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Seasonal variations in abundance, biomass and grazing rates of microzooplankton in a tropical monsoonal estuary

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Seasonal variations in abundance, biomass and grazing rates of microzooplankton in a tropical monsoonal estuary
 
Creator Gauns, M.
Mochemadkar, S.
Patil, S.
Pratihary, A.K.
Naqvi, S.W.A.
Madhupratap, M.
 
Subject AQUATIC COMMUNITIES::Zooplankton
AQUATIC COMMUNITIES::Phytoplankton
AQUATIC COMMUNITIES::Habitat community studies
POPULATION STUDIES::Nutrition and feeding habits
AQUATIC ECOLOGY, PRODUCTIVITY::Biological productivity
AQUATIC ECOLOGY, PRODUCTIVITY::Species interactions
 
Description Seasonal abundance, composition and grazing rates of microzooplankton (20?200 ?m) in the Zuari estuary were investigated to evaluate their importance in food web dynamics of a tropical monsoonal estuary. Average abundances of microzooplankton (organisms ? 104 l-1) during the three seasons were 0.44 (southwest monsoon), 1.13 (post-monsoon) and 0.96 (pre-monsoon). Protozoan (ciliates, heterotrophic dinoflagellates and sarcodines) accounted for most (96 %) of the microzooplankton community, with micrometazoan (nauplii and copepodid stages of copepods, fish eggs, etc.). being far less abundant. Among protozoans, ciliates (loricates and aloricates) were most numerous (69 % of the total microzooplankton). Statistically significant (p < 0.001) co-variations of microzooplankton with other biological parameters such as chlorophyll a and bacterial biomass were observed. Salinity influenced microzooplankton distribution, with an optimum range of 15?20. Microzooplankton formed a large organic carbon pool, accounting for 24?40 % of the total carbon in the living matter. Seasonally averaged microzooplankton biomasses were 22.3, 36.1 and 24.6 mmol C m-3, respectively, during the southwest monsoon, post-monsoon and pre-monsoon periods, and were largely supported by non-living particulate carbon (detritus) particularly during the non-monsoon seasons. Experimental studies revealed significant microzooplankton grazing on phytoplankton standing stock, mainly (>60 %) by the pico and nano fraction (
 
Date 2015-10-27T03:50:06Z
2015-10-27T03:50:06Z
2015
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Journal of Oceanography, vol.71(4); 2015; 345-359
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/4812
 
Language en
 
Rights An edited version of this paper was published by Springer. This paper is for R & D purpose and Copyright [2015] Springer
 
Publisher Springer