Mediterranean Sea
Zooplankton
Instruments and methods
Samples were taken by open-closing JUDAY nets with a 0.36 m ring diameter and mesh sizes of 112 to 120 mkm.
The JOM net (the JUDAY oceanic model), with a mesh size 300 mkm was also used occasionally.
All tows were taken in either a vertical or oblique manner and were hauled at a speed of approximately 0.5 m/s.
The open-closing mechanism used was the Nansen mechanical lock system allowing nets to be vertically towed through standard depths (0-10, 10-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, 200-300, 300-500m) and closed at the upper depth level.
Integrated hauls (0-100, 0-200m) were also taken.
The 10-20 ml samples were preserved in 3-4% buffered formaldehyde and processed on return to the laboratory.
Before processing, the sample was stirred and aliquots of 1 to 5 ml were taken out of the sample using pipettes.
Organisms were identified and enumerated to the species level under a binocular microscope (MBS-1 or MBS-3) in Bogorov chambers.
Abundance of males, females, and copepodites for each species and the total abundance of nauplii were determined.
Two replicates from each sample were processed as a rule and these replicates were averaged. The large size organisms were counted in the whole sample.
Individual weight of organisms was calculated from measurements of body length using the so-called Tables of Standard Weights (Kanaeva, 1962; Shmeleva, 1963; Kryilov, 1968; Gruzov, Alexeeva, 1970) or nomograms relating the length and a typical body shape with the weight of animals (Chislenko 1968).
Physical&Chemical Parameters
Instruments and methods
Temperature and salinity were measured by the CTD-probe ISTOK-3 and with Nansen Bottles and reversing thermometers.
Chemical Parameters
Dissolved oxygen was determined by the Winkler's method,
methods of Murphy and Riley was used to determine inorganic phosphates and silicates,
method of Griess-Ilosvay was used to determine nitrites,
pH-meters "pH-262" and "pH-340" were used to determine pH values.