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Response of microalgae size-class structure to nutrients differences in northern Yellow Sea, China

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Abstract

Marine phytoplankton size-class structure affects ecological functions and shellfish culture. We use high-throughput sequencing and size-fractioned grading techniques to identify and analyze responses of phytoplankton differences in environmental variables at Donggang, northern Yellow Sea (high inorganic nitrogen (DIN)) and Changhai (low DIN) for 2021. The main environmental variables that correlate with differences in the proportional contributions of pico-, nano-, and microphytoplankton to the total phytoplankton community are inorganic phosphorus (DIP), nitrite to inorganic nitrogen ratio (NO2/dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN)), and ammonia nitrogen to inorganic nitrogen ratio (NH4/DIN), respectively. DIN, which contributes most to environmental differences, mainly positively correlates with changes in picophytoplankton biomass in high DIN waters. Nitrite (NO2) correlates mostly with changes in the proportional contribution of microphytoplankton in high DIN waters and nanophytoplankton in low DIN waters, and negatively correlates with changes in the biomass and proportional representation of microphytoplankton in low DIN waters. For near-shore phosphorus-limited waters, an increase in DIN may increase total microalgal biomass, but proportions of microphytoplankton may not increase; for high DIN waters, an increase in DIP may increase proportions of microphytoplankton, while for low DIN waters, an increase in DIP may preferentially increase proportions of picophytoplankton and nanophytoplankton. Picophytoplankton contributed little to the growth of two commercially cultured filter-feeding shellfish, Ruditapes philippinarum and Mizuhopecten yessoensis.

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Data availability

The datasets used in the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues for their assistance in collecting samples and Steve O’Shea, PhD, from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by The applied basic research plan of Liaoning Province, China (2022JH2/101300176); Liaoning Province Marine Economy Development Project, China; National Key Research and Development Program, China (2018YFD0901604); Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System, China (CARS-49).

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  1. Lun Song and Yin Liu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for the Conservation and Utilization of Aquatic Germplasm Resources, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute, Dalian, 116023, China

    Lun Song, Guangjun Song & Jinhao Wu

  2. College of Fisheries and Life Science, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China

    Yin Liu & Suxuan Liu

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  1. Lun Song
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  2. Yin Liu
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Contributions

Lun Song: conceptualization; funding acquisition, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Yin Liu: conceptualization, software, writing—review and editing. Guangjun Song: data curation, investigation. Jinhao Wu: project administration, methodology. Suxuan Liu: validation, supervision. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lun Song.

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Song, L., Liu, Y., Song, G. et al. Response of microalgae size-class structure to nutrients differences in northern Yellow Sea, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 85330–85343 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28363-6

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