The Working Group on Zooplankton Ecology (WGZE) gathers zooplankton researchers from the North Atlantic and adjacent regions, performing comparative analyses of zooplankton time-se-ries, and reviewing new zooplankton sampling and analysis technologies. This report is an over-view of ongoing activities covering central aspects of zooplankton ecology.
Zooplankton production methodologies were reviewed, in collaboration with the PICES Work-ing Group on Zooplankton Production Methodologies, Applications and Measurements in PICES Regions (WG37), resulting in the production of two review papers on methods to estimate zooplankton growth, several international workshops and theme sessions, the creation of a da-tabase of biomass/production data, and two manuscripts in preparations on evaluating methods for zooplankton productivity and metabolism. Information on key zooplankton traits was as-sembled to create a reference database, and data gaps were identified. A meta-analysis was con-ducted for an overview over the most important zooplankton species in terms of abundance, biomass or ecosystem function in the ICES seas. Fifteen traits were identified to be of greatest interest. The WGZE web site (wgze.net) now features the in-development WGZE Biometrics At-las, summarizing available length and weight data for species common to the ICES regions. A couple of “dark” or legacy data sets have been brought forward by the WGZE members and, a mechanism was created to archive and serve them through the NOAA global plankton database COPEPOD, including automated QC. New data are now added each year.
Mesopelagic macrozooplankton knowledge, and their impact on the carbon flux into the deep-sea were reviewed, resulting in the ICES Annual Science Conference (ASC) theme session on mesopelagic ecosystems. Zooplankton time-series from the North Atlantic were compared to identify spatial coherence in patterns of community change. Species maps of average relative ranking as well as assessments of changes in relative rank over time and between regions, and correlations with environmental changes, were all produced. This work is ongoing, and an online interactive “atlas” of ICES region zooplankton species distributions and relative rank maps is being developed.
An inventory of time-series on gelatinous plankton in the ICES area was produced. Quantitative methods used to study gelatinous plankton were summarised and best practice recommenda-tions provided for the implementation of their monitoring in the ICES area. Also, information on microzooplankton from over 60 time-series was compiled. Discussions regarding best practice for sample collection, fixation and enumeration resulted in a collaborative manuscript submitted to ICES JMS. Real-time zooplankton sampling systems were reviewed. These instruments could be incorporated into existing zooplankton monitoring programs throughout the ICES area.
The production of a Plankton Status Report, including 160+ phyto- and zooplankton time-series has been a challenging task, with an intended submission date of March 2021. A paper summa-rizing the history and major findings of the report will be submitted to ICES Journal of Marine Science (JMS) zooplankton time-series themed articles set promoted by WGZE.
Collaborative activities continued between WGZE, WGPME (Working Group on Phytoplankton and Microbial Ecology) and WGIMT (Working Group on Integrated Morphological and Molec-ular Taxonomy), with a number of joint theme sessions at the ICES ASC, a training workshop, three peer-reviewed papers and the production of updated and new ICES plankton identification leaflets, including five leaflets published and several in preparation.