Species Diversity and Abundance Distribution of Pelagic Siphonophores in Nan Wan Bay of Taiwan, China, in Late Autumn and Early Winter

Zooplankton surveys were carried out on November 2-3 and December 8-10, 2001 at 12 stations in the Nan Wan Bay of Taiwan, China. Altogether 92 quantitative zooplankton samples were collected from subsurface water and bottom water layers with two conical plankton nets （180 cm in length, 45 cm in opening diameter, 333μm and 200 larn in mesh size）. A total of 31 species of Siphonophores were identified, among them 7 species are new records in the waters around Taiwan Island, of which Rocacea cymbiformis is a new record in China. Dominated by Chelophyes appendiculata, Bassia bassensis, Diphyes bojani, Diphyes dispar, Abylopsis eschscholtzi and Chelophyes contorta, these species accounted for over 76 % and 63 % of the total abundance in November and December. The species number and Siphonophores abundance in December （25 species, 1.99 inds/m3） were more than those in November （19 species, 0.438 inds/m3）, and they were more in the surface water layer than in the bottom layer at most sampling stations. In early winter, the offshore high salinity water mass was a main factor influencing the distribution. The sampling efficiency for two plankton nets is discussed and the seasonal variation of species number and abundance in the Nan Wan Bay is compared with that in the neighboring waters.     

黄海小型水母的分布特征

根据"973"项目2000年10月—2007年8月浮游生物大网样品,对黄海小型水母类的种类组成及其丰度的时空变化进行了研究,讨论了各优势水母种类在黄海的分布格局。结果表明,黄海测区内小型水母整体丰度较低,且主要分布在50m等深线以浅海域,各小型水母类群如水螅水母类,管水母类和栉水母类以及10种优势种类的季节更替非常明显。与其它海域相比,黄海小型水母丰度水平最低,平均为0.8ind/m3,占整个浮游动物丰度的比例小于0.5%,因此从丰度上看,小型水母在黄海浮游动物功能群中并不占优势。     

Does the poleward boundary current off Western Australia exert a dominant influence on coastal chaetognaths and siphonophores?

A transect that extended 40 km offshore across the continental shelf off Perth, Western Australia, was sampled monthly during 1997 and 1998. Zooplankton was sampled at 5 km intervals with a 300 micron-mesh bongo net deployed vertically to within 3 m of the bottom, or to a maximum depth of 70 m. Numbers of species of chaetognaths and siphonores were quantified, as were abundances of the common species from these groups and of the hydromedusae Auglaura hemistoma. The potential influences of four environmental variables (sea-level, sea surface temperature, salinity and chlorophyll concentration) on variability in diversity and abundance were assessed using generalized additive modeling. A combination of factors were found to influence the seasonal and spatial biological variability and, of these factors, non-linear relationships always contributed to the best fitting models. In all but one case, each of the environmental variables was included in the final model. The seasonally variable Leeuwin Current, whose strength is measured as variations in local sea-level, is the dominant mesoscale oceanographic feature in the study region but was not found to have an overriding influence on the shelf zooplankton. This contrasts a previous hypothesis that subjectively attributed seasonal variability of the same taxa examined in this study to seasonal variations in the Leeuwin Current. There remains a poor understanding of shelf zooplankton off Western Australia and, in particular, of the processes that influence seasonal and spatial variability. A more complete understanding of potential causative influences of the Leeuwin Current on the shelf plankton community of south-western Australia must be cognizant of a range of biophysical factors operating at both the broader mesoscale and at smaller scales within the shelf pelagic ecosystem.