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Effect of Spatial Variation on Zooplankton Community Assessment in Fishery Studies
Author(s) -
Olson Nathan W.,
Wilson Stephen K.,
Willis David W.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1548-8446
pISSN - 0363-2415
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8446(2004)29[17:eosvoz]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - zooplankton , calanoida , abundance (ecology) , cyclopoida , habitat , daphnia , environmental science , community structure , spatial variability , spatial distribution , fishery , ecology , sampling (signal processing) , spatial ecology , biology , geography , crustacean , statistics , copepod , mathematics , remote sensing , filter (signal processing) , computer science , computer vision
Many fishery researchers studying zooplankton abundance and size structure fail to implement a sampling protocol that addresses the horizontal distribution of zooplankton. Therefore, we assessed the horizontal and seasonal differences in the abundance and size structure of zooplankton in a small (43 ha) South Dakota impoundment. We collected zooplankton samples from vegetated, edge, and non‐vegetated areas using a 1.5‐m integrated tube sampler in May, June, and July 2001. Overall, Cyclopoida and Daphnia were more abundant in the vegetated area, but Calanoida were more abundant in the non‐vegetated areas. Size differences were also found, but differences were inconsistent among months and habitat classifications. We also quantified the number of samples required to obtain a 20% coefficient of variation of the mean abundance of zooplankton species among months and habitat categories. The results of our study illustrate the importance of implementing a sampling design that accounts for the spatial variation in zooplankton.