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

2. 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?

3. 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).

4. Field Work
Algal Beds

5. Field Work
Coral

6. Field Work
Sand

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

8. Zooplankton!
Zoea!

9. Zooplankton!
My Pretties!!!

10. Zooplankton!
Amphipod

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Light Traps
Biomass does not necessarily represent biodiversity

15. 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

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

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

18. 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