Seasonal variations in the contribution of zooplankton fecal pellets to the particulate organic carbon fluxes over the slopes of the Pacific Arctic region

Abstract

As part of the Korea Arctic Mooring System (KAMS), sequential sediment traps were deployed at KAMS1 over the East Siberian Sea slope (similar to 115 and similar to 335 m) and at KAMS2 over the Chukchi Sea slope (325 m) to collect sinking particles from August 2017 to August 2019. Fecal pellet carbon (FPC) fluxes and their contribution to the particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes were measured to assess the role of zooplankton fecal pellets in the biological carbon pump at both sites. FPC fluxes increased at the onset of an under-ice bloom and peaked during the melt period at both sites in 2018. At KAMS1, a remarkable increase in FPC fluxes reflected the enhanced grazing of large copepods during the anomalously productive spring and summer of 2018, however their contributions to the POC fluxes mostly remained <10%. At KAMS2, relatively low FPC fluxes during the under-ice bloom suggested the export of a larger proportion of pellets produced by small copepods. Sustained FPC fluxes from January to May 2018 at KAMS2 contributed up to 24% of the POC fluxes, possibly resulting from pellet production by overwintering copepods grazing on particles laterally transported into the region in the presence of ice. These results indicate that despite their limited contribution to the POC fluxes, FPC fluxes varied with food availability, zooplankton community structure, and hydrographic conditions over the East Siberian and Chukchi Sea slopes.