engleski

Seasonal variations in the net mesozooplankton community structure and abundance in the port of Rijeka

This survey aimed to update the mesozooplankton community's existing database in the port of Rijeka. The port baseline survey protocol developed during the BALMAS project (2013 - 2016) served as the guideline for the sampling methodoloAgy of this study. The port of Rijeka is located in the Northern Adriatic Sea, its border is 100 m isobath. The Northern Adriatic Sea is characterized by the largest riverine contributions in the basin. The area of the port of Rijeka is enclosed, it is connected to the open sea in the western area which is quite narrow. Low-moderate easterly winds impact the port, water being blown out to the open sea. Average abundance values of the total net mesozooplankton ranged from a minimum of 2, 888 ind. m-3 at station RIbwB during the autumn period to a maximum of 99, 365 ind. m-3 at the same station RIbwB during the summer period. Copepods were the most abundant group throughout the study period, they dominated in all samples. The minimal copepod’s contribution to the total zooplankton was 56 %, during autumn at RIbwB station, while the maximal copepod’s contribution was 96 %, during spring at JPG28 station. The values of temperature, salinity, and total net zooplankton abundance were correlated with individual zooplankton groups during each season. Besides that, we also performed correlations between important zooplankton groups during each season. The highest numbers of significant correlations of temperature, salinity, and total net zooplankton with individual zooplankton groups were observed during spring and, the highest number of significant correlations between groups were observed during winter and spring. Average total zooplankton abundance and that of copepods have increased compared to previous research conducted in the same area in 2014.

mesozooplankton ; port of Rijeka ; copepods ; community structure ; abundance

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