An Analysis of the Zooplankton Community Structure of the Western Beaufort Sea. WEBSEC 1971

As an attempt to assess the effects of this pollution upon the marine environment, the United States Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit sampled an area from 143 30 to 154 30 west longitude between 70 and 72 north Latitude, in the Western Beaufort Sea, from August to mid September 1971. A community analysis of the resulting samples is undertaken in this data set by the investigation of relationships within the plankton community and between the plankton community and various oceanographic variables.

Initial enumeration and identification of the samples indicated that the species and their abundances were characteristic of the area. Examination of the distributions of the species disclosed that they could be split into five distributional categories apparently defined by individual species tolerances to salinity, temperature, ice cover, and other hydrographic factors. Temperature was suggested as a major factor controlling species abundance.