Dr. Anna Schukat

Collaborative Project CUSCO  (Coastal Upwelling System in a Changing Ocean)

Sub project: Structure of the pelagic food web, trophic interactions and the role of meso- and macrozooplankton for trophic transfer efficiency in the Humboldt Upwelling System off Peru

(https://www.ebus-climate-change.de/cusco-wp3;jsessionid=29B1E23BEBAA6265A9CFFE30B598A4F1)

The major aim of this project is to establish, which processes and mechanisms determine the trophic transfer efficiency (TTE) of the Humboldt Upwelling System (HUS) off Peru. The Humboldt Current in the Southeast Pacific is the most productive and commercially most important upwelling system worldwide. Although the four major coastal upwelling systems have a similar primary production, the HUS provides five to ten times higher fisheries yields per unit area than other systems. In order to elucidate the high productivity at the upper trophic levels, the BreMarE team of the University of Bremen investigates the role of meso- and macrozooplankton (especially copepods and euphausiids) in the food web. We aim at identifying and quantifying important predator-prey relationships of zooplankton taxa (e.g., as consumers of phytoplankton or prey for pelagic fish) and analyse the general structure and complexity of the pelagic food web, which greatly influences the TTE. We focus on structural differences in the zooplankton community and on the length of the food chain by analysing trophic interactions and tracing carbon and energy fluxes through the marine food web.

Schukat A (2012). Trophic interactions and energetics of key components in the Benguela Current Ecosystem: The role of calanoid copepods and pelagic decapods. elib University of Bremen.