The Impact of  some environmental characteristics on the qualitative composition of phytoplankton and copepods community in the Khor Al-Zubair - North  West Arabian Gulf

A. Hussein, Sadek; J. Al-Shawi And A. M. Abdullah, Imad

	The Impact of some environmental characteristics on the qualitative composition of phytoplankton and copepods community in the Khor Al-Zubair - North West Arabian Gulf
basrah journal of science
Article 1, Volume 28, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 155-177 PDF (0 K)
Authors
Sadek A. Hussein; Imad J. Al-Shawi and A. M. Abdullah
Abstract
This ecological study was conducted in the Khor Al-Zubair - North West Arabian Gulf to determine the impact of some environmental characteristics on qualitative composition of the phytoplankton community and copepods. Samples were collected on monthly basis from January 2008 to January 2009. Three stations were selected to achieve the objectives of the study. The study included measurement of abiotic environmental characteristics, namely, air and water temperatures, total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity, transparency, and nutrients. Values showed marked fluctuation over the study period. Salinity exhibited very detectable increase compared with previous studies with the highest values (52.4 g/L) recorded from station 3 in August, while the lowest (32.8 g/L) was encountered from the same station in January. Khor water, in general, showed a clear decline in transparency, and values ranged from (10.5-44.5) (11.5-30.0) and (8.0-34.0) cm for the first, second and third stations respectively. Water turbidity was normally high, with the highest values (410.5 FTU) recorded from the first station in February. Nitrate concentrations revealed an increasing level at station three compared to others stations during the whole study period, the highest value was(40.86 µg-at N/L) recorded at station three in January 2008, while the lowest was (3.78µg-at N/L) measured during September at station one. The phosphate concentration reached the highest level (11.62 µg-at P/L) at station three during September and the lowest value was (0.4µg-at P/L) during April at station two. 67 species of phytoplankton were distinguished and were dominated by diatoms (52 species), followed by dinoflagellates (10 species), Chlorophyta (4 species) and finally chrysophyta (one species only). The majority of species were of marine origin. Eight genera of copepods were recorded in the study location. They belong to three order, dominated by Calanoida (9 genera), but three genera were evident, namely, Paracalanus sp., Acartia sp., Eucalanus sp. Cyclopoida and Poecilostomatoida each was represented by only one genus.

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