Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Vertical distribution of macroplankton at the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (North Atlantic), as observed from the manned submersible “Mir-1”

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Direct observations of the plankton vertical distribution performed from a manned submersible were made in the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (Atlantic Ocean). Plankton was counted using a standard 3-m2 frame in the depth layer from 170 to 4361 m and plotted for every 50 m. The most abundant components of the macroplankton were pelagic shrimps, chaetognaths and gelatinous animals, with peak of densities corresponding to the main pycnocline. Mucous houses of appendicularians were abundant at 150 m above the seabed—up to 0.07–0.09 m−3, compared to 0–0.006 m−3 in the upper layers. The new observations confirm that the near-bottom peak of appendicularian abundance is characteristic of at least the entire Central Atlantic, and it is not associated with certain biotopes on the bottom.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Hydrological data were gathered by Dr. D.L. Aleynik at stn 4358 during the night before the submersible’s dive.

References

  • Alldredge AL (1976) Discarbed appendicularian houses as sources of food, surface habitats, and particulate organic matter in planktonic enviroments. Limnol Oceanogr 21:14–23

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alldredge AL (1998) The carbon, nitrogen and mass content of marine snow as a function of aggregate size. Deep-Sea Res I 45:529–541

    Google Scholar 

  • Alldredge AL, Silver MW (1998) Characteristics, dynamics and significance of marine snow. Prog Oceanogr 20:41–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartle E (2003) Diving into the depth of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. Mar-Eco Newsl 2:1–2

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergstad OA (2002) MAR-ECO—”Patterns and processes of the ecosystems on the Northern Mid-Atlantic”; an international project under the Census of Marine Life programme. InterRidge News 11:12–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobrolyubov SA, Lappo SS, Morozov EG, Sokov AV (2003) Water transfer across the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (in Russian). Dok Akad Nauk SSSR 391:689–691

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen PJ, Kiørboe T, Alldredge AL (1996) Marine snow derived from abandoned larvacean houses: sinking rates, particle content and mechanism of aggregate formation. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 141:205–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson RI, Mills CE, Harbinson GR (1991) Western Atlantic midwater hydrozoan and scyphozoan medusae: in situ studies using manned submersibles. Hydrobiologia 216/217:311–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Laval J, Braconnt C, Carre C, Goy J, Morand P, Mills CE (1989) Small-scale distribution of macroplankton and micronecton in the Ligurian Sea (Mediterranean Sea) as observed from the manned submersible Cyana. J Plankton Res 11:665–685

    Google Scholar 

  • Lein AYu, Sagalevich AM (2000) Smokers of the Rainbow field: the area of large-scale abiogenic synthesis of methane (in Russian). Priroda (Mosc) 8:44–53

  • Maar M, Nielsen TG, Gooding S, Tönnesson K, Tiselius P, Zervoudaki S, Christou E, Sell A, Richardson K (2004) Trophodynamic function of copepods, appendicularians and protozooplankton in the late summer zooplankton community in the Skagerrak. Mar Biol 144:917–933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders P (1994) The flux of overflow water trough Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. J Geophys Res 99:12343–12355

    Google Scholar 

  • Toyokawa M, Toda T, Kikuchi T, Nishida S (1998) Cnidarians and ctenophores observed from the manned submersible Shinkai 2000 in the midwater of Sagami Bay, Pacific coast of Japan. Plankton Biol Ecol 45:61–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Vargas CA, Tonnesson K, Sell A, Maar M, Moller EF, Zervoudaki T, Giannakourou A, Christou E, Satapoomin S, Petersen JK, Nielsen TG, Tiselius P (2002) Importance of copepods versus appendicularians in vertical carbon fluxes in a Swedish fjord. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 241:125–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Vereshchaka AL, Vinogradov GM (1996) Russian deep-sea studies in 1996 above the hydrothermal vent field “Broken Spur”, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Deep-Sea Newsl 25:18–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov GM, Vereshchaka AL, Shushkina EA, Arnautov GN, Dyakonov VYu (1997) Vertical distribution of zooplankton above the Broken-Spur hydrothermal vent field in North Atlantic halistatic zone (29°N, 43°W) (in Russian). Okeanologiya 37:559–570. English translation: Oceanology (Okeanologiya) 37:502–512

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov GM, Vinogradov ME, Musaeva EI (2002) Some peculiarities of vertical distribution of net mesoplankton on the north periphery of the North Atlantic Gyre (June–August, 2001) (in Russian). Okeanologiya 42:518–526. English translation: Oceanology (Okeanologiya)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov GM, Vereshchaka AL, Musaeva EI, Dyakonov VYu (2003a) Vertical distribution of zooplankton above Porcupine Abyssal Plain (northeastern Atlantic) in summer 2000 (in Russian). Okeanologiya 43:543–554. English translation: Oceanology (Okeanologiya) 43:512–523

  • Vinogradov GM, Vereshchaka AL, Aleynik DL (2003b) Distribution of zooplankton above hydrothermal vent fields of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (in Russian). Okeanologiya 43:696–709. English translation: Oceanology (Okeanologiya) 43:656–669

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME (1997) Some problems of vertical distribution of meso- and macroplankton in the ocean. Adv Mar Biol 32:1–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Chindonova YG (1994) Notes on the vertical zoning of pelagic fauna (as directly observed from the manned submersible Mir) (in Russian). Trud Inst Okeanol RAN 131:64–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Shushkina EA (1982) An estimate of concentration of Black Sea jellyfish, ctenophorans, and Calanus, as observed from the submersible Argus (in Russian). Okeanologiya 22:473–479. English translation: Oceanol Acad Sci USSR 22:351–355

  • Vinogradov ME, Shushkina EA (1994) Peculiarities of vertical distribution of zooplankton in the North Pacific, according to quantitative estimates from manned submersibles Mir (in Russian). Trud Inst Okeanol RAN 131:41–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Shushkina EA (2002) Vertical distribution of gelatinous macroplankton in the North Pacific observed by manned submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2. J Oceanogr 58:295–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Vinogradov GM (2002a) Physical–biological interaction in the deep-sea environment, including hydrothermal vent communities. The Sea 12:567–603

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Vinogradov GM (2002b) Zooplankton of the frontal zone of the Gulf Stream (region of the Newfoundland Banks slope). Oceanology (Okeanologiya) 42[Suppl. 1]:95–113

  • Vinogradov ME, Vereshchaka AL, Shushkina EA (1996) Vertical structure of zooplanktonic communities of oligotrophic areas of the North Atlantic and the influence of hydrothermal vent fields on it (in Russian). Okeanologiya 36:71–79. English translation: Oceanology (Okeanologiya) 36:64–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Shushkina EA, Nezlin NP, Arnautov GN (1998) Vertical distribution of zooplankton in the frontal zone of the Gulf Stream and Labrador Current. J Plankton Res 20:85–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov ME, Vereshchaka AL, Vinogradov GM, Musaeva EI (2000) Vertical distribution of zooplankton on the periphery of the North Atlantic Subtropical Circulation (in Russian). Izv AN Ser Biol 4:496–510. English translation: Biol Bull (Trans Izv AN Ser Biol) 27:417–429

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author expresses his deep gratitude to V.A. Nishcheta, who piloted the “Mir-1”, to Dr. D.L. Aleynik (P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology) for advice on hydrology and for providing hydrological data obtained by the “Rosett” complex, and to the “Mir” team and the captain and crew of the R.V. “Akademic Mstislav Keldysh”. The author would like to thank the reviewers of this manuscript for their very useful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. A.N. Severtzov Institute of the Problems of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lenin Avenue 33, 117071, Moscow, Russia

    G. M. Vinogradov

Authors
  1. G. M. Vinogradov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. M. Vinogradov.

Additional information

Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vinogradov, G.M. Vertical distribution of macroplankton at the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (North Atlantic), as observed from the manned submersible “Mir-1”. Marine Biology 146, 325–331 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1436-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1436-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation