AUTHOR=Gawinski Christine , Daase Malin , Primicerio Raul , Amargant-Arumí Martí , Müller Oliver , Wold Anette , Ormańczyk Mateusz Roman , Kwasniewski Slawomir , Svensen Camilla TITLE=Response of the copepod community to interannual differences in sea-ice cover and water masses in the northern Barents Sea JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science VOLUME=11 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1308542 DOI=10.3389/fmars.2024.1308542 ISSN=2296-7745 ABSTRACT=
The reduction of Arctic summer sea ice due to climate change can lead to increased primary production in parts of the Barents Sea if sufficient nutrients are available. Changes in the timing and magnitude of primary production may have cascading consequences for the zooplankton community and ultimately for higher trophic levels. In Arctic food webs, both small and large copepods are commonly present, but may have different life history strategies and hence different responses to environmental change. We investigated how contrasting summer sea-ice cover and water masses in the northern Barents Sea influenced the copepod community composition and secondary production of small and large copepods along a transect from 76°N to 83°N in August 2018 and August 2019. Bulk abundance, biomass, and secondary production of the total copepod community did not differ significantly between the two years. There were however significant spatial differences in the copepod community composition and production, with declining copepod abundance from Atlantic to Arctic waters and the highest copepod biomass and production on the Barents Sea shelf. The boreal