Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1498869
This article is part of the Research Topic Biological Invasions in Aquatic Ecosystems: Detection, Assessment and Countermeasures View all 9 articles

Insights into the plankton community seasonal variations in a finer scale of the Bohai Sea: Biodiversity, trophic linkage, and biotic-abiotic interplay

Provisionally accepted
Yanchu Zhao Yanchu Zhao 1Chaofeng Wang Chaofeng Wang 2*Wang Xiaoyu Wang Xiaoyu 3Weicheng Wang Weicheng Wang 2Tiancheng Zhang Tiancheng Zhang 2Jianwu He Jianwu He 1Wenhui Shi Wenhui Shi 1Yafeng Shi Yafeng Shi 1Zihang Hu Zihang Hu 1Xushen Zhou Xushen Zhou 1
  • 1 Center of Eco-environmental Monitoring and Scientific Research, Administration of Ecology and Environment of Haihe River Basin and Beihai Sea Area, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Tianjin, China
  • 2 Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
  • 3 Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Plankton play an indispensable role in the biogeochemical processes of marine ecosystem. However, unraveling the intricate interactions among biodiversity, trophic linkages, and biotic-abiotic interplay between phytoplankton-zooplankton remains a significant challenge. Here, we conducted field studies in the neritic area of the Bohai Sea during autumn 2023 and spring 2024 to explore seasonal variations. Our analysis revealed a sharp decline in trophic interactions across phytoplankton and zooplankton, with an abundance ratio in autumn 2023 being 5.5 times higher than in spring 2024.Additionally, dominant plankton species (Y ≥ 0.02) exhibited obvious differences between the two seasons, with higher species diversity observed in autumn. Moreover, each dominant zooplankton species had distinct preferred food items in both seasons, with Rhizosolenia setigera being favored by Noctiluca scintillans and Acartia pacifica.Furthermore, a multivariate biota-environment analysis indicated that each dominant plankton species had unique correlation with specific environmental parameters, highlighting how plankton can fully exploit external environmental conditions to survive in seasonal variations. Ultimately, our findings emphasize significant seasonal dynamics and provide a solid foundation for assessing the potential impacts of environmental changes on plankton in coastal marine realm.

    Keywords: Plankton, Biodiversity, Trophic linkage, Biotic-abiotic interplay, Seasonal variations, environmental change

    Received: 19 Sep 2024; Accepted: 30 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhao, Wang, Xiaoyu, Wang, Zhang, He, Shi, Shi, Hu and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chaofeng Wang, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.