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Relationship between bacteria and phytoplankton during the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai bloom in an oligotrophic temperate marine ecosystem

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Abstract

Bacterial abundance, phytoplankton community structure and environmental parameters were investigated to study the relationships between bacteria and phytoplankton during giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai blooms in the central Yellow Sea during 2013. N. nomurai appeared in June, increased in August, reached a peak and began to degrade in September 2013. Results showed that phosphate was possible a key nutrient for both phytoplankton and bacteria in June, but it changed to nitrate in August and September. Phytoplankton composition significantly changed that pico-phytoplankton relative biomass significantly increased, whereas other size phytoplankton significantly decreased during jellyfish bloom. In June, a significantly positive correlation was observed between chlorophyll a concentration and bacterial abundance (r=0.67, P<0.001, n=34). During jellyfish outbreak in August, there was no significant correlation between phytoplankton and bacteria (r=0.11, P>0.05, n=25), but the relationship (r=0.71, P<0.001, n=31) was rebuilt with jellyfish degradation in September. In August, small size phytoplankton occupied the mixed layer in offshore stations, while bacteria almost distributed evenly in vertical. Chlorophyll a concentration significantly increased from (0.42±0.056) μg/L in June to (0.74±0.174) μg/L in August, while bacterial abundance just slightly increased. Additionally, the negative net community production indicated that community respiration was not entirely determined by the local primary productivity in August. These results indicated that jellyfish blooms potentially affect coupling of phytoplankton and bacteria in marine ecosystems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems of Ministry of Education, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Yang Zeng, Xuguang Huang & Bangqin Huang

  2. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Yang Zeng, Xuguang Huang & Bangqin Huang

  3. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Tiezhu Mi

Authors
  1. Yang Zeng
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  2. Xuguang Huang
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  3. Bangqin Huang
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  4. Tiezhu Mi
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Correspondence to Bangqin Huang.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos U1406403 and 41176112; the Chinese Academy of Science Project under contract No. XDA11020103; the National Basic Research Program of China under contract No. 2011CB403603.

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Zeng, Y., Huang, X., Huang, B. et al. Relationship between bacteria and phytoplankton during the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai bloom in an oligotrophic temperate marine ecosystem. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 35, 107–113 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-016-0894-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-016-0894-x

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