Zooplankton community response to eddy during dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans blooms off Pakistan, northern Arabian Sea

• Published in: Journal of oceanology and limnology Vol. 42; no. 5; pp. 1557 - 1570
• Main Authors: Dedo, Mahugnon Boris, Lian, Xiping, Li, Kaizhi, Xiang, Chenhui, Tan, Yehui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Science Press 01.09.2024; Springer Nature B.V; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory(Guangzhou),Guangzhou 510301,China%Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bioresources and Ecology,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology,South China Sea Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510301,China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bioresources and Ecology,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology,South China Sea Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510301,China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China; Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering,Chinese Academy of Sciences(ISEE,CAS),Guangzhou 510301,China
• Subjects: Abiotic factors; Aquatic crustaceans; Arabian Sea; Blooms (microorganisms); Community composition; Community structure; Copepoda; Dinoflagellates; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Eddies; Eddy currents; Major elements; Marine invertebrates; Noctiluca; Noctiluca scintillans; Ocean dynamics; Oceanography; Pakistan; Phytoplankton; Plankton; Research Paper; salinity; Sea currents; temperature; Thalia; Urochordata; Velocity; Zooplankton; Arabian Sea; Pakistan; northern Arabian Sea; eddy; zooplankton community; Noctiluca scintillans
• DOI: 10.1007/s00343-024-3185-y
• ISSN: 2096-5508

Eddies are major elements of ocean dynamics that affect ocean production. Understanding their effects on plankton distribution may help understand the dynamics of harmful phytoplankton blooms. Previous studies on the effects of eddies in the northern Arabian Sea have primarily focused on the zooplankton community, and few have observed zooplankton dynamics during winter blooms of Noctiluca scintillans . We investigated zooplankton community structure and the related environmental variability during a N. scintillans bloom that was affected by an eddy in February 2018. The sampling stations were deployed at eddy core and eddy edge distinguished in salinity, temperature, and velocity. Results show that N. scintillans bloomed at the eddy core with high-velocity currents induced by warm eddies that moved from eddy core to eddy edge. As a result, blooms significantly changed the zooplankton community structure. Non-bloom stations had higher zooplankton diversity than bloom stations. Zooplankton at non-bloom stations were dominated by either tunicates or copepods, such as Thalia democratica and Pleuromamma gracilis . In addition to the influence of N. scintillans blooms, the velocity of eddy currents was a crucial factor on the similarities in the zooplankton community composition between eddy edge and eddy core. Moreover, the lower abiotic factors in bloom area contribute to the structuring of the zooplankton community during N. scintillans blooms.