Description: |
Zooplankton fecal pellet flux is a highly variable component of the biological carbon pump. Mechanisms for this variability remain poorly understood. Here researchers present a model that incorporates individual-scale metabolic processes to determine fecal pellet production rate, the relationship between body size and fecal pellet size, the relationship between fecal pellet size and sinking rate, and a function representing the breakdown of particles in the water column. When applied to copepod communities sampled by the continuous plankton recorder in the Gulf of Maine over 25 years, a seasonal pattern of fecal pellet carbon flux emerges. [Source: Limnology and Oceanography]
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