Western Pacific Zooplankton Community along Latitudinal and Equatorial Transects in Autumn 2017 (Northern Hemisphere)

Diversity

Min Wang¹  Md Abu Noman²  Hongtao Chen³  Hao Yu⁴  Yi Long⁴  Shihao Wang⁴  Jun Sun⁴  Dawei Chen⁴ 

[1] College of Marine Life Science, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China;College of Marine Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China;Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China;Research Centre for Indian Ocean Ecosystem, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China;

关键词: zooplankton;    Western Pacific Ocean;    upwelling;    equator;    diversity;    environmental factors;   

DOI  :  10.3390/d13020058

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

During the autumn of 2017, a study was conducted to assess the zooplankton community composition in three sections (two latitudinal, going from Japan to the equator, and one longitudinal on the equator) of the Western Pacific Ocean. A total of 384 species of zooplankton adults and 21 groups of zooplankton larvae were identified, with copepods being the predominant taxon. The common dominant species across the three sections were Acrocalanus gibber, Canthocalanus pauper, Oithona similis, Paracalanus aculeatus, and Oncaea venusta. Zooplankton abundance was the highest in the equator section, with a mean abundance of 258.94 ± 52.57 ind./m³. Comparatively, a low abundance was recovered from the Subtropical Countercurrent (STCC) region, while the highest abundance holding stations were located in the eastern equatorial and North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) regions. Pearson’s correlation, canonical correspondence analysis, and other methods were used to analyze the relationship between environmental factors and zooplankton. We found that the Shannon–Wiener diversity index and Pielou’s uniformity index were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with concentrations of nitrite and chlorophyll a. The distribution of zooplankton was also limited by nutrients, chlorophyll a, and dissolved oxygen. In addition, we reveal differences in the abundance of species in the equatorial and latitudinal seas. We found that not only temperature and nutrient salinity, but also ocean currents and the movement of water masses, influence the distribution of zooplankton communities in the Western Pacific.

【 授权许可】

Unknown