Assessing coastal zooplankton in the St. Lawrence estuary: spatio-temporal patterns of taxonomic and functional biodiversity.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity assessment promotes information on the state of an ecosystem. Zooplankton, as a sentinel group at the basis of aquatic food webs, are, thus, an important component to monitor for ecosystem conservation and management. For the first time, we characterized biodiversity of coastal zooplankton along the shallow Northern shoreline of the lower St. Lawrence estuary (LSLE) using an integrated taxonomic and trait-based approach. For 3 years (2019-2021), in July and October, the zooplankton community and environmental parameters were sampled at < 35 m depth. Mesozooplankton were identified at the lowest possible taxonomic level and assigned functional traits. Community structure and diversities revealed high spatio-temporal variations among three different geographic sectors and betwee

SUBMITTER: Santo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11781820 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature