up effects on planktonic food webs which have important implications in the determination of trophic positions and motility of plankton and higher consumers using {delta}15N signatures. Although expected, similar latitudinal variations in {delta}13C signatures were not found.

Corresponding editor: Mark J. Gibbons


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