36
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
ANNUAL ANOMALY OF TOTAL ZOOPLANKTON BIOMASS
ANNUAL
ANOMOLY
OF
LOG10
BIOMASS
(g/m2)
Figure 2a) Top. Zooplankton collected from the Central Strait of Georgia (Station GEO1) for 2017. Note the dark green samples corresponding
with major spring/summer blooms. Photo by Kelly Young, DFO. 2b) Bottom. Photographs of zooplankton, larval crab, euphausiid and
amphipod species that are common in juvenile salmon diets. Photos by Moira Galbraith, DFO.
of species composition. This program leveraged existing
DFO resources and programs sampling zoo/ichthyoplankton
in the Strait, and added additional surveys to sample in
areas and at times that are currently not covered by the
DFO surveys. The increased sampling intensity over the
course of SSMSP (2014-2018) has been continued since,
and the data collected continue to provide information
regarding ecosystem variability and prey quantity and
quality for outmigrating juvenile salmon and other species.
Larval Crab Euphausiid Amphipod
WHY ARE ZOOPLANKTON IMPORTANT?
Zooplankton are the basis of the food web for juvenile
salmon and the direct connection between bottom-up
physical processes and salmon survival and growth. During
the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, a comprehensive
zooplankton and ichthyoplankton sampling program
was carried out to determine the biomass/abundance of
zooplankton species in the Strait of Georgia and Juan de
Fuca areas, as well as to examine seasonal status and trends
Figure 3. This graph shows the difference of the annual biomass from average conditions of total zooplankton in the Strait of Georgia.
The baseline period for the anomalies is 1996 to 2010. Graph provided by Dr. Ian Perry, DFO.
