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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Simple Summary

How the origin and pathways of water masses can be traced by particular bioindicators remains an intriguing issue in biological oceanography. In the present zooplankton study focusing on copepods, calanoid copepodites were most abundant, with an average abundance of 774.24 ± 289.42 (inds. m−3) in the northeastern waters of Taiwan during the prevailing northeast monsoon, followed by the dominant copepod species Paracalanus aculeatus and Clausocalanus furcatus. According to hydrological parameters, the water masses were mainly derived from northeast monsoon surface waters, Kuroshio intrusion water, and mixed water masses. Indicator species were Temora turbinata, Calanopia elliptica, and Canthocalanus pauper in the northeast monsoon-derived water mass. Farranula concinna and Copilia mirabilis represented suitable indicators for the Kuroshio intrusion water mass in the research area. In the mixed water mass, the indicator species were Paracandacia truncata, Oncaea clevei, and P. aculeatus in the research area during the sampling campaign in late autumn.

Abstract

During this research, the average surface temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH were 24.65 ± 1.53 (°C), 34.21 ± 0.07 (PSU), 6.85 ± 0.18 (mg/L), and 8.36 ± 0.03, respectively. Based on these environmental parameters, stations were arranged into three groups. Group A represents stations located around Keelung Island with the relative highest average dissolved oxygen, lowest average temperature, and pH values. Instead, the lowest average dissolved oxygen and highest average temperature, salinity, and pH values were recorded at the offshore stations. Keelung Island area was charged by cold water masses, which were driven by the Northeast monsoon, and stations in group C were affected by the Kuroshio Current. Kueishan Island area was mainly affected by mixed water masses resulting from the Kuroshio intrusion and monsoon-derived cold water. In this study, a total of 108 copepod species were identified, with an average abundance of 774.24 ± 289.42 (inds. m−3). Most species belong to the orders Calanoida and Poecilostomatoida, with an average relative abundance (RA) of 62.96% and 30.56%, respectively. Calanoid copepodites were the most dominant group, with a RA of 28.06%. This was followed by Paracalanus aculeatus, with a RA of 18.44%. The RA of Clausocalanus furcatus and Canthocalanus pauper was 4.80% and 3.59%, respectively. The dominant species P. aculeatus, C. pauper, Paracalanus parvus, and Temora turbinata were positively correlated with dissolved oxygen and negatively correlated with temperature in the surface waters. pH showed a negative correlation with P. parvus and T. turbinata, while the temperature was negatively correlated with these two dominant species. Indicator species were selected by an indicator value higher than 50%. Temora turbinata, Calanopia elliptica, C. pauper, Euchaeta concinna, Temora discaudata, Acartia pacifica, Macrosetella gracilis, Corycaeus speciosus, and P. parvus were considered as monsoonal cold water indicator species in Group A. Indicator copepod species for the Kuroshio Current were Farranula concinna, Copilia mirabilis, Candacia aethiopica, Corycaeus agilis, Farranula gibbula and Acrocalanus monachus in the study area. Paracandacia truncata, Oncaea clevei, P. aculeatus, and Centropages furcatus were considered suitable indicators for mixed water masses.

Details

Title
Copepods as Indicators of Different Water Masses during the Northeast Monsoon Prevailing Period in the Northeast Taiwan
Author
Yan-Guo, Wang 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Li-Chun, Tseng 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Sun, Rou-Xin 3 ; Xiao-Yin, Chen 3 ; Peng Xiang 3 ; Wang, Chun-Guang 3 ; Bing-Peng, Xing 3 ; Jiang-Shiou Hwang 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202301, Taiwan; Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen 361005, China 
 Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202301, Taiwan 
 Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen 361005, China 
 Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202301, Taiwan; Center of Excellence for Ocean Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202301, Taiwan; Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202301, Taiwan 
First page
1357
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20797737
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2716501193
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.