Plankton community in the western waters of North-Sumatera during the onset monsoon of Asian winter

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The western waters of North-Sumatera experience dynamic environmental changes during the onset monsoon of the Asian winter. Those changes certainly will affect the distribution of marine organisms, especially the plankton. Plankton is the foundation of the aquatic food chain and plays an important role as the entry gate of solar energy to the water trophic systems. This study aims to investigate the plankton community and its correlation with the environmental factors during the onset monsoon of the Asian winter. Plankton samples were collected, along with water samples and in-situ measurement for environmental parameters determination from western waters of North-Sumatera (95°E – 93°N) in November-December 2017. Plankton samples were taken by vertically hauling (500 m) using Modified Twin Plankton Net with 80 µm mesh size for phytoplankton and 300 µm for zooplankton. Temperature, salinity, and density of waters were measured using CTD SBE 911 – Plus. The nutrients, including orthophosphate, nitrate, and silicate, measured using autoanalyzer Skalar SAN++. Thirty genera of phytoplankton and 44 taxa groups of zooplankton were found. The phytoplankton community dominated by Thallassionema, while the zooplankton dominated by Calanoida. There was a difference in the composition of plankton communities between the north and south parts of the study area. It was probably influenced by different water masses between those two regions indicated by the dissimilarity of their water characteristics. Based on the analysis of the T-S diagram, it is likely that the north community influenced by Bengal Bay Water while the south community influenced by the Indian Equatorial Water.