Mesozooplankton of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal with special reference to planktonic ostracods

Content Provider	CUSAT-Thesis
Advisor	Dr.Saramma, Panampunnayil U
Researcher	Jasmine, P
Abstract	The Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are both highlydynamic ecosystems, due to the seasonally reversing monsoon winds,but the processes affecting the mesozooplankton community remainpoorly understood. These are important basins exhibiting enhancedbiological production as a result of upwelling, winter cooling andother episodic events such as eddies and gyres. Zooplankters areprimarily the prey for almost all fish larvae. Seasonal changes in thebiogeochemical processes can strongly affect zooplankton densityand distribution, which in turn, strongly affect the larval growth, andconsequently, the pelagic fish recruitment. It is clear that planktonbiomass and biogeochemical fluxes are not in steady state. Acousticdata on mesozooplankton abundance suggests that they also exist inthe mesopelagic zone. Earlier studies were confined only to the upper200 m and hence the structure of mesozooplankton community in thedeeper layers was not well known. Copepods are the dominantmesoplankton group, and therefore the majority of the studies werefocused on them. The planktonic ostracods are the second majorcrustacean group and at times, their swarms can outnumber all otherplanktonic groups. The understanding of the community structure ofthe ostracods is essential to establish their role in the marine foodweb. Mesozooplankton is responsible for the vertical flux of organicmatter produced by phytoplankton and is assumed to be equivalent tonew production (Eppley & Peterson, 1979). Since the fate of newlyproduced organic matter depends upon their consumers, thezooplankton biomass must be estimated in size fractions ortaxonomic components to understand the vertical flux of organiccarbon. It is thus important to update our knowledge on differentgroups of zooplankton on the basis of seasonal and temporaldistribution. The distribution in space and time is essential formodeling the carbon cycling that structure the marine ecosystems
File Format	PDF
Language	English
Publisher Institution	Cochin University Of Science And Technology
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Mesozooplankton Ostracods Chlorophyll Hydrography Migration
Content Type	Text
Educational Degree	Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Resource Type	Thesis