Spatial and temporal variations in community structure, standing stock and productivity of mesozooplankton in the southwestern Japan Sea

The Tsushima Strait and the neighboring waters has been known as major spawning and nursery grounds for migratory fishes due to the high standing stocks of the plankton community in spring to summer. In the present study, spatial and temporal variations in taxonomic composition, standing stocks and productivity of the mesozooplankton community were investigated in the southwestern Japan Sea to explore their variations during the productive seasons. Both spatial and temporal fluctuations were significant for mesozooplankton standing stocks while only temporal variability affected their productivity. The mesozooplankton community was split into one coastal group, represented by cladocerans and noctilucids throughout the seasons, and five pelagic groups, predominated by calanoids, cyclopoids and copepod nauplii, with temporal replacement during spring to summer. The coastal community group contained the additional standing stocks of cladocerans and noctilucids along with the predominant copepods from the other groups and thus resulted in the spatial difference in mesozooplankton standing stocks between coastal and pelagic sites. Three pelagic community groups were characterized by the abundant appearance of noctilucids and clustered toward the pelagic stations neighboring the coastal community group. Generalized linear models demonstrated that salinity was a significant explanatory variable for standing stocks of mesozooplankton and coastal taxonomic groups (i.e., cladocerans and noctilucids). These findings suggest that the spatial and temporal variations in mesozooplankton standing stocks are a mixture of the pelagic community groups with the coastal community group advected toward the pelagic sites.