Project Information

Title: SEA: Role of Zooplankton in the PWS Ecosystem 94320-H

Project Year and Number: 1994: 94320-H

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 1999: 99320-H-CLO, 1998: 98320-H, 1997: 97320-H, 1996: 96320-H, 1995: 95320-H

Principal Investigator (PI): Ted Cooney (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

Managing Agency: ADFG

Assisting Personnel: Ted DeLaca, Joan Osterkamp, Donald Schell, Albert Tyler

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Research

Injured Resources Addressed: Not Specified

Abstract: This project is a component of the Sound Ecosystem Assessment (SEA) program, a multi-disciplinary effort to acquire an ecosystem level understanding of the marine and freshwater processes that interact to constrain levels of fish, marine bird, and marine mammal production in Prince William Sound (PWS). This component is designed specifically to provide information on the trophic ecology of consumer populations in PWS, through the investigation of a zooplankton-modulated prey-switching mechanism hypothesized as setting levels of carrying capacity for juvenile fishes each year. Recent observations indicate that good zooplankton years provide an ecological refuge for fishes from predators. Conversely, when upper layer macrozooplankton stocks are low, consumers are forced to derive more of their energy from small fishes. Zooplankton will be sampled in the upper-layers of the water column along the juvenile pink salmon migratory route in PWS. Samples will be analyzed, their taxa will be identified and enumerated, and a census of over wintering populations will begin.


Proposal: Not Available

Reports:
Final Report: View (450 KB)

Publications from this Project: None Available

Datasets:
EVOSTC Data Archive: Zooplankton collected with a variety of nets and sampling techniques. Counts biomass by species and some life stages. This project is collecting and analyzing zooplankton samples from SEA stations around Prince William Sound. The data include numbers and biomass by species and life stage per unit volume (m^3) or under a unit area of sea surface (m^2) Ingress Files, Data Base entitled SEA DATA. Reports, and ASCII files Availability: Available to collaborating researchers and managers and through the scheduled release of the SEA database.