Cox James L.

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Cox
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James L.
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  • Technical Report
    Limits of Nematoscelis megalops in the northwestern Atlantic in relation to Gulf Stream cold core rings. II, Physiological and biochemical effects of expatriation
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1979-01) Boyd, Steven H. ; Wiebe, Peter H. ; Cox, James L.
    Nematoscelis megalops, a cold water euphausiid commonly found in Northwestern Atlantic Slope Water, is frequently transported in the cores of Gulf Stream cyclonic rings into the Sargasso Sea. The inner core made of cold Slope Water gradually assumes physical and biological characteristics of the surrounding Sargasso Sea. These changes gradually lead to a localized extinction of this species in the core of the ring. Samples of N. megalops taken from the same ring at 6 and 9 months after its formation show a weakened physiological and biochemical condition. Deterioration of ring individuals is evidenced by an increase in body water content and a reduction in total body lipid, carbon, respiration rates, and nitrogen relative to Slope Water individuals. By 6 months it appears that ring N. megalops must supplement food intake by metabolizing some of their body protein and by 9 months they appear to use lipids as well. A shipboard starvation experiment involving 40 Slope Water individuals showed that physiological and biochemical states similar to those found in individuals from the 9 months old ring could be duplicated in 4 days of complete starvation.
  • Technical Report
    Relationships between oceanic epizooplankton distributions and the seasonal deep chlorophyll maximum in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1981-04) Ortner, Peter B. ; Wiebe, Peter ; Cox, James L.
    The potential significance of the Deep Chlorophyll Maximum (DCM) as a food resource for pelagic food chains was studied in three hydrographic regimes of the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean: the Slope Water, the Northern Sargasso Sea and a Gulf Stream cold core ring. Samples for phytoplankton species, chlorophyll and related water chemistry were obtained with a series of water bottle casts from the upper 200 m; microzooplankton and macrozooplankton were also obtained in the upper 200 m with Clarke Bumpus (67 m mesh) and MOCNESS (333 m mesh) net systems. Samples were obtained in the summer when the DCM was well developed and in the fall when mixing had erased the DCM in most areas. Total zooplankton biomass was significantly enhanced within depth intervals including or adjacent to the seasonal thermocline in the three hydrographic areas. Hydrocast data show the DCM in these regions was predictably associated with the seasonal thermocline. Thus these data indicate zooplankton biomass was enhanced about the DCM when it was present. In some cases, the zooplankton assemblage at DCM depths was distinguishable from those both at deeper and more shallow depths and its composition appeared related to the food available at DCM depths. Overall, in environments ranging from moderately rich near-shore Slope Waters to the more oligotrophic open-ocean Sargasso Sea, our data suggest that the DCM signals a depth zone of particularly intense trophic activity.