Search results for "pelagic"

Stepping up to genome scan allows stock differentiation in the worldwide distributed blue shark Prionace glauca

2023

The blue shark Prionace glauca is a top predator with one of the widest geographic distributions of any shark species, yet classified as critically endangered in the Mediterranean Sea, and Near Threatened globally. Previous genetic studies did not reject the null hypothesis of a single global population across the worldwide species range. Blue shark situation was proposed as a possible archetype of the ‘grey zone of population differentiation’, coined to designate cases where population structure may be too recent or too faint to be detected using a limited set of markers. Here, blue shark samples collected throughout its global range were sequenced using a specific ddRAD method (DArTseq; G…

Birth and Early evolution of a Jurassic Escarpment: Monte Kumeta, Western Sicily

2002

The accurate reconstruction of the facies architecture in the Jurassic succession of Monte Kumeta, coupled with a detailed biostratigraphy, allow to define dynamics and genetic factors controlling the conversion of a Bahamian-type carbonate platform to a pelagic escarpment. A change from tidalites to oolites i.e. from the restricted, interior lagoon to a more open-marine sandy depositional environment, records the establishment of a basin south of the Monte Kumeta sector in late Hettangian-Sinemurian times. The oolitic limestones are overlain by earliest Carixian bioclastic grainstones and packstones with micritized grains and by wackestones with radiolarians and sponge spicules, organized …

Mesozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of Rocca Busambra in western Sicily

2008

The Rocca Busambra ridge in western Sicily is a shallow to pelagic Meso-Cenozoic carbonate structural unit of the Sicilian fold and thrust belt with a variety of tectono-sedimentary features. Palaeofaults, unconformities (buttress unconformity, onlap, downlap), a network of neptunian dykes with several infilling generations, several large hiatuses, different facies and lateral facies changes, and erosional submarine and subaerial surfaces are observed. Detailed fieldwork and structural analyses have indicated the occurrence of fault planes with different orientations. These data, combined with facies studies and physical-stratigraphy analyses, allow for the distinction of different depositi…

Distribution and spatial structure of pelagic fish schools in relation to the nature of the seabed in the Sicily Channel (Central Mediterranean).

2009

Hydroacoustic data collected during two echosurveys carried out in the Sicily Channel in 1998 and 2002 were analysed to investigate the distribution and spatial structure of small pelagic fish species in relation to the sedimentological nature of the sea bottom. The study was carried out on two contiguous areas (labelled ZONE 1 and ZONE 2) of the continental shelf off the southern coast of Sicily, characterised by different dominant texture, ‘sand’ for ZONE 1 and ‘clayey-silt’ for ZONE 2. Simultaneous information on small pelagic fish schools and the seabed was obtained using a quantitative echo-sounder (SIMRAD EK500) that measures echoes due to the scattering from both fish schools and the…

Accounting for littoral primary production by periphyton shifts a highly humic boreal lake towards net autotrophy

2016

1. The prevailing view that many humic lakes are net heterotrophic is commonly based on pelagicmeasurements alone. Poor light conditions in humic lakes are assumed to constrain littoral primaryproduction (PP), such that the littoral zone has been considered an insignificant contributor towhole-lake PP. However, that assumption is based on models and inferences from pelagic processeswhich do not take littoral zone structure into account. Many lakes have an extensive ring of aquaticvegetation lying near the water surface, which provides substratum for epiphytic algae under well-illuminated conditions.2. We measured both pelagic and littoral PP and community respiration (CR) in Mekkoj€arvi, a s…

Benthic‐pelagic coupling and trophic relationships in northern Baltic Sea food webs

2020

Understanding marine ecosystem structure and functioning is crucial in supporting sustainable management of natural resources and monitoring the health of marine ecosystems. The current study utilized stable isotope (SI) mixing models and trophic position models to examine energy flow, trophic relationships, and benthic‐pelagic coupling between food web components. Roughly 1900 samples from different trophic levels in the food web, collected during 2001–2010 from four northern and central sub‐basins of the Baltic Sea, were analyzed for SI ratios of carbon and nitrogen. Trophic structure of the food webs among the sub‐basins was consistent, but there were differences between the proportions …

The variable food webs in cold-water lakes

2022

Potential for large-bodied zooplankton and dreissenids to alter the productivity and autotrophic structure of lakes

2014

While limnological studies have emphasized the importance of grazers on algal biomass and primary production in pelagic habitats, few studies have examined their potential role in altering total ecosystem primary production and it’s partitioning between pelagic and benthic habitats. We modified an existing ecosystem production model to include biotic feedbacks associated with two groups of large-bodied grazers of phytoplankton (large-bodied zooplankton and dreissenid mussels) and estimated their effects on total ecosystem production (TEP), and the partitioning of TEP between phytoplankton and periphyton (autotrophic structure) across large gradients in lake size and total phosphorus (TP) co…

Benthic mats offer a potential subsidy to pelagic consumers in tundra pond food webs

2014

We quantified the potential nutritional contribution of benthic mats to pelagic consumers in tundra ponds using three approaches. (1) We compared benthic and pelagic habitats based on their algal biomass and community composition and assessed the dietary quality in terms of fatty acid (FA) concentrations in both habitats. The algal community compositions differed significantly between habitats. Both benthic and pelagic habitats contained saturated and unsaturated FAs, but on average there were more FAs relative to carbon in the pelagic habitat (44 6 29 mg mg C21) than the benthic habitat (23 6 18 mg mg C21) across all studied ponds. (2) We quantified the contribution of benthic mats to the …