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Onshore–offshore variations of copepod community in northern South China Sea

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Abstract

Copepod communities in onshore and offshore waters show a gradient from primarily near shore to primarily oceanic species. Understanding the transition between these communities is fundamental to determining the range of coastal influence. Copepod communities in the northern South China Sea (nSCS) were studied based on samples collected by vertically towing a net in 10 February–6 March (winter) and 26 August–6 September (summer) of 2004. Calanoida species richness, total copepod abundance, Shannon–Weaver diversity index, and onshore–offshore occurrence of dominant species showed obvious change from onshore to offshore waters. Although the offshore stations had lower abundance than the shelf stations, they had more species and larger diversity index. Abundance of some species (groups) with dominance index >5% (Calanus sinicus, Euchaeta spp., Temora spp., Paracalanus parvus, and Subeucalanus subtenuis) declined from onshore to offshore waters. Warm water species (Pleuromamma abdominalis, P. gracilis, and P. robusta) occurred in offshore waters in both cruises. Station (q-type) cluster analysis in winter and summer separated copepod community into onshore and offshore communities at ~40% level of similarity. The two communities were divided at the position of ~100-m isobath. In summer, C. sinicus occurred in the upwelling area east of Hainan Island, indicating the presence of an oversummering stock of this species.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 90711006, 90211021, 40976091 and 40811140533) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (kzcx2-yw-226 and KZCX2-YW-T001). We appreciated Dr. Tao Zuo for her help in station cluster analysis. We thank Dr. Hui Zhao and Yang Zhong Zheng of SCSIO for their help in preparing remote sensing images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Wuchang Zhang, Bo Yang, Shangwu Gao, Jun Sun, Zhencheng Tao & Song Sun

  2. Research Center for Remote Sensing and Marine Ecology/Environment (RSMEE), LED, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 164 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou, 510301, People’s Republic of China

    Danling Tang

  3. Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem and Biogeochemistry, Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA. No. 36 Baochubei Road, Hangzhou, 310012, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuren Ning

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  1. Wuchang Zhang
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Correspondence to Wuchang Zhang.

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Handling editor: T. P. Crowe

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Zhang, W., Tang, D., Yang, B. et al. Onshore–offshore variations of copepod community in northern South China Sea. Hydrobiologia 636, 257–269 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9955-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9955-x

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