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Evaluating top-down and bottom-up drivers of temporal mesozooplankton community variability in a temperate
Weicheng Wang1, Nan Wang2, Yantao Wang2
1State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Breeding, Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology of Fujian Province, Institute of Oceanology, College of Marine Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China.
Abstract:
In our comprehensive study spanning 2003 to 2011 in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB), we evaluated the top-down and bottom-up drivers that regulate the temporal fluctuations of the mesozooplankton community. Throughout the study period, the zooplankton community exhibited a distinct seasonal pattern, with abundances reaching their peak during the spring-summer months following a winter minimum, closely associated with environmental factors such as precipitation, water temperature, and chlorophyll a concentration. Strikingly, the community also underwent significant interannual variations, with the lowest abundance maxima occurring in 2009 and 2011, and the highest in 2005 and 2008. These profound shifts coincided with population surges of Aurelia coerulea and extreme rainfall events, suggesting a complex interplay between top-down and bottom-up forces. In JZB, the predominant top-down impact of moon jellyfish during their bloom periods appears to override the bottom-up influence of rainfall, which could have substantial impacts on the food web dynamics within the ecosystem.
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