Zooplankton: An investigation into Biomass and Biodiversity Lindsay Abbott, Lauren Hawkins, Katharine Llop, Katie Ott

Our Questions Is the biomass of plankton in the surface water different at night than it is during the day? Do the taxonomical categories vary depending on night vs day? Does light colour affect plankton attracted? Different amounts of plankton?

Field Work Net tows Light Traps 2 tows at 3 different locations during the day Macroalgae beds, coral reef, sand 2 tows at the same 3 locations after sunset Light Traps 5 light traps out for 1.5 hours Red, yellow, green, blue, green, white Set over sand Net tows were used to give us an understanding of the amount of plankton present at day and at night and the biodiversity. Light traps were used to understand if type of light (color) affects the plankton that is attracted (amount).

Field Work Algal Beds

Field Work Coral

Field Work Sand

Lab Work Fractionate samples by size Identify, categorize, and count plankton Categories: Crustacean, Gelatinous, Other (sub-categories including polychaetes, echinoderms etc.)

Zooplankton! Zoea!

Zooplankton! My Pretties!!!

Zooplankton! Amphipod

Our Preliminary Results Increased biomass at night Algal beds show a particularly dramatic difference for the 500 µm fraction Algae used as shelter for night-active zooplankton Coral also showed sharp increase at night

Our Preliminary Results Increase in number of taxa for algal beds at night Not as dramatic in other habitats Analysis of actual taxa present not yet performed Implications of increased biomass but similar taxa numbers Perhaps larger taxa present at night, allowing for similar numbers of different species to have higher biomass

Light Traps White light attracts a lot of plankton! Little plankton attracted to red light Attenuation of red light in sea water Red vision possibly not as important/developed in marine creatures

Light Traps Biomass does not necessarily represent biodiversity

Conclusions Initial analysis suggested possible patterns in data Full statistical analysis not performed due to time constraints Stay tuned for the next instalment Differences indicated in biomass between habitats and day/night Differences in taxa count suggested, assemblages not yet examined

Conclusions Light trap data suggests differences Biomass and assemblage White light strongest attractant? More taxa for other colours Implications? Further analysis required

Future Improvements Could have taken more sample replicates Light traps More locations of each habitat Time limitations Build up more dialogue with zooplankton

In Closing They are good listeners, and they were always as pleased to see us as we were to see them I was upset when they were tipped out  RIP little guys