Seasonal changes of phytoplankton community structure and its influencing factors in waters adjacent to Huanghua port
LIU Dong, LV Zhenbo, WANG Tiantian, ZHANG Jingjing, REN Zhonghua, GAO Yanjie, WANG Yibin, ZHENG Liang
To understand the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of Huanghua Port phytoplankton community structure and its relationship with environmental factors using the net-phytoplankton and environmental factor data collected during four cruises in Feb. (winter), May (spring), Aug. (summer) and Nov. (autumn) in 2014, the relative importance index (IRI), Shannon-Winner index (H′), Pielou index (J′) and redundancy analysis (RDA) were used to evaluate the species composition, dominance and community structure of the phytoplankton. In 2014, 82 species of phytoplankton in 32 genera, 3 phyla, were collected in Huanghua Port. The most species were detected in summer, 50 species in 25 genera, 2 phyla, which were followed by 40 species, 14 genera, 2 phyla in autumn, 34 species, 18 genera, 1 phyla in winter, and 24 species 14 genera, 3 phyla in spring. The phytoplankton were mainly those in Bacillariophyta while those in Pyrrophyta and Cyanophyta were relatively less abundant. The phytoplankton abundance varied seasonally, the highest in summer, which was followed by that in autumn, the lowest in winter and spring. The phytoplankton community of four cruises displayed low community diversity and evenness. In autumn, the dominant specie was Rhizosolenia alata while many phytoplankton species coexisted in spring, summer and winter. The succession of dominant species was obvious in different seasons. RDA analysis showed that different phytoplankton species response to different environmental factors, causing the community different seasonally. It was found that in winter the main factors influencing annual spatial temporal variation of phytoplankton were dissolved oxygen, temperature and phosphate in winter, the temperature and salinity in spring, salinity in summer, and dissolved oxygen and salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen in autumn. The results provided the basic data for deep understanding the structure and function of the marine ecosystem.