Home Offshore Estuarine Tidal Time Series Habitat Mapping References

Phytoplankton

Across all stations diatom species were abundant, in particular Rhizosolenia was numerically dominant at stations C1 and C2. At station C3 it is abundant at all depths sampled, but does not show complete dominance. Station C2 shows the strongest chlorophyll maximum (0.24mg/m^3), which is largely comprised of Rhizolelnia and other diatom species, such as Thalassiosira and Coscinodiscus. Station C3 shows the strongest stratification of temperature and salinity, as well as greater relative abundance of dinoflagellates such as Ceratium, Karenia and Polykrikos.

Zooplankton

Copepods were most abundant at all three stations, as were echinoderm larvae but all stations showed a wide species diversity. Stations C1 and C2 were dominated by Copepods and Echinoderm larvae, while echinoderm larvae were less abundant at C3 with an increase in Copepod nauplii Decapoda larvae and Cirripedia larvae. At C3, Copepods and Echinoderm larvae were more abundant closer to the surface than at depth, however the method is flawed as the overall abundance of zooplankton from 15 - 0m was greater than for 40 - 0m. This may indicate errors in the counting and estimating, or in the actual sampling.

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Biology Nutrients Physical

Biology Nutrients Physical