Fatty-acid ecology of plankton communities. Progress report, May 1, 1979-February 28, 1982
Distributions of organic constituents in marine communities should yield a worldwide classification scheme within which any localized phenomena would be immediately apparent. This idea was tested on the zooplankton along an environmental gradient extending from Rhode Island Sound, through Narragansett Bay and into its polluted tributary, the Providence River. On the basis of fatty acid composition, both the macro- and microzooplankton could be precisely classified to the habitat of origin. Biochemically the microzooplankton changed uniformly with respect to linear distance though the riverine, estuarine and offshore habitats. In macrozooplankton, the relation between biochemical change and linear distance from the river seaward was a power curve: sharply changing at first, becoming more nearly constant offshore. Particulate pollution in the river merely reinforced natural fatty acid sources in the zooplankton's food - part of a pattern in which environmentally induced effects were expressed inshore, genetic influences offshore. In each habitat species diversity was inversely related to the community's stability of fatty acid composition. These estimates revealed greatest dynamical robustness in the prolific yet simple riverine zooplankton, suggesting that the stable domain of parameter space was likewise greater here than offshore. Despite its diversity, microzooplankton was more dynamically fragile than the macrozooplankton, in agreement with current theory on the stability of communities. We conclude that monomeric composition offers a basic rationale for characterizing the sensitivities of natural communities to environmental change.
- Research Organization:
- Rhode Island Univ., Kingston (USA). Graduate School of Oceanography
- DOE Contract Number:
- AS02-78EV04941
- OSTI ID:
- 5675083
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/EV/04941-2; ON: DE82005472
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
VARIATIONS
WATER POLLUTION
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
ZOOPLANKTON
COASTAL WATERS
COMMUNITIES
ESTUARIES
HABITAT
RIVERS
SPECIES DIVERSITY
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANKTON
POLLUTION
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
520200* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)