Spatial and temporal structure of phytoplankton in 2014-2016 in the Poddabie area on the southern Baltic Sea

Abstract

In the Baltic Sea, there can be observed seasonal changes of the phytoplankton structure during which the species composition, abundance and phytoplankton biomass change. However, the spatial and temporal variability of individual phytoplankton groups is not the same in all the regions of the Baltic. The only research (and available studies) of phytoplankton in these shallow central sea basin zones is conducted by Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMWM) as part of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Monitoring at station P16, which is located closest to the studied area. Therefore, in the years 2014-2016 phytoplankton seasonality studies were carried out, which allowed to supplement data in the area of the central coast of the south Baltic [61]. Based on the above literature, the aim of this study was to determine the temporal and spatial structure and to examine the species composition of phytoplankton occurrence and biodiversity in the Poddabie region from November 2014 till September 2016. The following article presents the results obtained at 3 measuring stations (P1, P2 and P3) in the area of Poddabie. These results confirm typical changes of phytoplankton on 3 measurement stations depending on the season of the year. The collected data for this article is the second part of the three monographs on the area on the central coast of the southern Baltic. It show the exact results of the species composition and seasonal changes of phytoplankton in the Poddabie region. The average values of phytoplankton abundance and biomass were typical for this sort of coastal waters and there were no significant species differences between these stations. Comparing the results obtained in this study with the data from the IMWM annual reports for the last decade, it can be noticed that the volumes and fluctuations of total biomass and phytoplankton abundance in the three analysed areas are in line with trends typical for the South Baltic coastal area