Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-16T18:56:32.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Influence of the Changjiang diluted waters on the nanophytoplankton distribution in the northern East China Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2017

Youngju Lee
Affiliation:
Division of Polar Ocean Environment, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon 21990, Korea
Eun-Jin Yang
Affiliation:
Division of Polar Ocean Environment, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon 21990, Korea
Seokhyun Youn
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Ocean Information Division, National Fisheries Research & Development Institute, Gijang-kun, Busan 619-705, Korea
Joong Ki Choi*
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, Inha University, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J.K. Choi, Department of Oceanography, Inha University, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, Korea email: [email protected]

Abstract

We investigated the influence of the Changjiang diluted waters (CDW) on the distribution of nanophytoplankton (<20 µm) abundance and biomass in the northern East China Sea (ECS) during two research cruises conducted in the summers of 2010 and 2012, using flow cytometry. Each group of nanophytoplankton responded differently to the distribution of the CDW. In the surface layer, Synechococcus 1 which has low orange fluorescence, a major component of summer nanophytoplankton, were more abundant under the large extension of CDW to the northern ECS in August 2010, whereas the abundance of other groups including Synechococcus 2 which has high orange fluorescence, and pico- and nano-eukaryotes (0.2–2 and 2–20 µm in diameter, respectively), dramatically increased under the small extension of CDW in August 2012. The subsurface chl-a maximum layer became more developed under the small extension of CDW, and was dominated by nano-eukaryotes. During two study periods, environmental characteristics in the CDW also showed annual variations, with higher seawater temperature, lower salinity, and higher nitrate concentration in the surface layer of the CDW in August 2010. The summer distributions of Synechococcus and nano-eukaryotes were likely to be limited by low salinity and high temperature, respectively, indicating that phytoplankton distribution could be influenced not only by the extension level of the CDW but also by the change of the environmental characters of the CDW.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agawin, N.S.R., Duarte, C.M. and Agustí, S. (1998) Growth and abundance of Synechococcus sp. in a Mediterranean Bay: seasonality and relationship with temperature. Marine Ecology Progress Series 170, 4553.Google Scholar
Bai, Y., He, X., Pan, D., Chen, C.-T.A., Kang, Y., Chen, X. and Cai, W.-J. (2014) Summertime Changjiang River plume variation during 1998–2010. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119, 62386257.Google Scholar
Blanchot, J., André, J.M., Navarette, C., Neveux, J. and Radenac, M.H. (2001) Picophytoplankton in the equatorial pacific: vertical distributions in the warm pool and in the high nutrient low chlorophyll conditions. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 48, 297314.Google Scholar
Campbell, L., Liu, H.B., Nolla, H.A. and Vaulot, D. (1997) Annual variability of phytoplankton and bacteria in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean at Station ALOHA during the 1991–1994 ENSO event. Deep-Sea Research Part I – Oceanographic Research Papers 44, 167192.Google Scholar
Chen, B., Liu, H., Huang, B. and Wang, J. (2014) Temperature effects on the growth rate of marine picoplankton. Marine Ecology Progress Series 505, 3747.Google Scholar
Chen, B., Wang, L., Song, S., Huang, B., Sun, J. and Liu, H. (2011) Comparisons of picophytoplankton abundance, size, and fluorescence between summer and winter in northern South China Sea. Continental Shelf Research 31, 15271540.Google Scholar
Chen, C.T.A. (2000) The Three Gorges Dam: reducing the upwelling and thus productivity in the East China Sea. Geophysical Research Letters 27, 381383.Google Scholar
Choi, D.H., Noh, J.H. and Shim, J. (2013) Seasonal changes in picocyanobacterial diversity as revealed by pyrosequencing in temperate waters of the East China Sea and the East Sea. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 71, 7590.Google Scholar
Choi, K.H., Yang, E.J., Kim, D., Kang, H.K., Noh, J.H. and Kim, C.H. (2012) The influence of coastal waters on distributions of heterotrophic protists in the northern East China Sea, and the impact of protist grazing on phytoplankton. Journal of Plankton Research 34, 886904.Google Scholar
Chung, C.C., Huang, C.Y., Gong, G.C. and Lin, Y.C. (2014) Influence of the Changjiang River flood on Synechococcus ecology in the surface waters of the East China Sea. Microbial Ecology 67, 273285.Google Scholar
Durand, M.D., Olson, R.J. and Chisholm, S.W. (2001) Phytoplankton population dynamics at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series station in the Sargasso Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 48, 19832003.Google Scholar
Garrison, D.L., Gowing, M.M., Hughes, M.P., Campbell, L., Caron, D.A., Dennett, M.R., Shalapyonok, A., Olson, R.J., Landry, M.R., Brown, S.L., Liu, H.B., Azam, F., Steward, G.F., Ducklow, H.W. and Smith, D.C. (2000) Microbial food web structure in the Arabian Sea: a US JGOFS study. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 47, 13871422.Google Scholar
Gong, G.C., Chang, J., Chiang, K.P., Hsiung, T.M., Hung, C.C., Duan, S.W. and Codispoti, L.A. (2006) Reduction of primary production and changing of nutrient ratio in the East China Sea: effect of the Three Gorges Dam? Geophysical Research Letters 33, Art. no. L07610.Google Scholar
Gong, G.C., Chen, Y.L.L. and Liu, K.K. (1996) Chemical hydrography and chlorophyll a distribution in the East China Sea in summer: implications in nutrient dynamics. Continental Shelf Research 16, 15611590.Google Scholar
Gong, G.C., Liu, K.K., Chiang, K.P., Hsiung, T.M., Chang, J., Chen, C.C., Hung, C.C., Chou, W.C., Chung, C.C., Chen, H.Y., Shiah, F.K., Tsai, A.Y., Hsieh, C.H., Shiao, J.C., Tseng, C.M., Hsu, S.C., Lee, H.J., Lee, M.A., Lin, I.I. and Tsai, F. (2011) Yangtze River floods enhance coastal ocean phytoplankton biomass and potential fish production. Geophysical Research Letters 38, Art. no. L13603.Google Scholar
Jiao, N., Yang, Y., Hong, N., Ma, Y., Harada, S., Koshikawa, H. and Watanabe, M. (2005) Dynamics of autotrophic picoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria in the East China Sea. Continental Shelf Research 25, 12651279.Google Scholar
Jiao, N., Zhang, Y., Zeng, Y., Gardner, W.D., Mishonov, A.V., Richardson, M.J., Hong, N., Pan, D., Yan, X.H., Jo, Y.H., Chen, C.T.A., Wang, P., Chen, Y., Hong, H., Bai, Y., Chen, X., Huang, B., Deng, H., Shi, Y. and Yang, D. (2007) Ecological anomalies in the East China Sea: impacts of the Three Gorges Dam? Water Research 41, 12871293.Google Scholar
Kim, D., Choi, S.H., Kim, K.H., Shim, J., Yoo, S. and Kim, C.H. (2009) Spatial and temporal variations in nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentrations in the northern East China Sea surrounding Cheju Island. Continental Shelf Research 29, 14261436.Google Scholar
Kim, D.S., Shim, J.H. and Yoo, S. (2006) Seasonal variations in nutrients and chlorophyll-a concentrations in the northern East China Sea. Ocean Science Journal 41, 125137.Google Scholar
Le, F.F., Ning, X.R., Liu, C.G., Hao, Q. and Shi, J.X. (2010) Community structure of picoplankton abundance and biomass in the southern Huanghai Sea during the spring and autumn of 2006. Acta Oceanologica Sinica 29, 5868.Google Scholar
Lee, C.R., Choi, K.H., Kang, H.K., Yang, E.J., Noh, J.H. and Choi, D.H. (2012) Biomass and trophic structure of the plankton community in subtropical and temperate waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Journal of Oceanography 68, 473482.Google Scholar
Lee, Y., Choi, J.K., Youn, S. and Roh, S. (2014) Influence of the physical forcing of different water masses on the spatial and temporal distributions of picophytoplankton in the northern East China Sea. Continental Shelf Research 88, 216227.Google Scholar
Lu, Z., Gan, J., Dai, M. and Cheung, A.Y.Y. (2010) The influence of coastal upwelling and a river plume on the subsurface chlorophyll maximum over the shelf of the northeastern South China Sea. Journal of Marine Systems 82, 3546.Google Scholar
Marie, D., Partensky, F., Jacquet, S. and Vaulot, D. (1997) Enumeration and cell cycle analysis of natural populations of marine picoplankton by flow cytometry using the nucleic acid stain SYBR Green I. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 63, 186193.Google Scholar
Moore, L.R., Goericke, R. and Chisholm, S.W. (1995) Comparative physiology of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus: influence of light and temperature on growth, pigments, fluorescence and absorptive properties. Marine Ecology Progress Series 116, 259276.Google Scholar
Noh, J.H., Yoo, S., Lee, J.A., Kim, H.C. and Lee, J.H. (2005) Phytoplankton in the waters of the Ieodo Ocean research station determined by microscopy, flow cytometry, HPLC pigment data and remote sensing. Ocean and Polar Research 27, 397417.Google Scholar
Pan, L.A., Zhang, J. and Zhang, L.H. (2007) Picophytoplankton, nanophytoplankton, heterotrophic bacteria and viruses in the Changjiang Estuary and adjacent coastal waters. Journal of Plankton Research 29, 187197.Google Scholar
Parsons, T.R., Maita, Y. and Lalli, C.M. (1984) A manual of chemical and biological methods for seawater analysis. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Robineau, B., Legendre, L., Therriault, J.-C., Fortier, L., Rosenberg, G. and Demers, S. (1995) Ultra-algae (<5 µm) in the ice, at the ice-water interface and in the under-ice water column (southeastern Hudson Bay, Canada). Marine Ecology Progress Series 115, 169180.Google Scholar
Shalapyonok, A., Olson, R.J. and Shalapyonok, L.S. (2001) Arabian Sea phytoplankton during southwest and northeast monsoons 1995: composition, size structure and biomass from individual cell properties measured by flow cytometry. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 48, 12311261.Google Scholar
Son, Y.B., Ryu, J.H., Noh, J.H., Ju, S.J. and Kim, S.H. (2012) Climatological variability of satellite-derived sea surface temperature and chlorophyll in the South Sea of Korea and East China Sea. Ocean and Polar Research 34, 201218.Google Scholar
Stambler, N. (2014) Relationships between picophytoplankton and optical properties in the Azores Front region in the Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Sea Research 85, 144154.Google Scholar
Tsai, A.Y., Gong, G.C., Sanders, R.W. and Chiang, K.P. (2013) Relationship of Synechococcus abundance to seasonal ocean temperature ranges. Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences 24, 925932.Google Scholar
Tsai, A.Y., Gong, G.C., Sanders, R.W., Wang, C.J. and Chiang, K.P. (2010) The impact of the Changjiang River plume extension on the nanoflagellate community in the East China Sea. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 89, 2130.Google Scholar
Wang, B.D., Wang, X.L. and Zhan, R. (2003) Nutrient conditions in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 58, 127136.Google Scholar
Worden, A.Z., Nolan, J.K. and Palenik, B. (2004) Assessing the dynamics and ecology of marine picophytoplankton: the importance of the eukaryotic component. Limnology and Oceanography 49, 168179.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, H., Kim, H.C., Son, Y.B., Kim, S.W., Okamura, K., Kiyomoto, Y. and Ishizaka, J. (2012) Seasonal and summer interannual variations of SeaWiFS chlorophyll a in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Progress in Oceanography 105, 1129.Google Scholar
Yang, S., Xu, K., Milliman, J., Yang, H. and Wu, C. (2015) Decline of Yangtze River water and sediment discharge: impact from natural and anthropogenic changes. Scientific Reports 5, Art. no. 12581.Google Scholar
Yoo, S., An, Y.-R., Bae, S., Choi, S., Ishizaka, J., Kang, Y.S., Kim, Z.G., Lee, C., Lee, J.B., Li, R., Park, J., Wang, Z., Wen, Q., Yang, E.J., Yeh, S.W., Yeon, I., Yoon, W.-D., Zhang, C.-I., Zhang, X. and Zhu, M. (2010) Status and trends in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea region. In McKinnell, S.M. and Dagg, M.J. (eds) Marine ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean. Volume 4. Sidney, BC: PICES Special Publication, pp. 363393.Google Scholar
Yuan, J., Hayden, L. and Dagg, M. (2007) Comment on “Reduction of primary production and changing of nutrient ratio in the East China Sea: effect of the Three Gorges Dam?” by Gwo-Ching Gong et al. Geophysical Research Letters 34, Art. no. L14609.Google Scholar
Zhou, M.J., Shen, Z.L. and Yu, R.C. (2008) Responses of a coastal phytoplankton community to increased nutrient input from the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. Continental Shelf Research 28, 14831489.Google Scholar