Close Coupling Between Phytoplankton Size Structure And Sardine (Sardina Pilchardus) Biomass In Frontal Systems Of The West Coast Of The Iberian Peninsula
conference contribution
posted on 2024-03-22, 10:49 authored by Valesca Pérez, Emilio Fernández, Antonio Bode, Pablo Carrera, Begoña Castro, Elvira Ceballos, Jorge Lorenzo, Marian Peña, Manuel Varela, Marta María VarelaNo abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.
Sardine (Sardine Pilchardus, Walbaum 1792) supports one of the oldest fisheries of the western Spanish coast. Sardine diet is based on phytoplankton, micro-and mesozooplankton.According to conceptual models, systems characterized by low stability are dominated by larger phytoplankton cells and the photosynthesized organic matter is transferred to higher trophiclevels. On contrary, highly stratificatedsystems are dominated by small phytoplankton cells, the photosynthetic carbon is recycled in the photic layer and therefore low fish abundance would be expected.The main goal of this investigation was to find out the relationships between the thermohalinecharacteristics of the water column, total phytoplankton biomass and size distribution, and the abundance sardine in the NW coast of the Iberian Peninsula.