The Eddy Jumbo and the Zooplankton Community
Generally, zooplankton organisms respond rapidly to
environmental changes due to their short life cycles. Here, we analyzed
the potential influence of the warm eddy Jumbo, released from the Loop
Current, over the zooplankton structure of the western Gulf of Mexico.
We hypothesized that the arrival of Jumbo in would result in a shift of
the zooplankton composition. Through the analysis of three sampling
periods (summer, fall, and winter) and seasonal variations of 14
zooplankton groups, we concluded that the zooplankton community follow
their natural seasonal dynamics showing high resilience to eventual
hydrographic phenomena, such as anticyclonic eddies.

Trajectories of the eddies Icarus (black circle) and Jumbo (red circle)
between 2011-2013 in the Gulf of Mexico. Images taken and modified from
an animation from the Copernicus (2024) website.
Read the full article, published by Zoological
Studies, here
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