Many migratory fishes reproduce and recruit around the Kuroshio, and their survival of early life stages is supported by mesozooplankton. Mesozooplankton standing stocks and productivity equivalent to those on the continental shelf have been found in the Kuroshio; however, there is limited information on trophic sources and linkages to support the mesozooplankton community. Here, we evaluate mesozooplankton feeding on protists and their trophodynamics importance by removal bottle experiments in the Kuroshio of the East China (ECS‐Kuroshio). Pico‐ and nano‐autotrophs dominated chlorophyll a concentrations throughout the study sites across the continental shelf, within the Kuroshio path and in adjacent waters. Calanoid and poecilostomatoid copepods comprised more than 85% of mesozooplankton biomass. Significant mesozooplankton ingestion rates were found for nano‐autotrophs based on size‐fractionated chlorophyll; for haptophytes, chrysophytes, chlorophytes, and diatoms from pigment‐based phytoplankton analysis; and for naked ciliates in the microzooplankton. Based on the estimates of individual carbon budgets, nano‐autotrophs and naked ciliates ingested by mesozooplankton composed 39% of their food requirements, suggesting other available prey like nano‐heterotrophs. These results imply that mesozooplankton ingestion in the ECS‐Kuroshio has great impacts on protozoan and phytoplankton communities and their major trophic pathways are from nano‐sized auto‐ and heterotrophs and ciliates to copepods.

中文翻译：

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营养来源和联系，以支持东海黑潮的中层浮游动物群落

黑潮附近有许多迁徙鱼类繁殖和吸收，中生浮游生物支持它们的早期生存。在黑潮中发现了中型浮游生物的常设种群和与大陆架相同的生产力。但是，关于营养来源和联系的信息有限，无法支持中层浮游生物群落。在这里，我们通过在华东地区黑潮（ECS-Kuroshio）进行的去除瓶实验，评估了以原生生物为食的中生浮游动物及其营养动力学的重要性。微型和自养生物主导叶绿素a整个大陆架，黑潮小径内及邻近水域的整个研究地点的浓度。蓝藻和足类co足类足me占中生浮游生物生物量的85％以上。根据大小自分的叶绿素，发现纳米自养生物的中生浮游动物的摄取率很高。用于基于色素的浮游植物分析中的触藻，温石藻，绿藻和硅藻；在微浮游动物中裸露纤毛。根据个体碳预算的估算，中生浮游动物摄入的纳米自养生物和裸纤毛虫占其食物需求的39％，这表明其他可用的猎物，例如纳米异养生物。