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Spatial and temporal distribution of nanoflagellates in the northern South China Sea

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Abstract

Seasonal variation, horizontal and vertical distribution, and cell size of nanoflagellates, together with physico-chemical and biological factors, were studied in the northern South China Sea (SCS). It was found that nanoflagellate abundance ranged from 0.157 × 103 to 9.193 × 103 cells/ml (with a mean of 0.891 × 103) in winter (February, 2004), while it ranged from 0.107 × 103 to 5.417 × 103  cells/ml (with a mean of 0.599 × 103) in summer (July, 2004). Nanoflagellates were more abundant in winter than summer in offshore regions, showing an unique seasonal pattern in this subtropical marginal sea. The abundance of nanoflagellates decreased from the estuary to the offshore region. Vertical distribution of nanoflagellates coupled well with that of bacteria and Chl a. The small size fraction of less than 5 μm dominated the nanoflagellate populations. Wind-driven mixing, eddies, availability of nutrients as well as Chl a and abundance of picoplankton seemed to be the major controlling factors for the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of nanoflagellates in the study area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the captain and crew of R/V “Yanping 2”, who made concerted efforts during field sampling. We thank Professor Ning Xiuren for his Chl a data in winter 2004, and Mr Pan Ke for his help in nanoflagellate identification. This work was supported by a grant from the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40331004, 40521003, 40730846,), and by an award from the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (to B.Q. Huang). The work was also partially funded by a National Basic Key Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (China GLOBEC-IMBER 2006CB400604). We thank Professor John Hodgkiss of The University of Hong Kong for his assistance with English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Environmental Science Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Bangqin Huang, Wenlu Lan, Zhenrui Cao, Minhan Dai, Nianzhi Jiao & Huasheng Hong

  2. Department of Oceanography, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Lingfeng Huang

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  1. Bangqin Huang
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Correspondence to Huasheng Hong.

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Huang, B., Lan, W., Cao, Z. et al. Spatial and temporal distribution of nanoflagellates in the northern South China Sea. Hydrobiologia 605, 143–157 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9330-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9330-3

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