| Zooplankton, chlorophyll a and temperature horizontal distributions were measured at a fixed-depth (2.5 m) epilimnetic transect in Lake Opeongo, Ontario, Canada. Large-scale (>1 km) and coarse-scale (10 m--1 km) spatial patterns were investigated and related to wind. Zooplankton and warm water tended to accumulate downwind and an empirically-derived water-motion model could account for a significant proportion of their variation. Chlorophyll a did not have a large-scale spatial pattern related to wind. Coarse-scale spatial patterns were measured using autocorrelation and spectral analysis. Most of the variability in all three variables was found within larger coarse-scale spatial patterns as shown by spectral density estimates. An index of wind-induced momentum within the epilimnion was not significantly correlated to coarse-scale spatial patterns of zooplankton. I discuss how biological processes can supersede physical processes in the formation of coarse-scale spatial patterns. |
