Zooplankton biomass and indices of feeding and metabolism in island-generated eddies around Gran Canaria

Abstract

Zooplankton biomass and indices of grazing (gut fluorescence), respiration (electron transfer system, ETS), ammonia excretion (glutamate dehydrogenase, GDH) and growth (aspartate transcarbamylase, ATC) were studied around the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) during the so-called “late winter bloom”. Four size classes (100–200, 200–500, 500–1000 and >1000 μm) were studied to assess the contribution of each size fraction to the mesoscale plankton distribution around the island. Cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies were observed downstream the island transporting and entraining water rich in chlorophyll. Zooplankton biomass showed a high variability around the island but it was dramatically lower in the core of the cyclonic eddy induced by the island, probably due to the divergent effect produced by the physical structure. A filament of relatively cold-water was also found reaching the island from the upwelling area off northwest Africa. High zooplankton biomass was observed in association with the filament water and in the vicinity of the anticyclonic eddy shed by the island. Specific gut content showed higher values in the boundaries of the cyclonic structures, while ETS and GDH activities where higher windward of the island, in both the cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies depending on the size fraction considered. With the restrictions of using those indices, control of primary production by grazing was 11–22% and up to 41% of the calculated ingestion from the indices of metabolism and growth could be supported by nonpigmented food. Calculated excretion rates could support about 8% of primary production. The low impact of zooplankton on autotrophic production, the low values of the index of growth and the distribution of biomass in relation to the presence of eddies downstream of Gran Canaria suggest that accumulation was the causative mechanism for the presence of high zooplankton biomass leeward of the island.