Wind events and food chain dynamics within the New York Bight

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978 · Limnol. Oceanogr.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1978.23.4.0659· OSTI ID:6695135

Walsh, J J; Whitledge, T E; Barvenik, F W; Wirick, C D; Howe, S O

Time series of wind, current, nutrients, chlorophyll, and zooplankton are used to examine the effect of storm events on the food chain dynamics of the New York Bight. Storms cause dilution of phytoplankton concentration in the vertical plane, but lead to aggregation of chlorophyll in the horizontal field. Nutrients are made available with onshore flow in response to wind events favorable for upwelling. A series of nutrient budgets suggest that storm-induced mixing and upwelling of nitrate may satisfy at least 33 percent of the productivity demand of this system. Examples of the biological response to storms are drawn from 20 cruises during January, March, April--May, and August--September 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977 under mixed and stratified conditions of the water column. The interaction of storms and seasonal stratification suggests predictable structure and frequency of chlorophyll distribution across the shelf which may influence both the survival strategies of herbivores and the loci of energy transfer to the rest of the food chain.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6695135
• Journal Information: Limnol. Oceanogr.; (United States), Vol. 23:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
FOOD CHAINS
STORMS
BIOLOGICAL LOCALIZATION
CHLOROPHYLL
ECOLOGY
METEOROLOGY
NEW YORK
NITRATES
NUTRIENTS
PRODUCTIVITY
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
TURBULENCE
WEATHER
WIND
ZOOPLANKTON
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
DISASTERS
ECOSYSTEMS
HETEROCYCLIC ACIDS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
MID-ATLANTIC REGION
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYTOCHROMES
PIGMENTS
PLANKTON
PORPHYRINS
USA
VARIATIONS
520100* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (-1989)