Deep-water larval fish and zooplankton utilize structurally complex, cold-water coral and sponge (CWCS) habitats as refuges, nurseries and feeding grounds. Fine-scale sampling of these habitats for larval fish and zooplankton has proven difficult. This study implemented a newly designed, autonomous, noninvasive plankton pump sampler that collected large mesozooplankton within 1 m of the seafloor. It was successfully deployed in the western Gulf of Alaska between the Shumagin Islands (~158°W) and Samalga Pass (−170°W), and collected in situ zooplankton from diverse benthic communities (coral, sponge and bare substrates) at depths in excess of 100 m. Key design parameters of the plankton pump were its ability to be deployed from ships of opportunity, be untethered from the vessel during sampling and be deployed and retrieved in high-relief, rocky areas where CWCS are typically present. The plankton pump remains stationary while collecting from the water column, rests within 1 m of the seafloor and captures images of the surrounding habitat and substrate. This plankton pump design is a low-cost, highly portable solution for assessing the role of benthic habitat in the life cycle of mesozooplankton, a linkage that has been relatively underexplored due to the difficulty in obtaining near-bottom samples.

中文翻译：

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一种使用自主深水浮游生物泵对阿拉斯加湾不同生境的底栖浮游动物群落进行采样的新颖设计

深水幼虫鱼和浮游动物利用结构复杂的冷水珊瑚和海绵（CWCS）栖息地作为避难所，苗圃和觅食场。事实证明，很难对这些生境进行细小取样，以捕捞幼鱼和浮游动物。这项研究实施了一种新设计的，自主的，非侵入式的浮游生物泵采样器，该采样器在海底1 m内收集了大型中浮游动物。它已成功部署在阿拉斯加湾西部的Shumagin群岛（〜158°W）和Samalga Pass（−170°W）之间，并就地收集来自不同底栖生物（珊瑚，海绵和裸露底物）的浮游动物，深度超过100 m。浮游生物泵的关键设计参数是它的能力，它可以从机会船中部署，在采样过程中不受船只束缚，并可以在通常存在CWCS的高起伏多岩石地区中进行部署和回收。浮游生物泵在从水柱中收集时保持静止，停靠在海底1 m以内，并捕获周围栖息地和底物的图像。这种浮游生物泵的设计是一种低成本，轻便的解决方案，用于评估底栖生物在中层浮游生物生命周期中的作用，由于难以获得近乎底部的样本，这种联系相对未被充分研究。