Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2020, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (2): 77-87.doi: 10.11978/2019050CSTR: 32234.14.2019050

Special Issue: 南海专题

• Marine Biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution of planktonic ostracods and its influencing factors during summer and winter in the northwestern coastal waters of South China Sea

Tongchen LIAO1,2(), Jianqiang YIN1, Kaizhi LI1,3(), Yehui TAN1,2,3   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
  • Received:2019-05-20 Revised:2019-07-13 Online:2020-03-10 Published:2020-03-10
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41576125);Science and Technology Basic Resources Investigation of China(2017FY201404);Science and Technology Planning Projects of Guangdong Province of China(2018B030320005)

Abstract:

Marine planktonic ostracods are small crustaceans with a wide distribution, playing an important role in ocean carbon cycle. The ostracods in smaller size are usually underestimated when marine zooplankton samples were collected with 505 μm mesh. Based on the zooplankton samples collected with 505 and 160 μm meshes in the northern South China Sea from July to August 2006 (summer) and from December 2006 to January 2007 (winter), the capture efficiency for the ostracods using two planktonic mesh sizes was compared, and the community structure and the influence of environmental factors on their distributions were analyzed. We found that the abundance of ostracods obtained by the 160 μm mesh net was six times that by the 505 μm net in summer. The community structure of planktonic ostracods collected by the 160 μm mesh was analyzed with the following findings. 1) The species richness of planktonic ostracods of a total of 32 species was identified to increase from nearshore to offshore, and the difference between the areas with water depth shallower and deeper than 100 m was extremely significant (p<0.01). 2) The abundance of planktonic ostracods was higher in summer, when the high abundance area appeared mainly in the coastal waters of the Leizhou Peninsula and northeast Hainan Island higher than that in offshore significantly (p<0.05), and lower in winter, when the distribution of ostracods abundance was homogeneous. 3) Euconchoecia aculeata, dominant species, contributed the most to high abundance in the nearshore. 4) The species richness of ostracods was positively correlated with temperature and water depth; and the abundance was negatively correlated with temperature and salinity, and positively correlated with chlorophyll α concentration. Qiongdong coastal upwelling and Yuexi Coastal Current boosted the abundance of planktonic ostracods up to 1252 ind·m -3 in the coastal waters of the Leizhou Peninsula and northeast Hainan Island. Results suggest that smaller mesh net should be used for the overall assessment of community characteristics of planktonic ostracods.

Key words: planktonic ostracods, community structure, mesh size, northwest of the South China Sea

CLC Number: 

  • P735.532