Community Structures of Phytoplankton According to Environmental Factors in the Coastal Waters of Ullungdo and Tokdo Islands

Algae > Volume 16(3); 2001 > Article

Algae 2001;16(3): 325-335.

Ji-An Jung, Eun-Yung Jo, Jae-Hoon Cha, Mi-Kyung Kim, Ki-Tae Kim

Graduate School of Oceanic Resources & Marine Science Institute, Yeungnam University, Seoul Institute of Ocean Science

ABSTRACT

To investigate the correlations between the seasonal variations of environmental factors and communities of phytoplankton, we examined 5 stations of Ullungdo Island on May, June, August and November 1999 and 3 stations in Tokdo Island on June, August and November 1999. The phytoplanktons of Ullungdo Island were a total of 139 species, while the ones of Tokdo Island were a total of 90 species. The most frequent species were Proboscia alata f. gracillima, Rhizosolenia hebetata f. semispina, Ceratium fusus and Protoperidinium pellucidum in the coastal waters of Ullungdo and Pseudosolenia calcar-avis in Tokdo Island. The standing crops of phytoplanktons represented a maximum on June (7.8) in Ullungdo, while a maximum on August and November (4.4×10³cells?l-1) in Tokdo Island. The correlations between standing crops and species number showed inversely. However, the environmental factors (seston, NO₃-N, NO₂-N and SiO₂-Si) represented a high affinity with the species compositions and communities of phytoplankton.

Key words: environmental factor, phytoplankton, seasonal variation, species composition