Abstract:
Community structure of zooplankton in the Yellow Sea was characterized based on the samples collected with a WP-2 plankton net (200 μm mesh) in May, 2012. Species composition, abundance, dominant species of zooplankton were analyzed together with the environmental data. A total of 65 zooplankton species and 27 larvae taxa were identified in the study area. The mean abundance of zooplankton (excluding
Noctiluca scintillans) is (8109.5±7585.0)ind./m
3, which was higher than that of zooplankton collected with coarse-meshed net (505 μm mesh). The dominant species consisted mainly of the small zooplankton, including
N. scintilllans,
Oithona similis,
Centropages abdominalis,
Paracalanus parvus,
Acartia clausi,
Calanus sinicus and copepod nauplii. CLUSTER analyses grouped the zooplankton in the study area into 4 communities, including the East China Sea inshore mixed water community, the neritic community, the Yellow Sea central community and the North Yellow Sea community. The clustering was in concert with the result of previous results.