Zooplankton community structure of the sea surface microlayer near nuclear power plants and marine fish culture zones in Daya Bay

Abstract

The authors' surveys in May–June 1999 (two cruises) at six sampling stations near nuclear power plants (NPP) and marine fish culture zones in Daya Bay, Guangdong, revealed species composition, densities and body-size of the sea surface microlayer (SM) zooplankton (>35 μm). Results showed that protozoans and copepod nauplii were the predominant components, accounting for 65.40% to 95.56% of total zooplankton in abundance. The size-frequency distributions showed that the frequency of micro-zooplankton (0.02–0.2 mm) reached 0.8235. The SM zooplankton community structure revealed in the present study was quite different from that revealed by investigations in the 1980s in Daya Bay. Difference of sampling method has important influence on the obtained zooplankton community structure. SM zooplankton consisted of micro- and mesozooplankton (0.2–2.0 mm), with micro-zooplankton being predominant. Some possible cause-effect relations between the zooplankton community structure and mariculture, nuclear power plants cooling systems and sampling method are discussed.