Comparison between zooplankton data collected by the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey in the English Channel and by WP-2 nets at station L4, Plymouth (UK)

Zooplankton sampling has been carried out by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey since the 1930s enabling the study of long-term changes in plankton populations, the elucidation of seasonal patterns of abundance, and more recently providing zooplankton biomass estimates for ecosystem models. Data for zooplankton abundance collected by CPR tows in the Western English Channel (between 1988 and 1998) were compared to vertically integrated samples collected from station L4 off Plymouth, UK. Comparisons were made for locally abundant copepods (including Acartia, Calanus, Para/Pseudocalanus, Centropages, Oithona and Temora) collected by CPR and WP-2 nets. All dominant species recorded at L4 were also common to the CPR data. However, the position of the taxa in the two datasets was not equivalent. Seasonal cycles revealed by CPR data were significantly similar to those recorded throughout the water column at L4 for most taxa. However, absolute levels of abundance differed for the two datasets: abundances were underestimated by CPR samples when compared to those of vertically integrated samples by a factor of between 2 and 35, with the exception of Centropages. The differing mesh sizes (200 and 270 μm) of the WP-2 net and CPR mesh could only partially explain these differences in abundance, implying that the behaviour of individual taxa and their depth in the water column also influenced the abundance recorded.