Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2015, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (4): 59-64.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2015.04.008CSTR: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2015.04.008

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Stable carbon isotope of zooplankton in the southern South China Sea

LIU Hua-xue1, XU Jun2, LI Chun-hou1, CHEN Zuo-zhi1, HUANG Hong-hui1   

  1. 1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fishery Ecology and Environment; Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Development and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture; South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences; Guangzhou 510300, China ;
    2. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
  • Received:2014-09-15 Online:2015-08-10 Published:2015-08-21

Abstract:

The stable carbon isotopes of zooplankton based on size fractionation in the southern South China Sea during spring and summer 2013 were investigated. The zooplankton was divided into three groups according to size (> 500 μm, 380~500 μm and 180~380 μm). The mean δ13C value of macrozooplankton in summer was higher than that in spring, while meso- and micro-zooplankton showed opposite character. One-way ANOVA result showed no significance between size fractionated zooplankton groups. GAM analysis showed that both macro- and micro-zooplankton showed close relationship to seawater salinity at 75-m depth, while meso-zooplankton was not closely related to environment variables, indicating that vertical mixing also influenced stable carbon isotopes.

Key words: South China Sea, zooplankton, stable carbon isotope, generalized additive model