False Bay & Beaverton Cove Zooplankton Tow Sampling

A list of phylum found and abundance of each species. Plankton form the base level food chain in all marine systems. Characterizing the diversity and abundance of plankton in a location can reveal the unique ecology of a system. Zooplankton were identified and enumerated in two locations, False Bay and Beaverton Cove on San Juan Island, WA USA in November 2021. Nine taxa were found in both locations. However, the abundance of a few taxa were much higher in Beaverton Cove than False Bay while overall diversity was higher in False Bay. This pattern could be attributed to higher freshwater inflows into False Bay leading to a broader range of salinity and nutrient availability. Overall abundance might be lower because of the 'washing out' factor caused by the freshwater.