Optical control of fish and zooplankton populations

• DOI: 10.4319/lo.2004.49.1.0233
• Publication Date: 2010-07-01T22:14:39Z
• Authors: Dag L. Aksnes; Jens Nejstgaard; Eivind Sædberg; Tom Sørnes
• Keywords: Juvenile fish

Aquatic food webs are affected from the bottom up by light through its effect on photosynthesis and productivity. But also has a top‐down effect, because it is crucial for visual foraging efficiency in many fish. Here we present data suggesting that marine pelagic primarily structured vision For light‐limited fjord ecosystems, show abundance of zooplanktivorous fish proportional to vertical extension feeding habitat, represented inverse absorbance coefficient water column. We both zooplankton body size vision‐protected habitat can be defined as dimensionless product depth Natural human‐driven environmental change may involve alterations amount surface radiation well optical properties Our results imply such changes likely affect aquatic bottom‐up photosynthesis.