The North Balearic Front as an ecological boundary: zooplankton fine-scale distribution patterns in late spring

Observations, models and theory have suggested that ocean fronts are ecological hotspots, generally associated with higher diversity and biomass across many trophic levels. Nutrient injections are often associated with higher chlorophyll concentrations at fronts, but the response of the zooplankton community is still insufficiently understood. The present study investigates mesozooplankton stocks and composition during late spring, northeast of Menorca, along two north-south transects that crossed the North Balearic Front separating central waters of the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea gyre from peripheral waters originating from the Algerian basin. During the BioSWOT-Med campaign, vertical triple-net tows with 200 and 500 µm meshes were carried out at three depths (100, 200, and 400 m), and the samples were processed with ZooScan to classify organisms into eight taxonomic groups. Zooplankton distributions were analyzed for the surface layer (0–100 m), a mid-depth layer (100–200 m), and a deeper layer (200–400 m). The results did not show a significant increase in biomass in the front in any layers. The NBF appears to act as a boundary between communities rather than a pronounced area of active or passive zooplankton accumulation. Analyses of stratified vertical distributions of zooplankton highlighted distinct taxonomic compositions in the three layers, and a progressive homogenization of community structure with depth, reflecting a weaker impact of hydrological processes on deeper communities. The clearest impact of the front was within the upper 100 m, where the mesozooplanktonic taxonomic composition differed between the front and adjacent water masses, with a decrease in all taxonomic groups except Cnidaria, which increased dramatically. In the two deeper layers, the front also influenced community composition, although to a lesser extent, with marked increases in Foraminifera and Cnidaria. Moreover, the northern water mass and the front were dominated by large copepods, while the southern water mass exhibited higher zooplankton diversity and smaller-sized copepods. The results of this study highlight the complexity of processes shaping planktonic communities over time and space in the NBF zone and its adjacent waters. These processes include zooplankton stock reduction in the transitional post-bloom period, marked effect of diel variation linked to vertical migrations, and potentially the impact of storm-related mixing in the surface layer that can disrupt established ecological patterns.