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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1560930
Seasonal and Spatial Variations of Nutrients and Environmental Effects under Anthropogenic Influence in Daya Bay, China
Provisionally accepted
Jincheng Zhao
Jiawei He
Cai Li*Zeming YangCong LiuXianqing ZhangMin QinDejing Tang
Wen ZhouZhantang Xu
Yuanyue Cheng- South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, China
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The nutrients are a crucial factor for the growth of phytoplankton, and its biogeochemical processes directly impact marine biodiversity. In this study, based on two cruise observations in spring and summer of 2024, the seasonal and spatial variations of nutrient, chlorophyll a and other ecological indicators in Daya Bay were explored. The results indicated that the average concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and silicate were 3.61 ± 3.99 µM and 26.27 ± 13.91 µM in summer, respectively, compared with 2.48 ± 1.53 µM and 23.8 ± 6.77 µM in spring.The average concentration of dissolved inorganic phosphate was 0.29 ± 0.12 µM in summer, lower than 0.32 ± 0.09 µM in spring. The stoichiometric proportion among nutrients at most monitoring stations were far from Redfield ratio, and a succession from N-limited to P-limited was observed. A transformation has been observed in the dominant composition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, shifting from ammonia to total oxidized nitrogen as the main component, which is mainly attributable to the decrease in aquaculture activities in Daya Bay over the last three years. In addition, the warm waste water discharge from nuclear power stations directly influences the distribution of phytoplankton in the surrounding areas. This study provides timely information regarding recent shifts in ecological indicators, and are significant to the ecological protection, environmental management and policy adjustment in Daya Bay. The results of this study provide information on nutrients variation and
Keywords: Nutrients, Total oxidized nitrogen, Ammonia, anthropogenic activities, Daya Bay, South China Sea
Received: 15 Jan 2025; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, He, Li, Yang, Liu, Zhang, Qin, Tang, Zhou, Xu and Cheng. 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: Cai Li, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, China
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