Coastal mesozooplankton respond to decadal environmental changes via community restructuring

Abstract

Long‐term ecological research has revealed the impact of climate on marine ecosystems at multiple time scales. Changes in the pelagic system have been detected at the LTER‐MC site in the Gulf of Naples (Tyrrhenian Sea, western Mediterranean) since 1984. Here we analyzed the time series to determine whether zooplankton had significantly changed over the three decades 1984–2015. In addition to the seasonal cycle as the main mode of temporal variability, we observed long‐term trends in the functional groups and species. Copepods, the most abundant group, declined over the years owing to a decrease in the abundance of Acartia clausi , Centropages typicus , the Paracalanus parvus complex, and Oithona spp. Increasing trends were observed for strict carnivores (chaetognaths) and typical filter feeders (cladocerans, appendicularians, and thaliaceans); the latter may be linked to a higher density of

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