Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/47548

KEYWORDS : Ecosystem structure;Copepods;Neocalanus;Oyashio region;Optical plankton counter

Recent advances in studies on zooplankton ecology in the Oyashio region were reviewed. In this review, the following three topics were argued : i) ecosystem structure in the region, ii) inter-annual changes in zooplankton biomass and iii) optical analysis on zooplankton samples. Annual mean biomass in the Oyashio region was estimated to be 23 g C m-2 and was dominated by mesozooplankton (34%), followed by phytoplankton (28%), heterotrophic bacteria (15%) and microzooplankton (14%). Within the mesozooplankton, large grazing copepods (i.e. Neocalanus spp., Eucalanus bungii and Metridia spp.) were the most important taxa to govern the seasonal and inter-annual variability. Through the analysis on zooplankton samples collected during 1950’s to present, inter-annual variability in mesozooplankton biomass was revealed to be related with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and climate regime shift. While the zooplankton size is important to determine the food quality for pelagic fishes and the mass flux to the deep ocean, detailed analysis on their size distribution is not made for most of the samples, because of the difficult and time consuming analysis involved. The recently advanced optical plankton counter (OPC) can measure the particle (＝plankton) with detailed size distribution (4096 size unit between 0.25 mm and 20 mm) within a short period, therefore the application of OPC on zooplankton samples may solve the problem in future.