A Comparison of the Zooplankton Community in the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea During April-May, 2010

• Published in: Journal of Ocean University of China Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 1206 - 1212
• Main Authors: Li, Kaizhi, Yin, Jianqiang, Huang, Liangmin, Tan, Yehui, Lin, Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Science Press 01.12.2017; Springer Nature B.V; Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-Resources and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, P.R.China%South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, P.R.China
• Subjects: Abundance; Aquatic crustaceans; Bay; Bengal; China; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll a; Communities; community; Community structure; Copepoda; Dominant species; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geographical distribution; inter-monsoon; Larvae; Marine invertebrates; Meteorology; Multivariate analysis; Oceanography; Plankton; Sea; South; Species composition; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Zooplankton; South China Sea; Bay of Bengal; South China Sea; community; inter-monsoon; Bay of Bengal; zooplankton
• DOI: 10.1007/s11802-017-3229-4
• ISSN: 1672-5182

This study compares the structure of the zooplankton community in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and South China Sea (SCS) during the period of spring inter-monsoon, 2010. A total of 215 species of zooplankton were identified, of which 187 species were present in the BoB and 119 in the SCS. Of the taxonomic groups recorded, Copepoda was the most diverse group in all samples followed by pelagic Tunicata, Siphonophorae and Chaetognatha. Flaccisagitta enflata, Cosmocalanus darwinii, Euchaeta larva,Macrura larva and Candacia truncata were predominant both in the BoB and SCS. Moreover, the distribution of some dominant species differed regionally, such as Cypridina dentata, Pleuromamma robusta and Mesosagitta decipiens only in the BoB, and Pleuromamma gracilis, Neocalanus gracilis and Eudoxoides spiralis in the SCS. The average zooplankton abundance was 33.37 ±7.19 ind. m?3 in the BoB and 35.08 ± 2.07 ind. m?3 in the SCS. Copepoda was one of the most abundant groups in the BoB and SCS. Based on multivariate analysis, it was possible to distinguish the zooplankton in the BoB and SCS communities at the similarity level of approximately 55%, and the dissimilarity was mainly due to C. dentata, P. robusta, M. decipiens, C. darwinii, N. gracilis and P.gracilis. The relationships between zooplankton and temperature, salinity and chlorophyll a were not statistically significant. Zooplankton community structure in the BoB and SCS was observed to be generally similar in terms of species composition and abundance,but the differences observed may be the result of species-specific geographical distribution and local hydrographic conditions.