Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impacts of Hypoxia on Zooplankton Spatial Distributions in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOMEX) was surveyed to examine the broad-scale spatial patterns and inter-relationships between hypoxia (<2 mg L−1 dissolved oxygen) and zooplankton biovolume. We used an undulating towed body equipped with sensors for conductivity, temperature, depth, oxygen, fluorescence, and an optical plankton counter to sample water column structure, oxygen, and zooplankton at high spatial resolution (1 m—vertical; 0.25–1 km—horizontal). We contrast the distribution of zooplankton during summer surveys with different freshwater input, stratification, and horizontal and vertical extent of bottom-water hypoxia. Bottom-water hypoxia did not appear to influence the total amount of zooplankton biomass present in the water column or the areal integration of zooplankton standing stock in the NGOMEX region surveyed. However, where there were hypoxic bottom waters, zooplankton shifted their vertical distribution to the upper water column during the day where they normally would reside in deeper and darker waters. When bottom waters were normoxic (>2 mg L−1 dissolved oxygen), the daytime median depth of the water column zooplankton was on average 7 m deeper than the median depth of zooplankton in water columns with hypoxic bottom waters. A reduction in larger zooplankton when there were hypoxic bottom waters suggests that if zooplankton cannot migrate to deeper, darker water under hypoxic conditions, they may be more susceptible to size-selective predation by visual predators. Thus, habitat compression in the northern Gulf of Mexico due to hypoxic bottom water may have implications for trophic transfer by increasing the contact between predators and prey.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aku, P.M., L.G. Rudstam, and W.M. Tonn. 1997. Impact of hypolimnetic oxygenation on the vertical distribution of cisco (Coregonus artedi) in Amisk Lake, Alberta. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54: 2182–2195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi, T.S., S.F. DiMarco, J.H. Cowan Jr., R.D. Hetland, P. Chapman, J.W. Day, and M.A. Allison. 2010. The science of hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: a review. Science of the Total Environment 408: 1471–1484.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Breitburg, D.L., T. Loher, C.A. Pacey, and A. Gerstein. 1997. Varying effects of low dissolved oxygen on trophic interactions in an estuarine food web. Ecological Monographs 67: 489–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breitburg, D.L., L. Pihl, and S.E. Kolesar. 2001. Effects of low dissolved oxygen on the behavior, ecology and harvest of fishes: a comparison of the Chesapeake and Baltic systems. In Coastal hypoxia: consequences for living resources and ecosystems, ed. N.N. Rabalais and R.E. Turner, 241–267. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chin-Leo, G., and R. Benner. 1992. Enhanced bacterioplankton production and respiration at intermediate salinities in the Mississippi River plume. Marine Ecology Progress Series 82: 87–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cloern, J.E. 2001. Our evolving conceptual model of the coastal eutrophication problem. Marine Ecology Progress Series 210: 223–253.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coutant, C.C. 1985. Striped bass, temperature, and dissolved oxygen: a speculative hypothesis for environmental risk. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 114: 31–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, J.K. 2012. Aggregation on the edge: effects of hypoxia avoidance on the spatial distribution of brown shrimp and demersal fishes in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Marine Ecology Progress Series 445: 75–95.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dagg, M.J. 1995. Copepod grazing and the fate of phytoplankton in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Continental Shelf Research 15: 1303–1317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dagg, M.J., and G.A. Breed. 2003. Biological effects of Mississippi River nitrogen on the northern Gulf of Mexico—a review and synthesis. Journal of Marine Systems 43: 133–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dagg, M.J., and T.E. Whitledge. 1991. Concentrations of copepod nauplii associated with the nutrient-rich plume of the Mississippi River. Continental Shelf Research 11: 1409–1423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, R.J., and R. Rosenberg. 1995. Marine benthic hypoxia: a review of its ecological effects and the behavioral responses of benthic macrofauna. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 33: 245–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, R.J., and R. Rosenberg. 2008. Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. Science 321: 926–929.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, D.T., J.J. Pierson, and M.R. Roman. 2012. Relationship between environmental conditions and zooplankton community structure during summer hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Plankton Research. doi:10.1093/plankt/fbs029.

  • Graham, W.M. 2001. Numerical increases and distributional shifts of Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Desor) and Aurelia aurita (Linne) (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Hydrobiologia 451: 97–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazen, E.L., J.K. Craig, C.P. Good, and L.B. Crowder. 2009. Vertical distribution of fish biomass in hypoxic waters on the Gulf of Mexico shelf. Marine Ecology Progress Series 375: 195–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herman, A.W. 1988. Simultaneous measurement of zooplankton and light attenuance with a new optical plankton counter. Continental Shelf Research 8: 205–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herman, A.W. 1992. Design and calibration of a new optical plankton counter capable of sizing small zooplankton. Deep Sea Research 39: 395–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, R.W., D. Anderson, T. Church, H. Greening, C. Hopkinson, W. Huber, N. Marcus, R. Naiman, K. Segerson, A. Sharpley, and W. Wiseman. 2000. Clean coastal waters—understanding and reducing the effects of nutrient pollution. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences. 405 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntley, M.E., M. Zhou, and W. Nordhausen. 1995. Mesoscale distribution of zooplankton in the California Current in late spring, observed by optical plankton counter. Journal of Marine Research 53: 647–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keister, J.E., E.D. Houde, and D.L. Breitburg. 2000. Effects of bottom-layer hypoxia on abundances and depth distributions of organisms in Patuxent River, Chesapeake Bay. Marine Ecology Progress Series 205: 43–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, D.G., M.R. Roman, and X. Zhang. 2006. Spatial and temporal variability in factors controlling mesozooplankton dynamics in Chesapeake Bay: evidence from biomass size spectra. Limnology and Oceanography 51: 131–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, D.G., W.C. Boicourt, J.J. Pierson, M.R. Roman, and X. Zhang. 2009. A comparison of the mesozooplankton response to hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay and the northern Gulf of Mexico using the biomass size spectrum. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 381: S65–S73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, D.G., W. Boicourt, J. Pierson, M. Roman, and X. Zhang. 2010. The vertical distribution and diel variability of mesozooplankton biomass, abundance and size in response to hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA. Journal of Plankton Research 32: 1185–1202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klumb, R.A., K.L. Bunch, E.L. Mills, L.G. Rudstam, G. Brown, C. Knauf, R. Burton, and F. Arrhenius. 2004. Establishment of a metalimnetic oxygen refuge for zooplankton in a productive Lake Ontario embayment. Ecological Applications 14: 113–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolar, C.S., and F.J. Rahel. 1993. Interaction of a biotic factor (predator presence) and an abiotic factor (low oxygen) as an influence on benthic invertebrate communities. Oecologia 95: 210–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, H., and M. Dagg. 2003. Interactions between nutrients, phytoplankton growth, and grazing by micro- and meso-zooplankton in the plume of a large river. Marine Ecology Progress Series 258: 31–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lohrenz, S.E., M.L. Dagg, and T.E. Whitledge. 1990. Enhanced primary production at the plume/oceanic interface of the Mississippi River. Continental Shelf Research 10: 639–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lohrenz, S.E., G.L. Fahenstiuel, D.G. Redalje, G.A. Lang, X. Chen, and M.J. Dagg. 1997. Variations in primary production of northern Gulf of Mexico continental shelf waters linked to nutrient inputs from the Mississippi River. Marine Ecology Progress Series 155: 45–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ludsin, S.A., X. Zhang, S.B. Brandt, M.R. Roman, W.C. Boicourt, D.M. Mason, and M. Costantini. 2009. Hypoxia-avoidance by planktivorous fish in Chesapeake Bay: implications for food web interactions and fish recruitment. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 381: S121–S131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcus, N.H., C. Richmond, C. Sedlacek, G.A. Miller, and C. Oppert. 2004. Impact of hypoxia on the survival, egg production and population dynamics of Acartia tonsa Dana. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 301: 111–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mauchline, J. 1998. The biology of calanoid copepods. Advances in Marine Biology 23: 710.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, S.W. 1990. Marine eutrophication—a growing international problem. Ambio 19: 101–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortner, P.B., L.C. Hill, and S.R. Cummings. 1989. Zooplankton community structure and copepod species composition in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Continental Shelf Research 9: 387–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, J.J., M.R. Roman, D.G. Kimmel, W.C. Boicourt, and X. Zhang. 2009. Quantifying changes in the vertical distribution of mesozooplankton in response to hypoxic bottom waters. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 381: S74–S79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prince, E.D., and C.P. Goodyear. 2006. Hypoxia-based habitat compression of tropical pelagic fishes. Fisheries Oceanography 15: 451–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qureshi, N.A., and N.N. Rabalais. 2001. Distribution of zooplankton on a seasonally hypoxic continental shelf. In Coastal hypoxia: consequences for living resources and ecosystems, ed. N.N. Rabalais and R.E. Turner, 61–76. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N.N., and R.E. Turner. 2001. Hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico: description, causes and change. In Coastal hypoxia: consequences for living resources and ecosystems, ed. N.N. Rabalais and R.E. Turner, 1–36. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N.N., R.E. Turner, D. Justic, Q. Dortch, W.J. Wiseman, and B.K. Sen Gupta. 1996. Nutrient changes in the Mississippi River and system responses on the adjacent continental shelf. Estuaries 19: 386–407.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N.N., R.E. Turner, and W.J. Wiseman. 2002. Gulf of Mexico, aka “the dead zone”. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33: 235–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roman, M.R., A.L. Gauzens, W.K. Rhinehart, and J.R. White. 1993. Effects of low oxygen waters on Chesapeake Bay zooplankton. Limnology and Oceanography 38: 1603–1614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roman, M., X. Zhang, C. McGilliard, and W. Boicourt. 2005. Seasonal and annual variability in the spatial patterns of plankton biomass in Chesapeake Bay. Limnology and Oceanography 50: 480–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprules, W.G., E.H. Jin, A.W. Herman, et al. 1998. Calibration of an optical plankton counter for use in fresh water. Limnology and Oceanography 43: 726–733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stow, C.A., S.S. Qian, and J.K. Craig. 2005. Declining threshold for hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental Science and Technology 39: 716–723.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, J.C., P.S. Rand, and J. Jenkins. 2007. Swimming behavior of juvenile anchovies (Anchoa spp.) in an episodically hypoxic estuary: implications for individual energetics and trophic dynamics. Marine Biology 152: 939–957.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, R.E., and N.N. Rabalais. 1994. Coastal eutrophication near the Mississippi River delta. Nature 368: 619–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Commerce. 2008. Fisheries of the United States 2008. Current Fisheries Statistics, No. 2008, 103 pp.

  • Wannamaker, C.M., and J.A. Rice. 2000. Effects of hypoxia on movements and behavior of selected estuarine organisms from the southeastern United States. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 249: 145–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, R.S. 2002. Hypoxia: from molecular responses to ecosystem responses. Marine Pollution Bulletin 45: 35–45.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yentsch, C.S., and D.W. Menzel. 1963. A method for the determination of phytoplankton chlorophyll-a and phaeophytin by fluorescence. Deep Sea Research 10: 21–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X., M. Roman, A. Sanford, H. Adolf, C. Lascara, and R. Burgett. 2000. Can an optical plankton counter produce reasonable estimates of zooplankton abundance and biovolume in water with high detritus? Journal of Plankton Research 22: 137–150.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X., M. Roman, D. Kimmel, C. McGilliard, and W. Boicourt. 2006. Spatial variability in plankton biomass and hydrographic variables along an axial transect in Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Geophysical Research—Oceans 111: C05S11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, H., S.A. Ludsin, D.M. Mason, A.T. Adamack, S.B. Brandt, X. Zhang, D.G. Kimmel, M.R. Roman, and W.C. Boicourt. 2009. Hypoxia-driven changes in the behavior and spatial distribution of pelagic fish and zooplankton in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 381: S80–S91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank M. Brooks, C. Derry, K. Hozyash, D. Kennedy, B. Loveland, A. Spear, and T. Wazniak for technical assistance and Nancy Rabalais for facilitating the research. We thank the captain and crew of the R/V Pelican. This work was supported by NOAA Awards NA06NOS4780148 and NA09N0S4780198. This is UMCES Contribution #4677 and NGOMEX Contribution #161.

Author information

Author notes

  1. D. G. Kimmel

    Present address: Department of Biology/Institute for Coastal Science and Policy, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA

  2. X. Zhang

    Present address: NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC/SFD, Panama City Laboratory, Panama City, FL, 32408, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, P.O. Box 775, Cambridge, MD, 21613, USA

    M. R. Roman, J. J. Pierson, D. G. Kimmel, W. C. Boicourt & X. Zhang

Authors
  1. M. R. Roman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. J. Pierson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. G. Kimmel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. W. C. Boicourt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. X. Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. R. Roman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Roman, M.R., Pierson, J.J., Kimmel, D.G. et al. Impacts of Hypoxia on Zooplankton Spatial Distributions in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries and Coasts 35, 1261–1269 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-012-9531-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-012-9531-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation