Tiny spatial shifts reshape coastal zooplankton communities in the Baltic Sea
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Date: July 17, 2026
Uppsala, Sweden: A new open-access study published in Biological Diversity uncovers critical fine-scale spatial heterogeneity of mesozooplankton across three brackish bays of the Central and Eastern Baltic Sea, overturning the longstanding monitoring assumption that plankton communities remain spatially uniform over coastal waters. Led by Neele Schmidt and Amanda Adam Jansson from Uppsala University, the research highlights salinity and temperature as core environmental drivers shaping distinct zooplankton assemblages both between separate bays and within individual embayments at sub-kilometre scales.
The team surveyed Baggensfjärden, Kappelshamnsviken and Tvären in June 2022, deploying a 100 μm WP2 closing net to collect vertically integrated mesozooplankton samples (>200 μm) at three replicate stations per bay. Hydrographic profiles of temperature and salinity were captured via multiparameter probes at each bay’s deepest site, while lab processing split preserved samples for taxonomic identification and standardized abundance counting per cubic metre. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) with Bray–Curtis dissimilarity and vegan-based diversity metrics were applied to compare community structures across spatial gradients.
Clear inter-bay community separation emerged tied to salinity gradients. Kappelshamnsviken, the most marine bay with deep-water salinity up to 9, hosted high densities of calanoid copepods Pseudocalanus sp. and Temora sp., alongside the highest Shannon–Wiener diversity and evenness values. In contrast, lower-salinity Tvären and Baggensfjärden were dominated by rotifers; Tvären recorded the highest total zooplankton abundance (46,241 ± 25,941 ind/m³) yet lowest community evenness, with one taxon overwhelmingly dominant.
Strikingly, distinct mesozooplankton assemblages formed within less than 1 km inside single bays, driven by temperature and depth stratification. Deeper sites favoured Pseudocalanus sp., while shallow zones held cyclopoid copepods and branchiopods. Kappelshamnsviken exhibited stronger within-bay variability due to open-sea water exchange and steep depth gradients, unlike the more sheltered, homogeneous Tvären and Baggensfjärden.
These findings carry direct implications for Baltic fisheries and coastal conservation. Copepod-rich bays support herring and sprat populations, while rotifer-dominated embayments favour sticklebacks. As zooplankton act as sensitive bioindicators of eutrophication and climate change, the study stresses that sparse, single-site sampling risks overlooking vital ecological niches. Aligned with the Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) framework, the authors urge coastal monitoring programmes to adopt multi-station, fine-scale sampling designs to accurately capture full zooplankton community variation.
Limited to early-summer mesozooplankton snapshots, the work calls for expanded seasonal sampling and broader environmental variable tracking to generalise spatial patterns across the full Baltic annual cycle.
Mesozooplankton assemblages differed significantly both between and within Baltic Sea bays, driven mainly by local salinity and temperature gradients. Distinct communities occurred over distances of less than 1 km, demonstrating strong fine-scale spatial variability. These findings show that coastal monitoring programs require multiple sampling sites at fine spatial scales to accurately capture environmental heterogeneity and associated plankton assemblages.
Credit
Neele Schmidt, and Amanda Adam Jansson
Journal
Biological Diversity
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Between and Within Bay Differences in Mesozooplankton Assemblages in the Central and Eastern Baltic Sea: An Exploratory Study
Article Publication Date
15-Jul-2026
COI Statement
Ethics Statement: The authors have nothing to report. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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