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Planktonic protist communities in a semi-enclosed mariculture pond: structural variation and correlation with environmental conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2008

Henglong Xu
Affiliation:
The Laboratory of Protozoology, KLM, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
Weibo Song*
Affiliation:
The Laboratory of Protozoology, KLM, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
Alan Warren
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW 7 5BD, UK
Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Saleh A. Al-Farraj
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Jun Gong
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Protozoology, College of Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
Xiaozhong Hu
Affiliation:
The Laboratory of Protozoology, KLM, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Weibo Song, The Laboratory of Protozoology, KLM, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China email: [email protected]

Abstract

In order to evaluate the environmental status within a mariculture pond, temporal variations of physico-chemical factors, protist community structure and interactions between biota and environmental conditions were investigated during a complete cycle in semi-enclosed shrimp-farming waters near Qingdao, north China. Results revealed that: (1) a total of 54 protist taxa with ten dominant species was present, comprising 4 chlorophyceans, 2 chrysophyceans, 5 cryptophyceans, 10 dinoflagellates, 3 euglenophyceans, 10 diatoms, 18 ciliates and 2 sarcodines; (2) a single peak of protist abundance occurred in October, mainly due to the chlorophyceans, diatoms and chrysophyceans, while the bimodal peaks of biomass in July and October were mainly due to the ciliates, dinoflagellates and diatoms; (3) the succession of protist communities significantly correlated with the changes of nutrients, salinity and temperature, especially phosphate, either alone or in combination with NO3; (4) species diversity and evenness indices were found to be relatively independent of physico-chemical factors, whereas species richness and the ratio of biomass to abundance were strongly correlated with water temperature and abundances of bacteria. It was concluded that planktonic protists are potentially useful bioindicators of water quality in a semi-enclosed mariculture system.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

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