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An
increasing East Australian Current affects
coastal cold-core eddies and the abundance
of gelatinous zooplankton [SS10/08]
10-20
October 2008
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Matthew
Taylor
UNSW
- Krill biology (post-doc)
University of NSW
Matt Taylor is an Australian Research
Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New South
Wales, and current AIPS Young Tall Poppy.
Taylor graduated with his PhD in March 2007, and since
then he has established a diverse research group in estuarine
ecology, including five PhD students. Taylor’s work
has traditionally concentrated on understanding the ecology
of estuarine fish and crustaceans, including estuarine
mysid species. Recently, Taylor has commenced research
on the ecology of a krill (euphausiid) species named Nyctiphanes
australis in association with oceanographic features, using
samples from previous RV Southern Surveyor voyages. This
research has led to a current investigation of the competitive
interactions between the species N. australis and Salpa
thomsonii/ Thalia democratica.
Salp and krill species are key competitors and predators
of each other in Antarctic ecosystems. Both species efficiently “repackage” small
particles into larger ones, channelling carbon into long-living
pools such as marine mammals and benthic food webs.
Temperate krill species represent a potential link between
oceanic primary production and higher pelagic trophic levels,
whereas salps remove energy from the pelagic ecosystems
to the sea floor. As a consequence these two species play
a key role in determining the
end-point of carbon fixed through primary production, as
such have a significant impact on oceanic food webs.
Global warming, and associated current shifts and warmer
seawater, may advantage salps, their biology allows for
faster asexual reproduction than krill, and broad feeding
range allows predation on krill eggs and other early stages.
Conversely, krill have been shown to feed intensively on
salps when food is limited. Warming may lead to a spatial
range expansion for salps, and increase interactions with
N. australis and other krill species. The above factors
will likely lead to a dramatic decrease in krill productivity,
increased carbon flux from the sea surface to the sediment,
and a negative feedback in the global climate system. Understanding
trophic interactions between temperate krill and salp species
is the focus of Taylor's work on the current RV Southern
Surveyor voyage.
Modified:
10/11/08
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