High temporal variability of zooplankton, but only weak evidence for a near-bottom effect on composition and distribution in the deep Levantine Basin, eastern Mediterranean

ABSTRACT

Abundance and composition of the near-bottom zooplankton between 10 and 100 metres above the bottom (mab) were studied in the Levantine Basin, eastern Mediterranean, during four cruises of RV Meteor in June 1993, January 1998, April/May 1999 and October 2001. Copepoda made up 91% of all zooplankton caught. A strong dominance of one single species was observed on all cruises, with Lucicutia longiserrata reaching 50–90% of all Copepoda except in 1993, when Subeucalanus monachus was the most abundant species, with more than 90% of all Copepoda. The year 1993 was also exceptional in terms of total zooplankton abundance, being more than one order of magnitude higher than in the other years. Vertical differences in abundance and composition were small and did not indicate a near-bottom effect or a specialized benthopelagic zooplankton community in the layers sampled.

SUBJECT EDITOR:

• John Zardus

KEYWORDS:

• Zooplankton
• deep sea
• eastern Mediterranean
• near-bottom
• EMT

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Renate Gollembiewski and Liesel Neugeborn for their support in identifying and sorting the zooplankton material. We would also like to thank the crew of RV Meteor for their assistance on the cruises.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Ship time and financial support were provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.