|SS1.03 Zooplankton Response to Climate Variability|
|Date: Monday, June 10, 2002|
|Time: 11:30:00 AM|
|Location: Lecture Theatre|
|Moellmann, C, , Institute of Marine Sciences, Kiel, Germany, email@example.com|
|Hinrichsen, H, H, Institute of Marine Sciences, Kiel, Germany, firstname.lastname@example.org|
|Koester, F, W, Institute of Marine Sciences, Kiel, Germany, email@example.com|
|Kornilovs, G, , Latvian Fisheries Research Institute, Riga, Latvia, firstname.lastname@example.org|
|CLIMATE INDUCED CHANGES IN THE CENTRAL BALTIC COPEPOD COMMUNITY AND THEIR EFFECT ON PELAGIC PLANKTIVOROUS FISH|
|Calanoid copepods Pseudocalanus elongatus, Temora longicornis and Acartia spp. are the dominant zooplankton species in the Central Baltic open-sea areas. Large interannual changes in standing stocks have been attributed to significant changes in the hydrographic environment, i.e. decreasing salinity due to reduced frequency of intrusions of North Sea waters and increased temperatures due to a series of mild winters. In parallel growth changes of the two major planktivorous fish species herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus) have been observed having a significant effect on fisheries yields.
Using long-term time-series (1960-2000) we construct a chain of events relating a local climate index, hydrography, copepod stage-specific abundance, and diet as well as individual age-specific weight of planktivorous fish. We thus demonstrate how climatic changes in the area affected local commercial fish populations via changes in copepod dynamics.