Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • BCO-DMO Processing Description
  • Problem Description
• Data Files
• Related Datasets
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Gelatinous zooplankton and larval fish were collected using MOCNESS (Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System) tows in 25-meter (m) depth increments in the upper 100m of the water column (nets: 1 square meter (m²) with 333-micrometer (µm) mesh and 4 m² with 1000 µm mesh). Organisms in each tow were grouped by lowest visually identifiable taxon. Maximum and minimum lengths of individuals in each group were measured with a ruler and the volume of each sample of grouped individuals was measured by displacement. Samples were frozen at -20 degrees Celsius (°C) prior to preparation for stable isotope analysis.

Wet weight of each grouped sample was measured upon thawing the sample. Samples were dried at 60°C, then dry weights were measured. Samples were then crushed and homogenized using an agate mortar and pestle. Stable isotope compositions and carbon and nitrogen contents were measured by elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS) at the UC Davis Stable Isotope Facility. Ash-free dry weights were determined by weighing samples before and after combusting dried samples at 500°C.

- Imported original file "NCC_GZ_isotopes.csv" into the BCO-DMO system.
- Converted date column to YYYY-MM-DD format.
- Marked "X" as a missing data value (missing data are empty/blank in the final CSV file).
- Saved the final file as "986609_v1_ncc_gz_isotopes.csv".

NSF Award Abstract:
Marine plankton form the base of most ocean food webs that support valuable fisheries. This highly diverse and complex community is composed of organisms that drift with ocean currents. Planktonic organisms remain understudied: they are difficult to sample given that their sizes span more than six orders of magnitude from less than one micron to meters. Yet, understanding how these communities respond to climate change, and ultimately how these responses affect valuable fisheries, and therefore food security, is critical. Because many ecological and physiological processes are dictated by relative size, the theory of size spectra (i.e., the relationship between size and organism abundance as it drives ecosystem properties such as food webs) provides a valuable framework for forecasting climate change impacts on marine ecosystems. A deeper understanding of the scope and nature of variability in size spectra under contrasting environmental conditions is needed. The dynamic, highly productive northern California Current off Oregon and Washington, during the summer and winter seasons, produces a patchwork of oceanographic conditions including those associated with hypoxia and ocean acidification. This study is sampling the plankton communities in this region to investigate how gradients of temperature, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and pH conditions impact size spectra. The broader impacts include the training of students, building scientific resources, and outreach to broader communities. Undergraduate and graduate students are being trained in oceanography, field research and new technologies. The automated image analysis pipeline developed as part of the project is openly accessible to the oceanographic community and the image data are available through the novel Global Plankton Imagery Library, an open-access repository for plankton imagery. Size spectra data from this study are shared directly with ecosystem modelers. The project’s flagship outreach activity is the collaboration with the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and the hosting of an Artist-At-Sea Program. A professional artist is competitively selected to join the research cruises and to create artistic products that give a unique voice to oceanographic research and the organisms under study. The artwork is being assembled into a traveling public Art Exhibit with planned displays at the Sitka Center, Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, University of Oregon’s Charleston Marine Life Center and centers located in underserved coastal communities. Finally, imagery data from the project are being shared via the Plankton Portal, a public website developed in partnership with the Citizen Science Alliance’s Zooniverse, that invites citizen scientists to participate in classifying plankton images.

The coupling of in situ plankton imagery and morphometric data allows quantifying scales of variation in plankton size spectra as well as testing predictions of how changes in environmental conditions (notably, temperature, nutrients, oxygen, pH) correlate with shifts in size spectra to reveal functional consequences to the food web. Plankton size spectra are being compared across environmental conditions by sampling in a habitat with steep environmental gradients and during two contrasting seasons. Planktonic organisms spanning 10 orders of magnitude in biomass are sampled using two complementary high-resolution imaging systems: the In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS) and the Laser In-Situ Scattering and Transmissometry (LISST) particle imager. High-throughput image analysis software is used to create size distributions together with taxonomic classification. Depth-discrete meso-zooplankton samples are collected in parallel to examine community shifts in carbon, obtain length-to-carbon conversions and calibrate image data. The normalized biomass size spectra computed from the image data are tested for deviations from expected patterns. The plankton collections are also being analyzed for diet and reproductive status of gelatinous zooplankton, and diet and daily growth rate of representative larval fishes. These two groups have been historically understudied yet play central roles in ecosystem function. The data are being used to examine how these organisms are impacted by environmental conditions, and how they affect plankton size spectra. This study is foundational to the understanding of marine ecosystems within the context of climate change.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.