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Article
The Effect of the North Atlantic Subpolar Front as a Boundary in Pelagic Biogeography Decreases with Increasing Depth and Organism Size
Progress in Oceanography
  • Michael Vecchione, Smithsonian Institution
  • Tone Falkenhaug, Institute of Marine Research - His, Norway
  • Tracey Sutton, Nova Southeastern University
  • April Cook, Nova Southeastern University
  • Astthor Gislason, Marine Research Institute - Reykjavik, Iceland
  • Hege Overbo Hansen, Institute of Marine Research - His, Norway
  • Mikko Heino, Institute of Marine Research and Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics - Bergen, Norway; University of Bergen - Norway
  • Peter I. Miller, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
  • Uwe Piatkowski, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel - Germany
  • Filipe M. Porteiro, University of the Azores - Horta, Portugal
  • Henrik Soiland, Institute of Marine Research and Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics - Bergen, Norway
  • Odd Aksel Bergstad, Institute of Marine Research - His, Norway
ORCID
0000-0002-5280-7071
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-2015
Abstract

Broad-scale patterns in the distribution of deep-sea pelagic species and communities are poorly known. An important question is whether biogeographic boundaries identified from surface features are important in the deep mesopelagic and bathypelagic. We present community analyses of discrete-depth samples of mesozooplankton and micronekton to full-ocean depth collected in the area where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is crossed by the Subpolar Front. The results show that the distributional discontinuity associated with the front, which is strong near the surface, decreases with increasing depth. Both the frontal separation near the surface and the community convergence at increasing depths were clearer for mesozooplankton than for micronekton.

DOI
10.1016/j.pocean.2015.08.006
Comments

©2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Additional Comments
Census of Marine Life field project #: MAR-ECO 2001-2010; NERC Consortium grant #: ECOMAR; NSF grant #: OCE 0623551
Citation Information
Michael Vecchione, Tone Falkenhaug, Tracey Sutton, April Cook, et al.. "The Effect of the North Atlantic Subpolar Front as a Boundary in Pelagic Biogeography Decreases with Increasing Depth and Organism Size" Progress in Oceanography Vol. 138 Iss. Part A (2015) p. 105 - 115 ISSN: 0079-6611
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/tracey-sutton/74/