8 Zooplankton Abundance Anomalies

Last updated July 23, 2026

Description: Abundance anomalies for 20 zooplankton taxa

Contributor(s): Harvey Walsh, Ryan Morse, Kevin Friedland, Mike Jones

Affiliations: NEFSC

Indicator Family:

• Lower trophic levels

Indicator Category:

• Published Methods
• Extensive analysis, not yet published
• Syntheses of published information
• Database pull with analysis

Synthesis Theme:

• Multiple System Drivers

8.1 Introduction to Indicator

Zooplankton represent a critical trophic link from primary producers to fish in marine ecosystems.

8.2 Key Results and Visualizations

Abundance anomalies of small and large copepods have varied over time by EPU. Small bodied copepods and cnidarians show increasing trends in all EPUs. Large bodied copepods and euphausiids show no significant trend in any EPU.

copepod, Mid-Atlantic

euphausid, Mid-Atlantic

copepod, New England

euphausid, New England

8.3 Implications

Check these. If they are correct, we could be seeing the less energy dense zooplankton becoming more abundant in each system.

8.4 Indicator statistics

Spatial scale: by EPU

Temporal scale: Annual

Variable definitions

8.5 Get the data

Point of contact: Harvey Walsh (harvey.walsh@noaa.gov)

ecodata dataset: ecodata::zoo_abundance_anom

Tech Doc link: https://noaa-edab.github.io/tech-doc/zoo_abundance_anom.html

8.5.1 Public Availability

Source data are NOT publicly available.

8.5.2 Accessibility Constraints

Request from Harvey Walsh, harvey.walsh@noaa.gov