Friday 4 May 2012

PHYTOPLANKTON AND ZOOPLANKTON PREY PREDATOR RELATIOSHIP IN SUNDARBAN MANGROVE ECOSYSYTEM





Biodiversity and conservation,Springer


DOI 10.1007/s10531-012-0295-1

Inter-annual abundance variation in some genera of diatom and zooplankton in a mangrove 
ecosystem

 Chumki Chowdhury • Natasha Majumder • Raghab Ray •
 Tapan Kumar Jana



This study presents data for the abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton and related habitat parameters for Lothian Island mangrove ecosystem located at the coastal boundary of the Ganges River delta. Over the 3 study years, total abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton was lowest during the monsoon period. In 2008, the most common diatom genera (by % relative abundance) were Skeletonema cf. costatum (14.2), Thalassiothrix (9.36), Nitzschia sigma (8.16), Coscinodiscus radiatus (7.65), Chaetoceros (6.64), Pleurosigma (3.05), Thalassionema (1.77), Dytilum brightweli (1.71), and Cyclo- tella (1.0), whereas in 2010 they were Skeletonema cf. costatum (41.7), Chaetoceros(11.1), Thalassiothrix (6.04), Nitzschia sigma (4.49), Coscinodiscus radiatus (3.96),Cyclotella (2.61), Thalassionema (2.11), Pleurosigma (1.22) and, Dytilum brightwellii(1.01). Relative abundance of the zooplankton size classes typically followed the order meso[micro[macro and Copepods were the most abundant taxa (54.6 % of total zooplankton abundance). Total abundance of both phyto and zooplankton almost doubled in 2010 relative to 2008 although the ratio of the two remained constant (Zooplankton: phytoplankton = 0.002). The N:P ratio of water did not change much over the study anddid not seem to be responsible for phytoplankton abundance changes; rather interannualvariations in phytoplankton abundance could be explained by a simple predator–prey- relationship with zooplankton.

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