Zooplankton fecal pellet flaxes and vertical transport of participate organic material in the pelagic environment

Abstract. Fecal pellet fluxes were determined using a series of multireplicate traps set at 35, 65, 150, 500, 750 and 1500 m in the northeast Pacific. Fecal pellets appear to be important contributors to total carbon fluxes. In near-surface waters (35-150 m), pellet fluxes ranged from 2-3 x 103 pellets m~2 day"'. Minimum pdlet fluxes were observ-ed at 5OOm(-vO.4x 105 pellets m~2day~'). In contrast, the 1500 m pellet flux value increased to ap-proximately 0.8 x 105 pellets m"2 day" ' relative to the 500 m depth, and is probably the result of in situ repackaging. Analyses of pellet content suggest multiple sources of "large " particle input throughout the water column. The implications of this phenomenon are discussed in terms of the detrital rain and ladder of migration theories