Rapid Underway Measurement of Zooplankton Micro-Patchiness, Taxonomic Composition, and Size Structure

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Two fundamental problems in marine zooplankton ecology are 1) poor understanding of the micro-scale distribution of organisms and 2) lack of ability to collect synoptic or even quasi-synoptic taxonomic data. Dr. Davis and collaborators propose to assemble a Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), from available technology, which will measure the distribution of zooplankton and identify them to major taxa (copepods, chaetognaths, etc) in quasi-real-time at towing speeds of 1-10 knots with along-track spatial resolution of 5-30 um. They will then use the VPR to sample micro-meso-scale distributions of zooplankton in a wide variety of hydrographic regimes along a transect line from Woods Hole to the Sargasso Sea. These data will provide insights into the prevalence of micro-scale patchiness under various hydrographic and wind conditions and will reveal the spatial relationships within and among taxa along a continuum of scales from microns to kilometers.