Zooplankton production and carbon export flux in the western Alboran Sea gyre (SW Mediterranean)

Abstract

The distribution of marine productivity in the Alboran Sea responds strongly to its hydrodynamics, shaped by the influence of the Atlantic jet that enters through the Gibraltar Strait. This stream originates an oligotrophic western anticyclonic gyre (WAG) that dominates the western basin of the Alboran Sea. We studied vertical (0–900 m) diel changes in zooplankton biomass, potential respiration (electron transport system activity, ETS) and growth rates (aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases activity, AARS), to assess their variability in relation to the WAG structure. Zooplankton biomass was distributed in distinctive layers and we observed strong diel vertical migrations in the open sea. Diel vertical migrants (DVM) biomass, production and respiration rates doubled within the WAG core. The active carbon flux to mesopelagic waters mediated by DVM, estimated from respiration and mortality at depth, increased from the coast (2.0–5.7 mg C m−2 d−1) towards the gyre core (27.1–76.7 mg C m−2 d−1). The WAG enhanced the carbon export to deep waters, reinforcing the role of the Alboran Sea as sink of atmospheric carbon.