Summary
Free-floating sediment traps used on a transect from Scotia Sea to Weddell Sea collected larger, more degraded, krill faecal strings in the deeper (150 m) than in the 50 or 75 m traps. The smallest faecal strings were only present in the shallower traps. Sinking velocity of smaller faecal strings was — as expected — much lower than for larger ones, with a total range of 50 to 800 m · day −1 for faecal string volumes of 0.007 to 0.53 mm3. Krill feeding largely on diatoms produced faeces with higher settling velocity than those feeding on non-diatom phytoplankton. Smaller krill faecal strings do not leave the upper mixed layer. Potential settling velocities as measured in settling tubes (without turbulence), may in this respect be misleading. Small oval faecal pellets of unknown origin showed relatively high settling velocities (80 to 250 m·day−1 for 0.002 to 0.013 mm3) due to higher compaction and lower form resistance to sinking.
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Data presented here were collected during the European Polarstern Study (EPOS) sponsored by the European Science Foundation
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Cadée, G.C., González, H. & Schnack-Schiel, S.B. Krill diet affects faecal string settling. Polar Biol 12, 75–80 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00239967
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00239967