Search

The picoplankton distribution in the East China Sea was investigated during bloom events occurred in spring (June) and summer (August) 2011. In spring, there was no significant difference in picoplankton abundances between areas where bloom conditions were or were not established. In the bloom area, Synechococcus , picoeukaryotes and heterotrophic prokaryotes exhibited at only some stations that abundances were higher than those within the non-bloom area. In summer, the abundances of Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes were significantly higher inside the bloom area than outside. Among the picoplankton components, heterotrophic prokaryotes represented the highest carbon biomass. Factors that most influenced picoplankton distribution under bloom conditions in the East China Sea varied with season. In spring, ciliates and salinity tended to be the main factors, whereas in summer, this role was played by temperature and chlorophyll a concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 454 sequencing method was used to detect bacterial diversity and community structure in the East China Sea. Overall, 149 067 optimized reads with an average length of 454 nucleotides were obtained from 17 seawater samples and five sediment samples sourced in May 2011. A total of 22 phyla, 34 classes, 74 orders, 146 families, and 333 genera were identified in this study. Some of them were detected for the first time from the East China Sea. The estimated richness and diversity indices were both higher in the sediment samples compared with in the seawater samples. All the samples were divided by their diversity indices into four regions. Similarity analysis showed that the seawater samples could be classified into six groups. The groups differed from each other and had unique community structure characteristics. It was found that different water masses in the sampling areas may have had some influence on the bacterial community structure. A canonical correspondence analysis revealed that seawater samples in different areas and at different depths were affected by different environmental parameters. This study will lay the foundation for future research on microbiology in the East China Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine planktonic ciliates are important components of microzooplankton. Depending on the presence or absence of lorica, planktonic ciliates can be divided into tintinnids and aloricate ciliates. We hypothesize that the ecological distributions of the two groups were different due to their difference in morphology. To test this hypothesis, the spatial distribution of ciliates was studied in spring, summer and autumn 2011 in the East China Sea, a large marginal sea significantly affected by freshwater discharge. We found that tintinnids and aloricate ciliates had different vertical distributions. Tintinnids were distributed mainly near the bottom waters, while higher abundance of aloricate ciliate was found in waters 30–70 m above the bottom. The contribution of tintinnids to the total ciliate abundance decreased with increasing distance from the bottom. In waters with distance from the bottom > 80 m, tintinnids accounted for < 10% of the total ciliate abundance. The Changjiang River discharge in summer enhanced aloricate ciliate abundance compared with spring and autumn, although tintinnid abundance did not change significantly. Tintinnidium primitivum was the dominant tintinnid near the bottom waters. Our study clearly showed that aloricate ciliates and tintinnids had different vertical distributions and responses to freshwater discharge in the East China Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In summer 2006 and winter 2007, ciliate abundance and biomass were investigated in the East China Sea in connection with water masses, frontal zones, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a concentrations, and picoplankton and nanoflagellate abundances. In addition, tintinnid ciliates were identified to species based on lorica morphology. There was no significant difference of ciliate abundance and biomass between Changjiang diluted water (CDW) and shelf mixing water (SMW) in the Changjiang river estuary and its adjacent sea in summer, or among the coastal water (CoW), the SMW and the Kuroshio water (KW) on the shelf in winter. The influence of water masses on ciliate distribution was slight, except that distinct increases in ciliate abundance were observed in the vicinity of frontal structures. Most tintinnids were neritic species, with no discrimination between two water masses in the Changjiang river estuary. However, cosmopolitan and warm water species were very mainly restricted to SMW and KW; neritic species were essentially present in CoW and SMW on the continental shelf. Total ciliate biomass was closely correlated with picoplankton biomass in the CDW and KW. Picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus were the potential food source of ciliates. In winter, within KW, nanoflagellates would play a major role in the transfer of organic matter from picoplankton to ciliates in the microbial community within KW. In the low-oxygen and hypoxia area adjacent to the Changjiang estuary where relatively high ciliate abundance and biomass occurred, heterotrophic bacteria would appear to exhibit a potential prey effect on the distribution of bacterivorous aloricated ciliates and nanoflagellates acting as intermediates between bacteria and tintinnids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]