Comparing copepod time-series in the north of Spain: Spatial autocorrelation of community composition

Type Article
Date 2012-05
Language English
Author(s) Bode Antonio1, Alvarez-Ossorio Maria Teresa1, Miranda Ana2, López-Urrutia Angel3, Valdés Luis3
Affiliation(s) 1 : Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña, Apdo. 130, 15080 A Coruña, Spain
2 : Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Apdo. 1552, 36280 Vigo, Spain
3 : Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Gijón, Avda. Príncipe de Asturias 70bis, 33212 Gijón, Spain
Source Progress in Oceanography (0079-6611) (Elsevier), 2012-05 , Vol. 97-100 , P. 108-119
DOI 10.1016/j.pocean.2011.11.013
WOS© Times Cited 13
Abstract Four time-series of copepod species biomass in the north of Spain were contrasted to demonstrate spatial autocorrelation of local communities and their responses to short-term local and regional variability in oceanographic conditions. The series represented coastal and oceanic environments along a marked gradient of influence of seasonal upwelling from Galicia to the Mar Cantábrico (S Bay of Biscay), and each one included at least 10 years of continuous data collected at monthly frequency. Community composition (i.e. species number and diversity) was very consistent through the region, but local variations in the presence of new species and the relative proportions of common species allowed for the characterisation of the response to the environment at each site. Small-sized species were more frequent near the coast. A few species, however, captured the main patterns of variability in all series. Calanus helgolandicus and Acartia (mainly Acartia clausi) were generally the main contributors to total biomass, while other species as Paracalanus parvus and Clausocalanus spp. were important only at some locations. Most copepod indices were positively correlated with upwelling, either considering the whole community (biomass, species richness and diversity) or individual species, but only in the coastal series analysed since 1991. Copepods in the nearby ocean, however, showed negative correlations with upwelling in the period 1960–1986. The effects of upwelling may have been modulated by local factors, as showed by the increases in biomass, number of species and diversity in associations with increases in sea surface temperature in Galicia, while in the Mar Cantábrico only the warming-tolerant species increased and those typical of upwelling decreased. Density stratification of the water column was associated with decreases in total copepod biomass in Galicia, while it favoured the increase in species richness in the Mar Cantábrico. Nearly all significant responses of copepods to environmental variability were delayed by up to 5 months, showing the importance of considering time-lags in the analysis of temporal responses of zooplankton.
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