Abstract
The abundance of adult males, females, and copepodites, and sex ratio of a Temora turbinata population and seawater hydrology were studied from 2018 to 2019 in waters off northeast Taiwan, northwest Pacific Ocean. The hydrological parameters showed significant differences between sampling months caused by interactions of Kuroshio, East China Sea water, and the China Coastal Current. The highest average abundance was recorded from the June 2018 cruise with 2903.92 ± 3499.47 (inds. m−3), followed by a cruise in June 2019 with an average abundance of 1990.64 ± 1401.55 (inds. m−3). The sex ratio ranged between 0.25 and 2.33; the records were significantly higher in samples of June 2018 than during other sampling cruises (one-way ANOVA). The spatiotemporal distribution of T. turbinata showed a clear pattern of seasonal changes among sampling stations and distribution zones. Abundance of females and copepodites correlated significantly positive (r = 0.755, p < 0.001), whereas sex ratio (r = 0.247, p = 0.119) did not correlate significantly. The present study revealed that the abundance of T. turbinate was highest in June and was positively correlated with seawater temperature; furthermore, this is the first time the in situ sex ratio of T. turbinata in western Pacific waters has been reported.
Highlights
Zooplankton provides important trophic links in aquatic and marine trophic webs by transferring energy and materials from microbes to higher trophic levels [1]
The observed salinity curves during the June 2018 and March 2019 cruises were similar to Kuroshio water (KW) (Figure 2a,c)
Most stations showed the salinity curve close to the China Coastal water (CCW) salinity curve, except station S5 which was weakly affected by the KW during the June cruise in 2019 (Figure 2d)
Summary
Zooplankton provides important trophic links in aquatic and marine trophic webs by transferring energy and materials from microbes to higher trophic levels [1]. Zooplankters are valuable indicators of ecological conditions due to their intermediate position, linking primary production with consumers at higher levels of the trophic cascade, and being sensitive to environmental characteristics [1,3,4]. Zooplankters are sensitive to changing physical and chemical properties of waters. These abiotic parameters affect the spatial distribution and abundance of zooplankton [5,6,7]. Environmental changes could affect the geographic distribution of certain species [3,8]. The copepod assemblage is the most dominant group of the zooplankton community and is considered as a key group in the marine pelagic environment [10]
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