Community Structure and Standing Stock of Epibenthic Zooplankton at Five Sites in Grays Harbor, Washington
Abstract
Using a suction pump, epibenthic zooplankton community structures and standing stock were measured in shallow sublittoral and middle littoral habitats at Cow Point, Moon Island, the Marsh Establishment Site, and Stearn's Bluff, and the lower littoral habitat of a site opposite the channel from Moon Island in Grays Harbor on 7 May 1981. Numerically and gravimetrically dominant organisms included harpacticoid copepods, primarily ectinosomids, and larvae and adult calanoid copepods, particularly Eurytemora americana and Acartia clausi. Density and standing crop were somewhat higher at the 0.00-m tidal elevations than at +2.1-m, except at the Marsh Establishment Site, where both density and standing crop were higher at +2.1-m. It was hypothesized that this relationship reflected the increased tidal and current velocities present at closer proximity to the navigation channel. Habitat disruption or removal associated with widening the navigation channel could potentially impact important prey resources of juvenile chum and chinook salmon and English sole, particularly at Moon Island, where the proportion of available fish foraging habitat in the shallow sublittoral zone is greater than at Stearn's Bluff. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA108840
Entities
People
- Charles A. Simenstad
- Jeffery R. Cordell
Organizations
- University of Washington