Riki Sato, Taketoshi Kodama, Kiyotaka Hidaka

Journal of Plankton Research, Volume 46, Issue 2, March/April 2024, Pages 141–157, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbad056

Community structure and distribution pattern of appendicularians in the Kuroshio–Oyashio transitional zone during summer

“Our cluster analysis separated appendicularian communities into three groups, corresponding to distinct hydrological regions namely the anticyclonic eddy, the edge and inner area of the Kuroshio Extension and nearshore area and the area between the eddy and the Kuroshio Extension. The first group, characterized by a low abundance and diversity, was regarded to comprise surviving or deteriorating communities after isolation from the ambient communities. [In this group, more than 97.7% of the total abundance was composed of only O. longicauda and O. fusiformis.] The second group may comprise heterogeneous communities of various origins from several different water systems due to the higher numerical contribution of coastal species, O. dioica, and high species diversity. The third group displaced a higher numerical contribution of F. formica digitata or F. haplostoma and appeared to be related to the advection of offshore waters, which may be optimal for these fritillarid forms. Among these groups, only temperature and salinity in the surface layer and CI were significantly different.”