Changes in the southern Caspian zooplankton before and after the invasion of the comb jelly

Southern of the Caspian Sea has the most native species of zooplankton community with some ofthem have introduced into the ecosystem. In recent years, the comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi, agelatinous creature from the Black Sea was introduced to the Caspian Sea via the ballast water ofthe ships. It's a carnivore and feeds on zooplankton. Prior to the arrival of the comb jelly, 36-47species of zooplankton lived in the sea with the arrival of non-native comb and fed on zooplanktonspecies now as it was decreased to 22-19 species. M. leidyi not only effected on zooplanktonspecies composition, but also impacted on zooplankton abundance and biomass. The rapid decreasein zooplankton species composition in the early years of the invasion in 2000-2010, caused a 2-5fold The rapid decrease in zooplankton species composition in the early years of this creature in 90-1380, density and biomass decreased 5-2 fold decreased in abundance and biomass compared to theyears before the comb jelly. Mean abundance of zooplankton decreased from 8402 to 33,213ind.m3 in 1996 (before the comb jelly invasion) to 397-22088 ind.m3 after the years of 2001-2010,meantime the biomass was 164-389 mg.m3 (in 1996) which reduced sharply after the M. leidyiinvasion.

کلیدواژه ها:

Mnemiopsis leidyi ، zooplankton ، feeding ، Caspian Sea