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Krill diet affects faecal string settling

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Weddell Sea Ecology

Summary

Free-floating sediment traps used on a transect from Scotia Sea to Weddell Sea collected larger, more degraded, krill faecal strings in the deeper (150 m) than in the 50 or 75 m traps. The smallest faecal strings were only present in the shallower traps. Sinking velocity of smaller faecal strings was - as expected - much lower than for larger ones, with a total range of 50 to 800m-day−1 for faecal string volumes of 0.007 to 0.53 mm3. Krill feeding largely on diatoms produced faeces with higher settling velocity than those feeding on non-diatom phytoplankton. Smaller krill faecal strings do not leave the upper mixed layer. Potential settling velocities as measured in settling tubes (without turbulence), may in this respect be misleading. Small oval faecal pellets of unknown origin showed relatively high settling velocities (80 to 250 m day1 for 0.002 to 0.013 mm3) due to higher compaction and lower form resistance to sinking.

Data presented here were collected during the European Polarstern Study (EPOS) sponsored by the European Science Foundation

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, NL-1790 AB, Den Burg Texel, The Netherlands

    G. C. Cadée

  2. Biotecmar, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 127, Talcahuano, Chile

    H. González

  3. Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meesresforschung, Columbusstrasse, W-2850, Bremerhaven, Federal Republic of Germany

    H. González & S. B. Schnack-Schiel

Authors
  1. G. C. Cadée
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  2. H. González
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  3. S. B. Schnack-Schiel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Polarökologie, Universität Kiel, Wischhofstraße 1-3 Gebäude 12, W-2300, Kiel 1, Germany

    Gotthilf Hempel

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag

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Cadée, G.C., González, H., Schnack-Schiel, S.B. (1992). Krill diet affects faecal string settling. In: Hempel, G. (eds) Weddell Sea Ecology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77595-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77595-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-77597-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-77595-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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