Short-term Changes of Community Structure of Phytoplankton in Summer Around Namhae Island of Korea

The short-term dynamics of the summer phytoplankton community structure were investigated in coastal waters around Namhae Island, the Southern Sea of Korea. The study was based on a comprehensive survey constituting 39 collections from 13 stations on July 18-22, August 1-2, 14-16 and 27-30, respectively. The community structure was analysed using cluster analysis and important environmental correlates of the assemblage structure were identified with canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Water temperature, salinity, NO₂, NO₃, NH₄, PO₄, chlorophyll a and transparency were measured as physico-chemical environmental factors which may be associated with the phytoplankton community structure. Variations of salinity and concentrations of NO₃ and chlorophyll a were not significant. In addition to warmer water temperature, concentrations of NO₂, NO₄and PO₄ decreased at the beginning of August. And transparency was deeper and water column became very unstable after the middle of August. A wide taxonomic diversity was encountered during the survey, including a total of 121 taxa which was composed of 72 diatoms, 48 dinoflagellates and 1 euglenoid species. Cluster analysis showed that the Phytoplankton community could be divided into 4 distinct groups, indicating rapid changes of the community in the short course of this survey. These phytoplankton groups also showed distinctive dispersion patterns in 2-dimensional canonical space, indicating distinct groupings for stations at each survey. Dominant taxa of diatoms (Chaetoceros curvisetus, Chaetoceros spp., Leptocylindrus danicus, Leptocylindrus mediteraneus, Skeletonema costanum, and Pseudo-nitzschia pungen) clustered in region of CCA space corresponding to stations surveyed at the middle of July. Dominant taxa of dinoflagellates were tightly associated with stations surveyed at the middle (Karenia breve) and end (Cochlodinium polykrikoides and Polykrikos schwartzii) of August. The CCA also showed that the phytoplankton community compositions were highly associated with water temperature, transparency, NO₂, NH₄ and PO₄, suggesting that gradients in physical and nutrient conditions affect short-term changes in phytoplankton composition