- Dona Paula, Goa, India.
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| Abstract Submission No. | ABS-2022-06-0184 |
| Title of Abstract | Dominance of heterotrophic dinoflagellates in the continental shelf waters of the Eastern Arabian Sea |
| Authors | Sai Elangovan S*, Mangesh U Gauns |
| Organisation | CSIR-NIO, |
| Address | Plankton Ecology Lab, BOD, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography Panaji, Goa, India Pincode: 403004 Mobile: 9767210954 E-mail: saimicrobes@gmail.com |
| Country | India |
| Presentation | Poster |
| Abstract | We studied the community composition of microzooplankton (MZP) in surface water over a period of one year (January-December, 2013) from nearshore (stns: G3 & G4; station depth:10-14m) to offshore (G5 & G6; 27-36m) region of the eastern Arabian Sea, off-Goa-India. The MZP numerical abundance found to vary spatially irrespective of the seasons, higher in the offshore region (38-127 cells L-1) than in the nearshore stations (20-97 cells L-1). MZP community was represented by 35 species of 25 genera, which include loricate ciliates (18 species of 14 genera), aloricate ciliates (5 species of 3 genera), heterotrophic dinoflagellates (HDS;12 species of 8 genera) and Copepod nauplii.The contribution of HDS to MZP community was large (16-85%) during most part of the year particularly during high saline (salinity: 35) period of spring intermonsoon. While, ciliates and copepod nauplii communities together contributed only 15-20%. The dominated species of HDS were Porocentrum micans, Protoperidinium breve, Protoperidinium latistriatum, and Protoperidinium granii. The statistical analysis (Spearman's rank correlation) depicts that MZP abundance and community composition in the study region is mainly controlled by salinity (r= 0.4-0.7). The dominance HDS in the marine environment could be the reason of diverse feeding mechanism and mixotrophic in nature. Further, investigation on heterotrophic dinoflagellates feeding mechanism and species-specific salinity preference would help to understand their key role in coastal food web dynamics. |