Zooplankton dynamics in ice free versus ice covered fjords in Svalbard

Studies during winter-spring when many pelagic and benthic invertebrates reproduces in Arctic marine coastal ecosystems are limited due to challenging field work when fjords are frozen. Eggs and larva of benthic invertebrates and zooplankton may temporarily reach several thousand per m-3 water, and these may also utilize the sea ice as habitat and nursery ground, inhabiting the small brine channels to feed on ice algae. Failure in sea ice formation and earlier runoff from land will create significant changes in primary production and terrestrial carbon input to coastal waters, which in turn may alter the secondary production with cascading effects for the entire food web. In this project, I will study the seasonal development in the zooplankton community in the ice covered Van Mijenfjorden and the ice-free Adventfjorden in Svalbard from late February to June. The overall goal of this MSc project is to follow the zooplankton community dynamics in these two contrasting climates (cold vs. warm) to determine the role of sea ice for structuring zooplankton communities, timing of reproduction and bulk zooplankton nutritious quality.