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Phytoplankton community structure in local water types at a coastal site in north-western Bay of Bengal

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Abstract

A comprehensive analysis on seasonal distribution of phytoplankton community structure and their interaction with environmental variables was carried out in two local water types (type 1 < 30 m isobath and Type 2 > 30 m isobath) at a coastal site in north-western Bay of Bengal. Phytoplankton community was represented by 211 taxa (146 marine, 37 fresh, 2 brackish, 20 marine–fresh, and 6 marine–brackish–fresh) belonging to seven major groups including 45 potential bloom forming and 22 potential toxin producing species. The seasonal variability depicted enrichment of phytoplankton during pre-monsoon in both water types. Total phytoplankton abundance pattern observed with inter-annual shift during monsoon and post-monsoon period at both water types. In both water types, diatom predominance was observed in terms of species richness and abundance comprising of centric (82 sp.) and pennate (58 sp.) forms. Pennate diatoms, Thalassiothrix longissima and Skeletonema costatum preponderated in both the water types. The diatom abundance was higher in type 1 in comparison to type 2. In general, SiO4 found to fuel growth of the dominant phytoplankton group, diatom in both the water types despite comparative lower concentration of other macronutrients in type 2.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported financially by the SATellite Coastal and Oceanographic Research (SATCORE) program coordinated by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). The authors sincerely acknowledge the Director of INCOIS for his support and encouragement. The authors are thankful to Dr. R. Jyothibabu, NIO-RC, Kochi, India for helping in Canonical Correspondence Analysis. We extend our special thanks to research scholars working at Berhampur University under the SATCORE project for assisting with in situ data collection. This is INCOIS contribution No. 260.

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  1. Suchismita Srichandan

    Present address: Wetland Research and Training Centre, Chilika Development Authority, Barkul, Balugaon, Odisha, 752030, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), “Ocean Valley”, Pragathi Nagar (BO), Nizapmpet (SO), Hyderabad, 500090, India

    S.K. Baliarsingh, Aneesh A. Lotliker & T. Srinivasa Kumar

  2. Department of Marine Sciences, Berhampur University, Brahmapur, Odisha, 760007, India

    Suchismita Srichandan & K. C. Sahu

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Baliarsingh, S., Srichandan, S., Lotliker, A.A. et al. Phytoplankton community structure in local water types at a coastal site in north-western Bay of Bengal. Environ Monit Assess 188, 427 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5424-y

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