Description
The Puget Sound Zooplankton Monitoring Program (PSZMP) is an ongoing collaborative effort involving tribal, county, state, federal, academic, and non-profit organizations working in and around the Salish Sea. The program began in 2014 and is designed to assist efforts in 1) understanding how changes in the local vs oceanic physical environment translate up the food web in Puget Sound, and 2) measuring how the prey field of salmon and other fishes varies spatio-temporally and correlates with fish survival.
Samples are collected at 16 sites across Puget Sound on either a bi-weekly or monthly , depending on the sampling group and season. Vertical tows of a ring net are conducted to capture zooplankton throughout the depth of the water column. Oblique tows of a bongo net are used to sample larger, more motile zooplankton inhabiting the upper 30 m of the water column. After collection, zooplankton are quantitatively subsampled and microscopically counted, with zooplankton densities and biomass computed. All individuals are identified to species or larger taxonomic grouping, and by life stages for some species, within each sample.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 8,470 records.
2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Keister J E, Winans A, Herrmann B, Kalata O, Mayorga E (2024). Puget Sound Zooplankton Monitoring Program (Salish Sea, USA), starting in 2014. Version 1.1. United States Geological Survey. Samplingevent dataset. https://doi.org/10.15468/e92gvx
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is United States Geological Survey. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 980a91f0-0752-4b60-a68a-42ed670eaae3. United States Geological Survey publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.
Keywords
Samplingevent; Specimen; WASHINGTON; COASTAL; ZOOPLANKTON
Contacts
- Metadata Provider
- Affiliate Professor, University of Washington
- Originator
- Originator
- Metadata Provider
- Affiliate Professor, University of Washington
- Processor
- Senior Oceanographer
- Point Of Contact
- Assistant Professor
- Processor
Geographic Coverage
Puget Sound, Washington State, USA. Puget Sound is part of the Salish Sea.
Bounding Coordinates | South West [47.138, -123.048], North East [48.684, -122.287] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
N/A
Kingdom | Chromista, Animalia |
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Phylum | Arthropoda, Nemertea, Annelida, Chordata, Myzozoa, Ctenophora, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Nematoda, Platyhelminthes, Chaetognatha, Phoronida, Cnidaria, Bryozoa |
Class | Holothuroidea, Hydrozoa, Hexapoda, Dinophyceae, Ostracoda, Larvacea, Polychaeta, Hexacorallia, Arachnida, Nuda, Bivalvia, Ascidiacea, Pycnogonida, Gastropoda, Thecostraca, Appendicularia, Gymnolaemata, Copepoda, Thaliacea, Tentaculata, Polyplacophora, Scyphozoa, Cephalopoda, Ophiuroidea, Branchiopoda, Malacostraca, Teleostei |
Order | Nudibranchia, Mysidacea, Limnomedusae, Amphipoda, Calanoida, Decapoda, Harpacticoida, Chitonida, Copelata, Noctilucales, Onychopoda, Beroida, Salpida, Anthoathecata, Euphausiacea, Canuelloida, Trachymedusae, Diptera, Cumacea, Mysida, Syngnathiformes, Cephalaspidea, Narcomedusae, Phyllodocida, Monstrilloida, Siphonostomatoida, Cydippida, Tanaidacea, Littorinimorpha, Siphonophora, Actiniaria, Cladocera, Siphonophorae, Teuthida, Pteropoda, Cyclopoida, Trombidiformes, Leptothecata, Ctenostomatida, Octopoda, Isopoda |
Family | Eirenidae, Candaciidae, Arachnidiidae, Pinnotheridae, Axiidae, Panopeidae, Campanulariidae, Diogenidae, Podonidae, Penaeidae, Cancridae, Proboscidactylidae, Hippidae, Tisbidae, Clionidae, Paguridae, Oikopleuridae, Corynidae, Hyperiidae, Oweniidae, Melicertidae, Clausocalanidae, Tharybidae, Gastropteridae, Chitonidae, Cydippidae, Peachiidae, Limacinidae, Mitrocomidae, Hippolytidae, Metridinidae, Cheiragonidae, Euphausiidae, Temoridae, Tubulariidae, Sergestidae, Calanidae, Pasiphaeidae, Galatheidae, Beroidae, Spinocalanidae, Heterorhabdidae, Oithonidae, Paraphronimidae, Tomopteridae, Euchaetidae, Varunidae, Caligidae, Lithodidae, Alpheidae, Hydrobiidae, Pontellidae, Aeginidae, Corophiidae, Metridiidae, Centropagidae, Clausidiidae, Epialtidae, Harpacticidae, Aetideidae, Corymorphidae, Acartiidae, Tortanidae, Phrosinidae, Paracalanidae, Littorinidae, Corycaeidae, Scolecitrichidae, Tiaropsidae, Noctilucaceae, Fritillariidae, Eucalanidae, Pandalidae, Diphyidae, Mysidae, Oregoniidae, Cyphocarididae, Oncaeidae, Rhopalonematidae, Agalmatidae, Longipediidae, Pandeidae, Calliopiidae, Idoteidae, Crangonidae, Aequoreidae, Laodiceidae, Tegastidae, Phyllodocidae, Cuninidae, Caprellidae, Porcellanidae, Munididae, Salpidae, Syngnathidae, Upogebiidae, Callianassidae, Rathkeidae, Bougainvilliidae |
Temporal Coverage
Start Date / End Date | 2014-03-25 / 2022-12-19 |
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Project Data
Zooplankton are the cornerstone of pelagic food webs. They serve as indicators of ecosystem function and provide an effective means of monitoring ecosystem changes to better understand how physical stressors, both man-made and natural, affect marine waters. As such, monitoring changes in zooplankton communities can provide crucial insight needed to diagnose ecosystem health, changes in production, and fisheries. This program was designed to assist efforts in 1) understanding how changes in the local vs oceanic physical environment translate up the food web in Puget Sound, 2) measuring how the prey of salmon and other fishes varies spatio-temporally and correlates with fish survival, and 3) providing improved forecasting tools and guidance towards management decisions to set harvest expectations and optimize recovery strategies. In brief, this program is a collaborative effort among multiple tribes, agencies, and organizations to sample zooplankton throughout Puget Sound and adjacent northern waters (Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands). The University of Washington oversees the collections, analyzes the samples, and openly provides data to stakeholders for use in science and management. Sampling occurs bi-weekly or monthly during the productive March-October period, and monthly through winter at some stations, and consists of two different protocols—a vertical tow of a ring net and an oblique tow of a bongo net. Sampling locations were chosen to represent large-scale, regional variability among the basins of Puget Sound. Field protocols appropriate to the program were developed in consultation with zooplankton experts from Canada, Washington, and Oregon. In the laboratory, zooplankton are resolved to species or lowest taxonomic level possible; life stage, abundance, and biomass data are recorded.
Title | Puget Sound Zooplankton Monitoring Program |
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Identifier | PSZMP |
Funding | This monitoring program has been generously supported by (in alphabetical order) Environmental Protection Agency, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, King County, Kwiáht- Center for Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea, Long Live the Kings, Lummi Nation, National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Stillaguamish Tribe, Tulalip Tribes, University of Washington, Washington Department of Ecology, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. |
Study Area Description | Puget Sound is a large fjordal system composed of oceanographically-distinct, glacially-carved basins separated by shallow sills. The system is estuarine, fed by seasonal river discharge from 14 major rivers and connected to the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The climate of the region is affected by large-scale influences such as global warming, ocean acidification, El Niño events, and shifts in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and by local variation in rain and snowfall. Important macrofauna in Puget Sound includes salmon, forage fishes, benthic invertebrates (including economically valuable species like Dungeness crabs, Pacific oysters, geoducks), seabirds, and marine mammals (harbor seals, harbor porpoises, southern resident orca whales). Zooplankton are linked directly or indirectly to all of these invertebrate and vertebrate groups through the Puget Sound food web. Puget Sound and the species which inhabit its waters provide commercial, recreational, and cultural value to Pacific Northwesterners. Millions of dollars are invested in restoring and protecting Puget Sound’s ecosystem function and health. Long-term monitoring of zooplankton communities in Puget Sound will improve assessment of ecosystem function, and provide the foundation for understanding the effects of issues like contaminants, climate variability, and human impact on the Puget Sound food web. |
Design Description | Sampling design for this project was created based on discussions among physical oceanographers, zooplankton ecologists, and salmon/forage fish ecologists (Keister and Winans 2013). The sampling locations chosen are 1) representative of broad regions within each Puget Sound basin and 2) representative of foraging areas for planktivorous fish. Locations to sample using vertical nets as “Ecosystem Indicators” were chosen at deep locations within each region to avoid sampling micro-habitats that are common nearshore. River mouths and other localized features were avoided. In the first two years of sampling (2014-15), oblique tows to capture the “Prey Field Indicators” were conducted at multiple sites within each region, then reduced in 2016 to those that best represented the natural variability in zooplankton populations within each region. Both indicators have been used in other systems to understand how climate variability affects ecosystems and fish survival; indicators developed from both types of sampling have shown strong correlations to fish survival and have helped elucidate the mechanisms by which climate variability affects fish populations. The program currently includes sampling throughout Puget Sound and adjacent northern waters (Bellingham Bay, San Juan Islands). At most sites, samples are collected every two weeks to capture the high variability within the zooplankton community, and are collected from March through October to represent the spring-summer foraging and growth season for planktivores (particularly juvenile salmon and herring). Sampling groups that have the capability to sample year-round take additional samples monthly in November through February when zooplankton abundances are typically low. Samples are taken during the daytime for practical reasons and to capture juvenile salmon and forage fish foraging patterns. Vertical tows integrate through the water column to capture organisms that exhibit diel vertical migration whereas oblique tows sample the upper 30 m where juvenile salmon primarily feed. |
The personnel involved in the project:
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Sampling Methods
Sampling for zooplankton is conducted at regular stations visited by project partners using a common methodology. Two net tows are carried out at each station: a 60-cm diameter ring net (200 µm mesh) towed vertically from 5 m off the bottom (or a maximum of 200 m depth) to the surface; and a 60-cm diameter bongo net (335 µm mesh) towed obliquely through the top 30 m of the water column. The target sampling frequency ranges from biweekly to monthly depending on the station and other considerations. Sampling is conducted during daytime. Project partners that have collected samples include the Environmental Protection Agency, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, King County, Kwiáht, Lummi Nation, Nisqually Indian Tribe, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, Stillaguamish Tribe, Tulalip Tribes, Washington Department of Ecology, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. In the laboratory at the University of Washington, zooplankton are quantitatively subsampled and microscopically counted. All individuals are identified to species or larger taxonomic grouping, and by sex and life stages whenever possible, within each sample.
Study Extent | Zooplankton monitoring carried out in Salish Sea basins in Washington State, USA, throughout Puget Sound (Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, Central Basin, Whidbey Basin, South Sound) and in Northern Washington (Bellingham Bay, San Juan Islands). Sampling has been conducted at 16 sites: Dana Passage, South Ketron/Solo Point, Admiralty Inlet, Point Jefferson, Point Williams, East Passage, North Hope Island, Watmough Bay, Cowlitz, Thorndyke Bay, North Saratoga Passage, Camano Head, Mukilteo, Eliza Island, Eldon and Sisters Point. Sampling started in March 2014 and is ongoing, with a target frequency that ranges from biweekly to monthly depending on the station and other considerations. Water column depths at the stations range from 10 to 275 m. Vertical water-column tows span from the surface to within 5 m off bottom, to a maximum depth of 200 m. Oblique tows span from the surface to approximately 30 m depth. |
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Quality Control | Samples with "low" collection quality or "poor" sample quality are excluded from the published dataset. These ratings are based on flow meter readings, tow angles, tow depths, tow profiles, phytoplankton clogging, and various other errors that can occur. |
Method step description:
- The starting point data file for OBIS Darwin Core alignment was an Excel file provided by staff from the Principal Investigator's lab at the University of Washington. This file was exported from the UW lab’s internal database. It is in the same format and contains the same information as the Excel file that is publicly distributed on the King County PSZMP webpage, https://green2.kingcounty.gov/ScienceLibrary/Document.aspx?ArticleID=556. However, the file used involved updates and corrections applied by lab staff based on questions arising during the initial OBIS alignment work. All processing steps starting from the source Excel file are explicitly encoded in the Jupyter notebooks used to carry out the alignment, written in Python; this code, including additional documentation, is available at https://github.com/nanoos-pnw/obis-pszmp.
Bibliographic Citations
- Fisher, J., D. Kimmel, T. Ross, S. Batten, E. Bjorkstedt, M. Galbraith, K. Jacobson, J. Keister, A. Sastri, K. Suchy, S. Zeman, and I. Perry. 2020. Copepod responses to, and recovery from, the recent marine heatwave in the Northeast Pacific. PICES Press vol. 28(1): 65-70.
- Greene, C., B. Curry, J. Newton, J. Keister, I. Kemp, D. Beauchamp, E. Lessard, K. Stark, and G. Hannach. 2019. Linking environmental and biotic variation to growth and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon in Puget Sound. SSMSP Technical Report. Available at: https://marinesurvivalproject.com/resources.
- Hiltunen, M., U. Strandberg, A.K. Winans, D.A. Beauchamp, M. Kotila, M.T. Brett, and J.E. Keister. Taxonomic, temporal, and spatial variation in zooplankton fatty acid composition in Puget Sound, WA, USA. Estuaries and Coasts: doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-00973-8.
- Keister, J.E. and A.K. Winans. 2013. Zooplankton Sampling Protocol. A procedural guide to developing zooplankton monitoring programs in the Salish Sea. 9 pp. Available at: http://faculty.washington.edu/jkeister/jk_outreach.php.
- Keister, J.E., Herrmann, B., Bos, J. 2022. Zooplankton composition links to climate and salmon survival in a northern temperate fjord. Limnology and Oceanography 9999, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12208.
- Khangaonkar, T., A. Nugraha, L. Premathilake, J.E. Keister, and A. Borde. 2020. Projections of algae, eelgrass, and zooplankton ecological interactions in the inner Salish Sea – for future climate, and altered oceanic states. Ecol. Modell. 441: 109420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109420.
- Khangaonkar, T., A. Nugraha, S. K. Yun, L. Premathilake, J.E. Keister, and J. Bos. 2021. Propagation of the 2014–2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave through the Salish Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.787604.
- Suchy, K.D., E. Olson, S.E. Allen, M. Galbraith, B. Herrmann, J.E. Keister, R.I. Perry, A.R. Sastri, and K. Young. 2023. Seasonal and regional variability of model-based zooplankton biomass in the Salish Sea and evaluation against observations. Progress in Oceanography, 219, 103171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103171.
- Winans, A. K., B. Herrmann, and J. E. Keister. 2023. Spatio-temporal variation in zooplankton community composition in the southern Salish Sea: changes during the 2015-2016 Pacific marine heatwave. Progress in Oceanography, 214, 103022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103022.
Additional Metadata
The publication of this dataset in OBIS was supported by the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS, https://www.nanoos.org), the Regional Association of the national US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS, https://ioos.noaa.gov) for the US Pacific Northwest.
Acknowledgements | We are grateful to the community who contributed to the conception and development of this monitoring program, to the sample and data collections teams that enabled the generation of this dataset, and several agencies for its fundings. This monitoring program has been generously supported by (in alphabetical order) Environmental Protection Agency, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, King County, Kwiáht- Center for Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea, Long Live the Kings, Lummi Nation, National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Stillaguamish Tribe, Tulalip Tribes, University of Washington, Washington Department of Ecology, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. |
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Alternative Identifiers | 980a91f0-0752-4b60-a68a-42ed670eaae3 |
https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=pszmp-zoop |