A COMPARISON OF EASTERN AND WESTERN HONG KONG PHYTOPLANKTON FROM WEEKLY SAMPLES (1997-1999)

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A COMPARISON OF EASTERN AND WESTERN HONG KONG PHYTOPLANKTON FROM WEEKLY SAMPLES (1997-1999)

Weekly phytoplankton samples were taken from western Hong Kong (Lamma) from Jan. 1997 to Dec. 1999 and from Port Shelter in Eastern Hong Kong from January 1998 to December 1999. During that time diatom blooms occurred repeatedly at both sites but never in synchrony. One species would bloom at one site and then weeks later it or another species would bloom at the other site; while the 1998 red tide of the mucus producing dinoflagellate Gymnodinium mikimotoi occurred at both sites. It first occurred at the Port Shelter site in March and did not appear at the Lamma site until April. With the single exception of this species, no other dinoflagellate reached bloom concentrations at the Lamma site. In addition, dinoflagellate abundance at the Lamma site was significantly lower (P <0.05) than that at the Port Shelter site. This was correlated with a significantly higher turbidity (i.e. low Secchi transparency) and higher turbulence (stronger currents) at the Lamma site. Annual variation in surface temperature correlated with total surface phytoplankton abundance at both our sample sites. Phytoplankton abundance increased in spring as water temperatures warmed. In fall, as surface water temperatures began to decline and the monsoon rains became less frequent there was a reduction in phytoplankton abundance associated with the reduction in temperature and light. Because so many variables co-occur with temperature (e.g. the amount of rainfall, light intensity and light duration etc.) it is not possible to cite temperature as the causal factor associated weth controlling phytoplankton abundance at our two sample sites. Our data support the rather controversial notion that percentage-wise, there are relatively more harmful bloom forming species in nutrient-rich coastal waters than there are in the world's oceans. 16% of the dinoflagellate species and 10.3% of the diatom species observed at our two sample sites were classed as harmful. These percentages were higher than those cited by Sournia (1995) for the worlds oceans (9.6% and 6.8% respectively). This raises the possibility that there are relatively more toxic species in the nutrient-rich coastal waters of the world than there are in the mid ocean nutrient-poor areas of the world. Some reasons for this are briefly discussed.