Patterns of Prey Selectivity by Myctophidae in the North Pacific Gyre and Equatorial Countercurrent

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Myctophids eat much of the dominant zooplankton of the marine environment, and are in turn eaten by larger carnivores. This makes them an important factor in cycling organic materials from low to high levels of the trophic pyramid. The central Pacific from 6° to 21° N encompasses two different distinct environments, an oligotrophic gyre north of 8° N, and a productive countercurrent below 8° N. Previous studies show that there is increased primary productivity in the countercurrent. This study shows that this is followed by an increase in biomass density of the primary consumers, the zooplankton. This increase in zooplankton biomass is paralleled by an increase in myctophids, secondary consumers who are predators of the planktonic primary consumers. There is a much greater density of life in the countercurrent than in the gyre, as well as increased diversity of zooplankton. It seems possible that myctophids would be able to exhibit a greater degree of selectivity in the countercurrent because there are more food choices available to them. The results of the study show some differences in prey selectivity by myctophids in the two different regions, but the results are still inconclusive as the data set was too small for much statistical accuracy.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 9, 2003

Author	Netburn, Amanda

Subject	Myctophids
Subject	zooplankton
Subject	North Pacific Gyre
Subject	Equatorial Countercurrent
Subject	S-187
Subject	Stanford@SEA
Subject	Hopkins Marine Station
Subject	Department of Biology
Subject	Department of Earth System Science
Subject	BIOHOPK 182H
Subject	BIOHOPK 323H
Subject	EARTHSYS 323
Subject	ESS 323
Genre	Student project report

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/dv518bd5967

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).

Preferred Citation: Netburn, Amanda. 2003. Patterns of Prey Selectivity by Myctophidae in the North Pacific Gyre and Equatorial Countercurrent. Unpublished student research paper, S-187, Stanford@SEA, Stanford Digital Repository.
https://purl.stanford.edu/dv518bd5967

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