Seasonal Variation of Environmental Variables and Phytoplankton Community Structure and Their Relationship in Liaodong Bay of Bohai Sea, China

Abstract

In this paper, systematic studies on the changes in concentrations of the environmental factors and the net-phytoplankton community, and the relationship between them in the Liaodong Bay, Bohai Sea during 2013 are presented. The PCA results showed that higher levels of nutrients and dissolved heavy metals in the river-estuary-bay system were closely related to the river runoff. Since the influences of industrial and anthropogenic activities, the Liaodong Bay coastal areas are facing a huge environmental challenge of nutrients and heavy metal pollution. Net-phytoplankton community structure showed obvious seasonal succession, among which the dominant and (or) key species were the main factors affecting community structure change and stability. Under certain environmental conditions, the dominant species and (or) key species dominated the phytoplankton community structure succession. The Bio-ENV results suggested that the seawater temperature, nutrient, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd in Liaodong Bay are important environmental variables that affect the phytoplankton community structure. Anthropogenic activities have significantly contributed to the changes in concentrations of environmental factors and the net-phytoplankton community structure and stability, and the relationship between them.