RAPID: Effect of a Very Low NAO Event on the Abundance of the Lipid-Rich Planktonic Copepod, Calanus Finmarchicus, in the Gulf of Maine

桡足类，Calanus finmarchicus，是缅因州湾（GoM）浮游生物的主要成员，尽管它位于该物种的亚北极范围的南部边缘。威尔金森盆地是墨西哥湾三大深盆地之一，其早期发育阶段的C. finmarchicus在夏季至冬季，并作为C. finmarchicus到墨西哥湾海岸壁架和河岸。一项基于C.北大西洋的finmarchicus栖息地特征预测，气候驱动的变化将迫使C.在接下来的几十年里，Finmarchicus向北离开了墨西哥湾。然而，C. finmarchicus在海湾的环境变化是复杂的，基本上是未知的。在这个快速的建议中的研究利用了一个难得的机会来测试关于C。与气候变化相关的外部强迫导致墨西哥湾的finmarchicus丰度增加。该假说指出，一个明显较低的C。finmarchicus丰度的出现，有两年的滞后，一个非常负的北大西洋涛动（NAO）。 导致低C的特定过程。Finmarchicus与NAO的关系尚不清楚。本研究验证了C. 2012年，威尔金森盆地的finmarchicus丰度将非常低，这是有记录以来最负的NAO之一的两年后，可以追溯到1860年。S.以水文、食物供应和C的时间序列测量形式进行实地观察。将在威尔金森盆地和缅因州沿海地区的一个固定站采集finmarchicus阶段丰度，并得到在斯科舍大陆架进行的测量的支持。一项研究调查与2012年9月在缅因州湾的预定巡航相协调，将在威尔金森盆地和整个墨西哥湾进行更多采集。冷冻和乙醇保存的C.还将收集finmarchicus用于种群遗传研究。丰度结果将与过去二十年收集的历史时间序列和调查数据进行比较，确认或反驳对GoM C极端NAO影响的预期。Finmarchicus种群。富脂的C. finmarchicus是鲱鱼、鲭鱼和沙矛等食浮游生物鱼类的特别重要的能量来源，支持沿海渔业以及以C为食的濒危北大西洋露脊鲸的夏季栖息种群。Finmarchicus直接。这项RAPID研究提供了了解C变异来源所需的信息。finmarchicus供应的墨西哥湾生态系统和数据将被用来支持耦合的物理-生物模型的响应C的发展。finmarchicus人口NAO和其他外部强迫的来源。存档的样本将用于遗传分析，以解决海洋科学界在美国流域实施计划中提出的有关陆架-流域连通性的研究问题。该项目有助于实施东北沿海海洋观测系统协会（NERACOOS）的观测子系统，该协会已确定需要观测浮游动物多样性的变化，作为其区域扩建规划的一部分。这也将有助于C的故事的发展。finmarchicus作为一种资产，为海洋科学教学K-12学生，通过COSEE课程资源和科恩中心的互动学习在缅因州湾研究所。

The copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, is a dominant member of the plankton in the Gulf of Maine, (GoM), despite its location at the southern edge of the species' subarctic range. Wilkinson Basin, one of the three deep basins in the GoM, harbors very high concentrations of the early developmental stages of C. finmarchicus in the summer through winter and serves as a source of C. finmarchicus to GoM coastal ledges and banks. A recent study based on C. finmarchicus habitat characteristics across the North Atlantic predicts that climate-driven change will force the distribution of C. finmarchicus northward out of the GoM over the next several decades. However, the oceanographic and life history responses of C. finmarchicus to environmental variability in the Gulf are complex and largely unknown. The research in this RAPID proposal takes advantage of a rare opportunity to test a hypothesis about the control of C. finmarchicus abundance in the GoM from climate change related external forcing. The hypothesis states that a distinctly lower C. finmarchicus abundance follows, with a two-year lag, the occurrence of a very negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The specific processes that causally connect low C. finmarchicus with the NAO are not known. The research here tests the prediction that C. finmarchicus abundance will be very low in Wilkinson Basin in 2012, two years after one of the most negative NAOs on record, dating back to the 1860?s. Field observations in the form of a time series of measurements of hydrography, food availability and C. finmarchicus stage abundance will be taken at a fixed station in Wilkinson Basin and in the Maine coastal region, supported by measurements taken on the Scotian Shelf. A research survey, coordinated with a scheduled cruise in the Gulf of Maine in September, 2012, will take additional collections in Wilkinson Basin and throughout the GoM. Frozen and ethanol preserved samples of C. finmarchicus will also be collected for population genetic studies. The abundance results will be compared with historical time series and survey data collected over the past two decades, confirming or refuting the expectation of extreme NAO influence on GoM C. finmarchicus populations. The lipid-rich early developmental stages of C. finmarchicus represent a particularly important energy source for planktivorous fish such as herring, mackerel and sand lance, supporting coastal fisheries as well as the summer resident populations of the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which feeds on C. finmarchicus directly. This RAPID research provides information needed to understand sources of variability in C. finmarchicus supply to the GoM ecosystem and the data will be used to support the development of coupled physical-biological models of responses of the C. finmarchicus population to the NAO and other sources of external forcing. Archived samples will be used for genetic analyses addressing research questions about shelf-basin connectivity developed by the ocean sciences community in the U.S. BASIN Implementation Plan. The project contributes to the implementation of the observing subsystem for the Northeast Association for Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS), which has identified the need for observing change in zooplankton diversity as part of its regional build-out planning. It will also contribute to development of the story of C. finmarchicus as an asset for teaching marine science to K-12 students, through COSEE curriculum resources and the Cohen Center for Interactive Learning at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.