Comparison of zooplankton community structure in sea grass ecosystems of Panggang and Semak Daun Islands, Kepulauan Seribu, Indonesia

Research on zooplankton assemblage is indispensable for understanding food web dynamics in marine ecosystems. In this study, we elucidated the composition, spatio-temporal distributions and community structure of zooplankton on the sea grass ecosystem of Panggang and Semak Daun Islands, Kepulauan Seribu National Park. Sampling was conducted monthly at fixed stations by vertical tows of 53 μm plankton net from February 2018 to March 2019. During the study period, a total of 52 genera belonging to 38 families of zooplankton were collected. Copepods and protozoans dominated in the zooplankton communities in both sea grass areas. No significant difference was observed in abundance of zooplankton between two sea grass areas of both islands (p > 0.05), however there were a relatively few significant differences of between day and night time catches of zooplankton (p < 0.05). Day time zooplankton was less abundant than night time. Canonical correspondence analysis underlines that zooplankton assemblages were significantly affected by environmental parameters such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and the percentage of sea grass cover. Moreover, the abundance and zooplankton assemblages were well matched with chlorophyll-a concentrations. Since early stage of fishes feeds directly on the zooplankton assemblage, our findings support that sea grass ecosystem plays an important role as a nursery ground for marine fishes.