National Reference Station - Zooplankton Sampling

Regular monthly zooplankton samples are undertaken at the stations as part of a larger water sampling program by the National Reference Stations. In total nine stations are sampled regularly around the Australian coastline. Sampling is conducted monthly (Esperance and Ningaloo 3 monthly) off small vessels at each of the nine reference stations. The sampling is conducted using a drop net (as per the design of Heron) which has a 60 cm diameter, 100 micron mesh and is weighted to fall at 1 m/s. The net is designed to pull closed at the end of its fall so that it samples on the way down and does not sample on the way up. The depth of the sample varies at each station. 3 zooplankton samples are taken each month. 2 are fixed in formalin and will be analysed as described below. The unfixed sample is concentrated and frozen (-80oC)and will be used for molecular analysis in the future. The Port Hacking 4 (PH4) samples (2002 - Jan 2009) were sampled using a smaller net, 20 cm diameter, which sampled on the way up and down. The PH4 site is very close to the Port Hacking national reference station (PHB) where samples are now taken to build up and enhance the time series. The plankton ecology lab (based in Queensland) will analyse the samples collected for: 1. Community composition (Taxon/m3) 2. Biomass (dry weight in mg/m3) 3. Size spectrum analysis using zooscan (in progress). Data storage and access is planned to be interoperable with other national and international programs through the IMOS Infrastructure. Station metadata can be found through this resource. Data is available freely via the AODN portal: https://portal.aodn.org.au.
Station metadata can be found through this resource.

作为国家参考站（National Reference Stations）实施的大型水体采样计划的组成部分，各站点定期开展浮游动物采样工作。澳大利亚沿海沿岸共计布设9个定期采样站点。9个参考站点的采样均在小型船舶上进行，其中埃斯佩兰斯（Esperance）与宁加卢（Ningaloo）站点每3个月采样1次，其余站点按月采样。采样采用仿赫伦（Heron）设计的沉降式采样网，该网直径60厘米，网目尺寸100微米，配有配重以1米/秒的速率沉降。该网设计为在沉降结束时自动闭合，仅在下沉过程中采集样本，上浮阶段不进行采样。各站点的采样深度各不相同。每月采集3份浮游动物样本：其中2份采用福尔马林固定，将按下述流程开展分析；剩余1份未固定样本经浓缩后置于-80℃冷冻保存，留待未来进行分子生物学分析。2002年至2009年1月期间采集的霍克港4号（Port Hacking 4, PH4）样本，采用直径20厘米的小型采样网采集，该网在下沉与上浮阶段均会采集样本。PH4采样点紧邻霍克港国家参考站（Port Hacking National Reference Station, PHB），当前该站点的采样工作用于扩充并完善现有时间序列数据集。设于昆士兰州的浮游动物生态学实验室将对采集的样本开展以下3项分析：1. 群落组成分析（单位：类群/立方米）；2. 生物量分析（干重，单位：毫克/立方米）；3. 基于Zooscan的粒径谱分析（当前处于进行中）。计划通过综合海洋观测系统（Integrated Marine Observing System, IMOS）基础设施，实现数据存储与访问功能与其他国家及国际项目的互操作性。站点元数据可通过本资源获取。数据可通过澳大利亚海洋数据网络（Australian Ocean Data Network, AODN）门户免费获取，访问地址为：https://portal.aodn.org.au。站点元数据亦可通过本资源查询。