Effects of oceanographic factors on the mesozooplanktonic communities of the East Solent and outer approaches

Abstract

A series of oceanographic surveys was carried out between June and August 1995 in the East Solent and its outer approaches, covering an area including the East Solent up to Calshot, and extending to Selsey Bill to the east and St Catherine's point in the South. The hydrographic and hydrodynamic characteristics of the physical environment and the spatial and seasonal dynamics of local mesozooplankton communities were assessed, using a range of in situ and remote sensing techniques. Zooplankton samples were taken during the course of four surveys, concurrently with physical oceanographic measurements. A high-frequency Ocean Surface Current Radar was deployed in June 1995 and 1996, which resolved the smaller-scale surface current field.

Radar measurements and the results from a 2-D hydrodynamic revealed that the predominant summer tidal residual flow takes the form of an anticyclonic gyre of approximately 15-20 km in diameter, situated off Bracklesham Bay. Overall, the mesozooplankton community was found to be predominantly euryhaline-marine, and dominated by Acartia spp., Centropages hamatus, Temora longicornis, and meroplanktonic taxa such as larvae of Crepidula fornicata, barnacle and decapod larvae. The community showed pronounced shifts in abundances in time and space. The holoplankton and meroplankton compartments were apprehended together and as separate sub-communities, and in the light of a prior benthic survey, which established the distribution of subtidal communities in the area. The two subgroups showed marked differences in their dynamics.

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