Complete zooplankton size spectra re-constructed from « in situ » imaging and Multinet data in the global ocean

Abstract Plankton size spectra are important indicators of the ecosystem state, as they illustrate the quantity of organisms available for higher marine food web and reflect multiple size-dependent processes. Yet, such measurements are typically biased by the available sampling methods, either disrupting fragile organisms or lacking good resolution (in size and/or time and space). In this study, we combined two of the most common approaches to measure zooplankton Normalized Biomass/Biovolume Size Spectra (NBSS) to calculate a complete zooplankton distribution for organisms larger than 1 mm. The reconstructed NBSS slopes appeared steeper and closer to those measured by the UVP5 (+7.6%) and flatter than those of the Multinet (- 20%) particularly in tropics and temperate latitudes. The overall gain in polar biomass was relatively small for reconstructed biomass compared to bulk estimates from Multinet (+0.24 mgC/m3 or +4.25%) and high from the UVP5 (+2.0 mgC/m3 or +53%). In contrast, in the tropical and temperate ecosystems, the gain in biomass was small for UVP5 (+0.67 mgC/m3 or +30.44% and +0.74 mgC/m3 or +19.59% respectively) and high for Multinet (+1.66 mgC/m3 or +136% and +3.4 mgC/m3 or +309% respectively). Given these differences, we suggest here to combine in situ imaging sensors and net data in any comprehensive study exploring key living players in the ocean ecosystem and their contributions to the biological pump.