GROUP
Plymouth Field Course 2019
4
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Plankton
Figure 3:
The series of pie charts in figure 3 show the average phytoplankton count from water samples taken from all stations along the Estuary (some data included is from Group 5, 2019). Hover over each pie chart in Figure 3 to see full descriptions
Lower Estuary Phytoplankton:
Upper and Lower Zooplankton:
The dominant phytoplankton genus in Stations D, E, F, G and H was Lauderia diatoms. Chaetoceros diatoms were abundant in stations G and H and contributed a large amount to total phytoplankton abundance identified in the surface waters. Station C-1 was dominated by dinoflagellates, represented by Ceratium spp., with a smaller contribution from an unidentified ciliate species. The most abundant genus found at Station C was Rhizosolenia, followed by moderate contributions from the genera Ceratium, Chaetoceros and Pinnularia. Rhizosolenia was the only identified genus present at Station I, and Station J was dominated largely by Chaetoceros.
Figure
5:
The series of pie charts in figure 5 show the average zooplankton count from water samples taken from all stations along the Estuary (some data included is from Group 5, 2019). Hover over each pie chart in Figure 5 to see full descriptions
Figure 6 shows that stations G, H and I were all dominated by copepods . Copepod nauplii were only found in stations G and H, whereas station I contained no nauplii. Station H had the highest diversity in terms of types of zooplankton present.
The stations surveyed along the upper estuary, were all dominated by Copeopoda. Station Z2 had the most Copeopoda, which is approximately 12500. Copeopoda naupilii are found in two stations (Station Z1 and Z2). Cladocera accounted for the second most abundant genus at Station Z3, which is approximately 500 per m^3.
Click on graph to enlarge
ESTUARY
Upper Estuary Phytoplankton:
Figure 2:
More than half of the Stations we investigated from the upper estuary were dominated by Chaetoceros, which included Station A0, B2, A1 and C4. Whilst Station A8 was dominated by Mesoporos. A2 has 50% of Cylindrotheca and 50% of Chaetoceros, and B3 was dominated by Lauderia. Station B2 had the highest phytoplankton abundance, which reached approximately 28 000. Station A2 had the lowest number of phytoplankton, which was less than 500. Chaetoceros was the most widely spread species across the upper estuary; they were found at 5 out of 7 stations, followed by Lauderia, which were found at 4 stations. Hover over each pie chart in Figure 2 to see full descriptions
Figure 6:
Figure 4:
Figure 1: