Articles | Volume 14, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1511-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1511-2017
Research article
 | 
24 Mar 2017
Research article |  | 24 Mar 2017

Copepod faecal pellet transfer through the meso- and bathypelagic layers in the Southern Ocean in spring

Anna Belcher, Clara Manno, Peter Ward, Stephanie A. Henson, Richard Sanders, and Geraint A. Tarling

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Cited articles

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Belcher, A., Iversen, M., Giering, S., Riou, V., Henson, S. A., Berline, L., Guilloux, L., and Sanders, R.: Depth-resolved particle-associated microbial respiration in the northeast Atlantic, Biogeosciences, 13, 4927–4943, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4927-2016, 2016a.
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Short summary
Faecal pellets (FPs) are a dominant part of the deep ocean carbon fluxes. We compare estimates of FP production, to measurements of FPs in the meso- and bathypelagic. Despite being produced in high numbers in the surface ocean, small FPs are not transferred efficiently to depth. Changes in FP morphology point to the repacking of surface FPs in the mesopelagic and in situ production at depth, highlighting the importance of deep zooplankton communities for the transfer of carbon to the deep ocean.
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