Studies on long-term variation of ocean ecosystem/climate interactions based on
the Odate collection: Outline of the Odate Project
By Hiroya Sugisaki
Recently, long-term variations and trends of global climate
have been identified as serious problems affecting thebiosphere, especially global warming problem. The ocean
is thought to play an important role by absorbing carbon
dioxide (the most serious greenhouse gas) through various
biological processes. Phytoplankton synthesize carbon
dioxide in the surface layer and are mainly consumed byzooplankton. The subsequent destination of the carbon,
however, depends on the species and ecology of thezooplankton.
Small zooplankton distributing in theshallow layer produce small fecal pellets, and they areusually degraded in the shallow layer. Therefore carbon
dioxide is recycled within the sea/atmosphere interface
layer of the ocean, and can potentially return to theatmosphere. On the other hand, large zooplankton produce
large fecal pellets. Most of their bodies and feces quickly
sink into the deep layer. Large plankton are also
selectively consumed by large predators, such as fish andwhales. These predators can swim extensively bothhorizontally and vertically, and their bodies sink to thedeep layer rapidly after their death. Through theseprocesses, inter-specific relationships affect the ocean
ability to absorb carbon dioxide and transport it into thedeep layer. In order to monitor the relationships between
climate change and biological processes, extensive
zooplankton samples which have been collected over along-time period are necessary, however such zooplankton
collections are quite rare in the world. In the North

Fig.1

Atlantic Ocean, the CPR (Continuous Plankton Recorder)
project has been carried out since 1946 (sample numbers
are over 170,000), and precise atlases, including
phytoplankton, are already published (Edinburgh
Oceanographic Laboratory 1973; CPR Survey Team 2004).
In the eastern North Pacific, the CalCOFI (California
Cooperative Ocean Fisheries Investigations) project hascontinued since 1950. The original purpose of this projectis to study the condition of the fishing grounds, and morethan 60,000 samples of zooplankton were collected. Theatlases of this dataset have been published since 1963, andthe latest is No. 35 (Moser et al. 2002). Using theseplankton samples, various works on long-term variabilityof zooplankton ecology have been published (e.g.,Roemich and McGowan 1995; Edwards and Richardson
2004; Richardson and Schoeman 2004). In the western
North Pacific, on the contrary, there are very few
zooplankton sample sets collected systematically over along period of time besides the Odate collection.
What is the Odate collection?
The Odate collection is a set of more than 20,000 formalinepreserved zooplankton samples which are stocked at theTohoku National Fisheries Research Institute (Japan).
These samples were collected extensively over the western
North Pacific since 1950 (Fig. 1). The Odate collection
samples were mainly collected from along fixed sampling

Location of sampling stations of the Odate collection.

lines for the purpose of routine monitoring of prey
abundance in fisheries grounds and oceanic environment
by national or prefecture institutes in northeastern Japan.
Samples were usually collected either monthly orseasonally. Sampling gear used were conical standard
plankton net systems called marutoku net and Norpac net.
Both of them have 45 cm diameter and 0.33 mm mesh size.
The net was towed vertically from 150 m depth layer to thesurface.
Long-term variation of biomass (total wet weight) of thissample set was analyzed by Dr. Kazuko Odate, formerly of
the Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, from the1950s to the early 1990s, and this sample set is called theOdate collection. Decadal oscillations of zooplankton
biomass (wet weight) were clearly observed by Dr. Odate(Fig. 2). Most of these samples are still available foridentification of species, because the preserved condition isfairly good. Therefore, we planned a research project reinvestigating zooplankton species composition in order toanalyze long-term variation of the oceanic ecosystem andmechanisms of ecosystem variation affected by climate
shift using the Odate collection.

Fig. 2Long-term variation of zooplankton biomasscollected in the Oyashio region; revised fromOdate (1994).

Fig. 3(Top) Long-term variations of abundance of total
copepods and their species diversity (ShanonWienner’s diversity index, H') during summer
season (June-Aug); (Bottom) Long-term variationof dominance ratio of 4 dominant species(Eucalanus bungi, Metridia pacifica, Neocalanus
plumchrus and Pseudocalanus newmani).

Species composition analysis
Information from the total wet weight of zooplankton is not
sufficient to assess the biological processes occurring in theoceanic ecosystem. From the total biomass we cannot
deduce what has happened in the oceanic ecosystem in
relation to climate change. It is probable that the effect of
the climate shift is different between warm-water species,and cold-water species, between large and small species,
and between gelatinous and crustacean species, etc. In thestudy area of the Odate collection, there are both cold
current (Oyashio) and warm current (Kuroshio) systems,
and therefore the species composition shows large
variation. So, it is necessary to analyze the species
composition of the zooplankton. During the species
identification procedure, copepods have been sorted out
and identified into species using the latest information on
copepod classification. Classification has been conductedby Dr. Hiroshi Itoh (Suidosha Co. Ltd.). Adults and larvaeof all species were distinguished. Besides, copepodite
larval stages (I-V) of dominant copepods in the Oyashio
region (Neocalanus, Eucalanus, Calanus and Metridiaspecies) were precisely identified. The total number of
each classified species and life stage category werecalculated.
What has happened to the zooplankton community in thesecond half of the 20th century?
The study area was divided into three regions according toOdate (1994): the Oyashio cold current region (watertemperature at 100 m depth <5ºC), the Kuroshio warm
current region (water temperature at 100 m depth >15ºC),
and the Kuroshio-Oyashio mixed region (5ºC< watertemperature at 100 m depth <15ºC). Here, we briefly
introduce a preliminary report on the long-term variabilityof the copepod composition collected in the Oyashio region
as an example of this study, because the species
identification analysis for this area has been completed.
Odate (1994) reported that in the Oyashio region, thespecies composition is relatively simple compared with theother sea areas, and the zooplankton biomass is high andtheir long-term variation was clearly observed. In thisstudy, 1527 samples collected from 1960 to 2002 in theOyashio region have been investigated and 206 species ofcopepods detected. Over the 40-year period, the five mostdominant species were Eucalanus bungii, Metridia
pacifica, Neocalanus plumchrus, Pseudocalanus newmani,
Oithona similis, and they dominated more than 70% of thetotal abundance of copepods. The long-term variability ofspecies diversity and total abundance were clearlyobserved. It seems that there are decadal oscillations withhigh diversity and low abundance of total copepods during
the 1980s (Fig. 3a). Decadal variation is also observed in
the abundance of each dominant copepod. During the1980s, Metridia pacifica was dominant, while theabundance of Neocalanus plumchrus was low compared toother decades (Fig. 3b). The abundance of most of thesespecies clearly shows decadal oscillations. The abundanceof some species was high during the 1980s and some werelow. The depression of some dominant species, such as
Neocalanus plumchrus, might be a factor leading to the low
abundance and high species diversity during the 1980s.
We are now analyzing the mechanisms of this long-term
variation of the copepod community. We especially wish
to examine the effects of climate oscillation, top-down
control and tidal oscillation. As for climate oscillation, thetiming of shifts of well-known climate oscillations, e.g.,
PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) or AO (ArcticOscillation), seemed to roughly match with the timing of
the phase change of zooplankton abundances. Dr. Sanae
Chiba (project member) suggested the hypothesis that cold
winters and hot summers during the 1980s led to the shortproductive season for some dominant cold-water species(Chiba, 2005). As for top-down control, Dr. Kazuaki
Tadokoro (project member) reported that the feedingpressure of Japanese sardine on Neocalanus species had
been high during the 1980s. During that time, stock size ofJapanese sardine off the Pacific side of Japan was
estimated at over 15 million metric tons (estimated stock
size in 2004 was only 110 thousand tons). Since sardine
prey on Neocalanus copepods efficiently, high feedingpressure on Neocalanus by sardine might have occurred
during the 1980s. Tadokoro et. al. (2005) estimated thatJapanese sardine could consume 32-138% of the dailyproduction of Neocalanus species during summer off thenorthern part of Japan. This top-down control may explain
the reason of depression of the abundance of Neocalanus.
Dr. Ichiro Yasuda (project member) has been doing
research on the basin scale physical oceanographicalmechanism in relation to the abundance of zooplankton(Yasuda, 2005). The 18.6-year cycle oscillation of theearth axis induces an oscillation in the strength of tidal
mixing. This tidal cycle causes an intrusion of Okhotsk
water into the Oyashio region, and this physicaloceanographical variation is thought to be related to thebiological variation. The strong intrusion of low-nutrient
water from the Okhostk region may cause the low primary
production and low abundance of large copepods such as
Neocalanus species.
Consequently, long-term variability of the copepod
community is clearly observed from this research ofspecies composition data set. Details of the mechanism of
the long-term variation of the copepods community inrelation to physical and biological effects will be publishedby the members of this project elsewhere.

Work in progress
Now we are analyzing the species composition of morethan 3000 samples from the Odate collection sampled in
the Oyashio-Kuroshio mixed region and the Kuroshio
Extension area. These areas are warmer than the Oyashio
region, so species diversity is much higher.
Themechanism of long-term variation in the plankton
community will be examined in detail (especially the trendsof global warming, climate oscillation, tidal oscillation,
predation by sardine, etc.) as well as that of the Oyashio
region. The mechanism of long-term variation of oceanic
zooplankton communities of both subarctic and subtropicalcurrent systems in the western North Pacific will besynthetically examined.
The database of the species composition made by thisproject (more than 5000 samples collected from 1960-2002
in the western North Pacific) will be open to the publicthrough the internet site after all species identification iscompleted. We hope that this data set will be useful for
research on the global ecosystem as a resource available toall.
Importance of continuous field monitoring research
There are still a large amount of zooplankton samples anddatasets that have been kept unused in various institutes inJapan, because they were collected for temporal purposes,e.g., the condition of fishery grounds or environment
factors at that time. On the other hand, as interest in theinformation of long-term variation of the ocean ecosystem
becomes stronger because we need to estimate the effectsof long-term climate change such as regime shift andglobal warming effect, we have to accumulate ecological
data of the ocean over a long period.
50 years’accumulation of the Odate data is not enough to research
on a more than 50-year cycle of some fish abundance (e.g.,sardine, herring and so on) or estimate the trend of global
warming to the 22nd century. However, due to competition
from other research with more immediate benefits, it isdifficult to maintain the funding to continue the current
field monitoring research, because instantaneous prominent
results cannot be expected. But we should not quit. We
have to realize the importance of continuous field
monitoring research for the science of the next generation.
References
Chiba, S. (2005) The Odate Project: Phenological change
in the Oyashio copepod communities for 1960-2002.
GLOBEC International Newsletter, 11(1), 11-12.
CPR survey team (2004) Continuous Plankton Records:Plankton atlas of the North Atlantic Ocean (19581999). II. Biogeographical charts. Mar. Ecol. Prog.
Ser. Supple. 11-75.

Edinburgh Oceanographic Laboratory (1973) ContinuousPlankton Records: A plankton atlas of the North
Atlantic and the North Sea. Bull. Mar. Ecol., 7, 1-174.
Edwards, M. and Richardson, A. J. (2004) Impact ofclimate change on marine pelagic phenology andtrophic mismatch. Nature, 430, 881-884.
Moser, H. G., R. L. Charter, P. E. Smith, D. A. Ambrose,W. Watson, S. R. Charter, and E. M. Sandknop (2002)
Distributional atlas of fish larvae and eggs from Manta(surface) samples collected on CalCOFI surveys from1977 to 2000. CalCOFI Atlas 35.
Odate, K. (1994) Zooplankton biomass and its long-term
variation in the north Pacific Ocean, Tohoku sea area,
Japan. Bull.Tohoku. Nat. Fish. Res. Inst., 56, 115-173(in Japanese with English abstract).

Richardson, A.J. and Schoeman, D.S. (2004) Climate
impact on plankton ecosystems in the Northeast
Atlantic. Science, 305, 1609-1612.
Roemich, D. and McGowan, J. (1995) Climatic warmingand the decline of zooplankton in the California
Current. Science, 267, 1324-1326.
Tadokoro, K., Chiba, S., Ono, T., Midorikawa, T., andSaino, T. (2005) Interannual variation in Neocalanus
biomass in the Oyashio waters of the western North
Pacific. Fish. Oceanogr., 14, 210-222.
Yasuda, I. (2005) Possible mechanism of bi-decadal North
Pacific ocean/climate variability in relation to the 18.6year period cycle. PICES XIV Abstract Book, 165.

Dr. Hiroya Sugisaki (sugisaki@affrc.go.jp) is a biologicaloceanographer specializing in studies of zooplankton ecology,
particularly in species interaction between zooplankton and fisheryresources. He works at the Tohoku National Fisheries ResearchInstitute of the Japanese Fishery Agency. His current research ison the distribution and feeding habits of micronekton andmacrozooplankton. He is also in charge of more than 20,000
zooplankton samples stocked in his laboratory. Dr. Sugisaki is theleader of the Odate Project supported by the Global Environment
Research Fund of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.

Hokkaido University Fisheries & Oceanographic Database CD-ROM
The Hokkaido University has collaborated closely with theJapan Oceanographic Data Center (JODC) to assemble
close to 50 years of these data in a Long-Term Fisheries
and Oceanographic Data Base (HUFO-DAT). Volume 1
contains hydrographic station data, nutrients, oxygen,
zooplankton wet weight, and chlorophyll-a concentration.
Volume 2, currently in preparation, will include
experimental fishing and associated biological data. To
obtain a copy of HUFO-DAT Vol. 1, please contact one of
the following sources:

Since 1957, Hokkaido University has carried out regularoceanographic and fishery surveys with the fisheries
training vessels Oshoro maru (PICES Press Vol. 9(1): 2528) and Hokusei maru (PICES Press Vol. 10(2): 25-28).
Biological and environmental data collected on thesesurveys are published annually in the “Data Record of
Oceanographic Observations and Exploratory Fishing”.

Working Group for Management and Distribution of Data
on Oceanographic Observation and Exploratory Fishing
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3-1-1, Minato-cho, Hakodate,
Hokkaido, Japan. 041-8611
E-mail: wwwadmin@fish.hokudai.ac.jp
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