Time series variation of plankton in a remote industrial island, Taiwan Strait, southwestern Taiwan

Meng-Hsien Chen¹ Saou-Lien Wong² Tzu-Chun Chen¹ Chen-Tung Chen¹

(1.Department of Oceanography, “Sun Yat-sen University”, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 80424)
(2.Department of Aquaculture, Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan 91201)

【Knowledge Link】biomass; fixed; standard deviation; producer

【Abstract】Eighteen years of monitoring data at four sections along the coastline of Taisi Township, Yunlin County, between 1993 and 2010 were used to investigate the effects of power plant on plankton abundance. Sampling was conducted at depths of 10 m and 20 m in each section. Among the four seasons, the fourth quarter (October to December) had the lowest average abundance of plankton over the years. However, the peak abundance of different types of plankton occurred in different seasons. Zooplankton had the highest abundance during the 1st and 2nd quarters (January to June) while phytoplankton, shrimp larvae and crab larvae had the greatest abundance in the 2nd quarter (April to June) and the peak in fish egg and fish larvae occurred from the 1st to the 3rd quarter (January to September). Cumulative data from 18 years shows that the pH of SEC5 often droped below 7.8 since the 3rd quarter of 2000. pH value lower than 7.8 were frequently measured in the stations of section 5. Each time the pH value is under 7.8, the quantities of zooplankton (75 ± 69 ind./m³), phytoplankton [(1.60 ± 2.28) × 10³ cell/L], shrimp larvae (2.4 ± 5.8 ind./m³), crab larvae (1.9 ± 5.0 ind./m³), fish egg (0.88 ± 1.10 ind./m³), and fish larvae (0.16 ± 0.32 ind./m³) showed significant low values (only the half of the total average). Accordingly, we strongly suggest that the warm water effluents discharging from a power plant should maintain the pH above 7.8 in the coastal waters to reduce the negative impact on the marine plankton diversity and abundance.

【Keywords】 pH; plankton; Yunlin coast; ocean acidification; flue gas desulphurization (FGD);

【DOI】

【Funds】 Long-term Cost Support from a Remote Industrial Island Development Foundation of Taiwan Industrial Bureau

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