(1) Determine the grazing pressure of zooplankton on phytoplankton in the North Sea, in coastal zones and in the open sea.
(2) Develop, calibrate and validate, in relation with the residual circulation system, a digital model of the pelagic ecosystem describing the exportation of organic matter of phytoplanktonic origin via zooplanktonic grazing.
In these studies, emphasis will be placed on non-copepod zooplanktonic groups, such as protozoan and gelatinous zooplankton, which manage in an important but still little-understood manner the planktonic marine trophic networks (meroplankton microbial loop, etc.). The experimental measurements will use HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) techniques which allow one to detect the specific nutrition of the zooplankton.
