Trophic interactions of copepods - application of natural abundance of stable isotopes

Natural abundance isotope ratio (NAIR) signatures will be
determined for components of the zooplankton food chain
collected during Phase 2 Marine Productivity cruises in the
North Atlantic. This will enable the detection of shifts in
trophic level and diet for individual species over geographic
and temporal transects, and the detection of differences in
diet between different species inhabiting the same water column.
We shall also attempt to determine corrective algorithms for the
determination of NAIR signatures in preserved zooplankton enabling
a future interpretation of CPR records. The approach is core to
the MarProd hypotheses concerning the trophic activity of
zooplankton and the only method covering meaningful periods of
time between cruises.