Spring dominant copepods and their distribution pattern in the Yellow Sea

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between mesoscale spatial distribution of environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, and sigma-t), chlorophyll-a concentration and mesozooplankton in the Yellow Sea during May 1996, 1997, and 1998, with special reference to Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW). Adult calanoid copepods, Calanus sinicus, Paracalanus parvus s.l., Acartia omorii, and Centropages abdominalis were isolated by BVSTEP analysis based on the consistent explainable percentage (-32.3%) of the total mesozooplankton distributional pattern. The copepods, which accounted for 60 to 87% of the total abundances, occupied 73-78% of the copepod community. The YSBCW consistently remained in the northern part of the study area and influenced the spatial distribution of the calanoid copepods during the study periods. Abundances of C. sinicus and P. parvus s.l., which were high outside the YSBCW, were positively correlated with the whole water average temperature (p<0.0). In contrast, the abundances of C. abdominalis and A. omorii, which were relatively high in the YSBCW, were associated with the integrated chl-a concentration based on factor analysis. These results indicate that the YSBCW influenced the mesoscale spatial heterogeneity of average temperature and integrated chl-a concentration through the water column. This consequently affected the spatial distribution pattern of the dominant copepods in association with their respective preferences for environmental and biological parameters in the Yellow Sea during spring.