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Long-term declining trend of zooplankton biomass in the Tropical Atlantic

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Abstract

We report evidences that the zooplankton biomass in the tropical Atlantic has declined with an almost 10-fold drop from the 1950s to 2000. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that the decline in zooplankton biomass was positively related to the NAO-index and to phosphate concentration. We also found that the depth of the thermocline has decreased over the period of our investigation. Thus, the decline we report in zooplankton biomass may be related to the combined effect of two phenomena driven by global temperature increase: (1) the widening of the distributional range of tropical species due to the expansion of the ‘tropical belt’ and (2) a decrease in primary production resulting from the thinning of the thermocline. The decline of zooplankton biomass we report suggests that global warming of the ocean may be altering tropical food webs, and through them, it may also indirectly impact tropical oceans biogeochemical cycles.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Galkovskaya, S. Ignatyev, R. P. Harris, and J. A. Isla for providing the FSU and UK/AMT data on physical–chemical parameters and zooplankton. We also thank the British Oceanographic data Centre for the AMT data. Abigail McQuatters-Gollop is also gratefully acknowledged for her help with the preparation of Figure 1. This paper represents contribution number 182 to the AMT program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 34, Al-Khod 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

    S. A. Piontkovski

  2. Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS), The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2PB, UK

    C. Castellani

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  1. S. A. Piontkovski
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  2. C. Castellani
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Correspondence to S. A. Piontkovski.

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Handling editor: S. I. Dodson

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Piontkovski, S.A., Castellani, C. Long-term declining trend of zooplankton biomass in the Tropical Atlantic. Hydrobiologia 632, 365–370 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9854-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9854-1

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