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Seasonal phenology of appendicularian tunicates in the North Water, northern Baffin Bay

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Abstract

Appendicularian tunicates are marine, gelatinous zooplankton that are important grazers of protists and phytoplankton in Arctic polynyas. However, little is known at the seasonal scale about their life cycle and population phenology in the Arctic. The temporal and spatial pattern of abundance and biomass, body size, and maturity stage were determined over two cruises representing an entire productive season of the North Water (NOW), to determine when and where populations spawn, and whether population growth tracks the expansion of open water and the development of diatom blooms. Oikopleura vanhoeffeni began to spawn in April and May, in association with an early diatom bloom caused by the opening of the Jones Sound and Inglefield Bay polynyas in the central NOW. Fritillaria borealis began population growth in June, during the transition from the early diatom bloom to an extended bloom of Chaetoceros socialis (‘C-bloom’). Subsequent spawning and population growth of both species followed the progression of open water and the developing C-bloom, to the north and then south during June–September. Maximum abundance and biomass of both species occurred during September, supported by the C-bloom prey community. Temperature had a strong, positive relationship with the abundance and biomass of both species, and moderate-to-high concentrations of diatoms seemed necessary for the initiation of spawning in O. vanhoeffeni. Appendicularians matured quickly in the early-opening polynyas in the NOW despite very low water temperatures and achieved high population growth rates in response to diatoms produced over an extended growing season (April–September).

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Avery and R.C. Tian for assistance with statistical analyses; M. Riehl, L. Fortier, M. Fortier, M. Ringuette, H. Hattori, L. Létourneau, J. Michaud, L. Michaud, N. Nagao, S. Plourde, M. Robert, N. Kobayashi, M. Sampei, P. Sirois, and K. Takahashi for assistance in the field; and N. Bonnell, T.L. Connelly, S.H. Lee, C. Cull, K. Pike, and C. White for assistance in the laboratory. We are also grateful for the expert assistance of the officers and crew of the Canadian Research Vessel Pierre Radisson. J.-L. Acuña reviewed an earlier draft and offered many helpful comments. The paper was much improved by the comments and corrections of the Editor and three anonymous referees. This research was supported by a Network Partnership Grant to L. Fortier et al. and by the Discovery Grant of D. Deibel, both from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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  1. Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada

    D. Deibel, P. A. Saunders & C. J. Stevens

  2. Department of Biology, Ashland University, Ashland, OH, 44805, USA

    P. A. Saunders

  3. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

    C. J. Stevens

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Deibel, D., Saunders, P.A. & Stevens, C.J. Seasonal phenology of appendicularian tunicates in the North Water, northern Baffin Bay. Polar Biol 40, 1289–1310 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-2053-4

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