Zooplankton seasonality at high latitudes: From community to behaviour

Abstract

This thesis describes the seasonality of the mesozooplankton community in Ramfjord, a shallow high-latitude fjord, in terms of diversity and behavior, using a combination of new and traditional methods. The approach aimed to gain insight into how environmental drivers such as photoperiod and food availability shape seasonal changes in mesozooplankton community structure and <i>Calanus</i> spp. behavior. Seasonal changes in diel vertical migration (DVM) were closely linked to the seasonal changes in day length. Monthly sampling over an entire annual cycle revealed that Ramfjord has particular characteristics such as the dominance of small copepods year-round in terms of abundance and biomass and a population of <i>Calanus</i> finmarchicus that enters a winter resting state rather than a diapause stage. This investigation also used metabarcoding as a quantitative tool for the first time, demonstrating the usefulness of this method in establishing the mesozooplankton community structure. Monthly monitoring of <i>Calanus</i> spp. swimming activity with the locomotor activity method confirmed the efficiency of this method in detecting overwintering in the <i>Calanus</i> population and determined that swimming activity can be used as a proxy for DVM behavior. This thesis demonstrates that the combination of newly developed methods (locomotor activity monitor and metabarcoding as a quantitative tool) with more traditional methods, such as visual identification and active acoustics, can provide new understanding of seasonal changes in the mesozooplankton community structure and behavior.