Abstract
Variations in physical-chemical factors, species composition, abundance and biomass of nano- and micro-phytoplankton assemblages, as well as their responses to environmental factors, were investigated over a complete cycle (6 months) in a semi-enclosed shrimp-farming pond near Qingdao, northern China. The aim was to establish the temporal patterns of phytoplankton communities and to evaluate protists as suitable bioindicators to water quality in mariculture systems. A total of 34 taxa with nine dominant species were identified, belonging to six taxonomic groups (dinoflagellates, diatoms, cryptophyceans, chlorophyceans, euglenophyceans and chrysophyceans). A single peak of protist abundance occurred in October, mainly due to chlorophyceans, diatoms and chrysophyceans. Two biomass peaks in July and October were primarily due to dinoflagellates and diatoms. Temporal patterns of the phytoplankton communities significantly correlated with the changes in nutrients, temperature and pH, especially phosphate, either alone or in combination with NO3-N and NH3-N. Species diversity, evenness and richness indices were clearly correlated with water temperature and/or salinity, whereas the biomass/abundance ratio showed a significant correlation with NO3-N. The results suggest that phytoplankton are potentially useful bioindicators to water quality in semi-enclosed mariculture systems.
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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 40976075, 30700069), a post-doctoral fellowship awarded to XU Henglong by Inha University, a grant from the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity Research, King Saud University and the 111 Project of China (No. B08049)
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Xu, H., Min, GS., Choi, JK. et al. Temporal dynamics of phytoplankton communities in a semi-enclosed mariculture pond and their responses to environmental factors. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 28, 295–303 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-010-9257-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-010-9257-1