Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS12 To Sink or Not to Sink: The Role of Zooplankton for Export and Retention of Fecal Pellets and Aggregates (Environmental Connections)

Date: Friday, February 16, 2001, Time: 10:15:00 AM

Location: Aztec

Bauerfeind, E, , IfM Kiel, Kiel, GERMANY, icedi@t-online.de

Gonzales, H, , Universidad Austral de Chile, Instituto de Biologia Marina, Valdivia, CHILE, hgonzale@uach.cl

Haupt, O, , IfM Kiel, Kiel, GERMANY,

Peinert, R, , IfM Kiel, Kiel, GERMANY,

CONTRIBUTION OF FAECAL MATTER TO PARTICULATE CARBON EXPORT. CASE STUDIES FROM THE SEASONALLY ICE-COVERED GREENLAND SEA.

Suspended matter in the water is transformed through the feeding activity of zooplankton. By the subsequent formation of faecal pellets dense particles with potential high sinking speeds are produced, which may be vehicles for a rapid transport of biogenic matter to depth. Sinking particles were collected with moored and drifting sediment traps in the seasonally ice-covered Greenland Sea. Analysis of the particle composition of collected material revealed, that a considerable part of the sedimented matter can indeed be ascribed to faecal material. In the Northeast Water Polynia, e.g. up to 30% of organic carbon sedimentation takes place in the form of faecal pellets (FPC). Mainly pellets of appendicularians and copepods contributed to this flux. In other regions of the Greenland Sea, the FPC flux amounted to 10-20% of measured POC flux at 500m. FPC fluxes measured at 500 m depth (moored traps) are compared with those obtained with shallow drifting traps deployed under the ice. Results suggest that the lot of faecal matter produced in near-surface layers does not reach midwater depths due to degradation during sinking.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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