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Spatial and seasonal variations in the planktonic ciliate community and its relationship with environmental factors in Daya Bay, the South China Sea

Fengxia Wu
Fengxia Wu
, 
Jianrong Huang
Jianrong Huang
, 
Zhanhui Qi
Zhanhui Qi
 and 
Honghui Huang
Honghui Huang
   | May 31, 2017
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Article Category: Original research paper
Published Online: May 31, 2017
Page range: 212 - 222
Received: Aug 16, 2016
Accepted: Oct 10, 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ohs-2017-0021
© Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Poland. All rights reserved.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Location of the study area and the sampling sites of planktonic ciliates in Daya Bay
Location of the study area and the sampling sites of planktonic ciliates in Daya Bay

Figure 2

Proportions of the number of species (a) and abundance (b) of planktonic ciliates in Daya Bay
Proportions of the number of species (a) and abundance (b) of planktonic ciliates in Daya Bay

Figure 3

Variation in the number of species (a) and abundance (b) of planktonic ciliates in Daya Bay
Variation in the number of species (a) and abundance (b) of planktonic ciliates in Daya Bay

Figure 4

Cluster analysis of ciliate communities on the Bray-Curtis similarity matrix from the fourth-root transformed biotic data of 48 surface samples from Daya Bay. Wi: winter; Sp: spring; Su: summer; Au: autumn
Cluster analysis of ciliate communities on the Bray-Curtis similarity matrix from the fourth-root transformed biotic data of 48 surface samples from Daya Bay. Wi: winter; Sp: spring; Su: summer; Au: autumn

Figure 5

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of ciliate communities on the Bray-Curtis similarity matrix from the fourth-root transformed biotic data of 48 surface samples in Daya Bay. Wi: winter; Sp: spring; Su: summer; Au: autumn
Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of ciliate communities on the Bray-Curtis similarity matrix from the fourth-root transformed biotic data of 48 surface samples in Daya Bay. Wi: winter; Sp: spring; Su: summer; Au: autumn

Figure 6

Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) ordination plots show the relationship between ciliate communities and environmental factors during four seasons (a), in winter (b), in spring (c), in summer (d) and in autumn (e). The length of vectors indicates the marginal effects of environmental variables they represent. The sample points can be projected perpendicularly onto the line overlaying the arrow of a given environmental variable. The sample points are arranged according to the predicated increase in values of a given environmental variable and the predicted increase occurs in the direction indicated by the arrow. (a) expresses mainly seasonal variation in ciliate communities in relation to environmental factors. (b)-(e) express spatial variation in ciliate communities in each season in relation to environmental factors. Wi: winter; Sp: spring; Su: summer; Au: autumn
Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) ordination plots show the relationship between ciliate communities and environmental factors during four seasons (a), in winter (b), in spring (c), in summer (d) and in autumn (e). The length of vectors indicates the marginal effects of environmental variables they represent. The sample points can be projected perpendicularly onto the line overlaying the arrow of a given environmental variable. The sample points are arranged according to the predicated increase in values of a given environmental variable and the predicted increase occurs in the direction indicated by the arrow. (a) expresses mainly seasonal variation in ciliate communities in relation to environmental factors. (b)-(e) express spatial variation in ciliate communities in each season in relation to environmental factors. Wi: winter; Sp: spring; Su: summer; Au: autumn

List of ciliate species encountered in Daya Bay

Ciliate species
1 Amphorellopsis acuta 22 Tintinnopsis schotti
2 Codonellopsis morchella 23 Tintinnopsis tentaculata
3 Codonellopsis ostenfeldi 24 Tintinnopsis tubulosa
4 Dadayiella ganymedes 25 Tintinnopsis turgida
5 Eutintinnus fraknoii 26 Tintinnopsis vosmaeri
6 Eutintinnus stramentus 27 Wangiella dicollaria
7 Favella companula 28 Helicostomella longa
8 Leprotintinnus nordqvisti 29 Strombidium conicum
9 Leprotintinnus simplex 30 Strombidium globosaneum
10 Salpingacantha minutissima 31 Strombidium major
11 Metacylis tropica 32 Strombidium sp.
12 Metacylis oviformis 33 Spirotontonia turbinata
13 Stenosemella pacifica 34 Laboea strobila
14 Tintinnopsis minuta 35 Euplotes eurystomus
15 Tintinnopsis radix 36 Mesodinium rubrum
16 Tintinnopsis tocantinencis 37 Didinium nasufum
17 Tintinnopsis beroidea 38 Lacrymaria sp.
18 Tintinnopsis butschlii 39 Amphileptus sp.
19 Tintinnopsis corniger 40 Cyclidium sp.
20 Tintinnopsis digita 41 Prorodon sp.
21 Tintinnopsis nucula    

Dominant ciliate species in each season in Daya Bay (species dominance, Y ≥ 0.02)

Dominant species Y
Winter Spring Summer Autumn
Tintinnopsis minuta 0.5716 - - 0.0215
Tintinnopsis beroidea 0.0863 - - -
Strombidium conicum 0.0387 0.4583 0.0336 0.1792
Strombidium globosaneum 0.1165 0.0538 0.0413 0.1481
Spirotontonia turbinata - 0.3678 0.0656 0.0443
Laboea strobila - 0.0687 - -
Amphorellopsis acuta - - 0.1321 -
Eutintinnus stramentus - - 0.0407 -
Tintinnopsis tocantinencis - - 0.0200 0.0447
Tintinnopsis corniger - - 0.0235 -
Helicostomella longa - - 0.3221 -
Tintinnopsis nucula - - - 0.0937
Wangiella dicollaria - - - 0.0507
Mesodinium rubrum - - - 0.0948

Summary of results from biota-environment (BIOENV) analysis, with the top ten correlations corresponding to different variables (R is Spearman correlation coefficient)

Rank R Environmental variables
1 0.391 Sal., pH
2 0.388 Sal., NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, PO43-
3 0.387 DO, NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, PO43-
4 0.386 Temp., Sal., pH
5 0.386 Temp., NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, PO43-
6 0.386 Sal., DO, NO2-, NO3-, PO43-
7 0.384 pH, NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, PO43-
8 0.384 Sal., pH, NO2-, NO3-, PO43-
9 0.383 Temp., Sal., NO2-, NO3-, PO43-
10 0.383 pH, DO, NO2-, NO3-, PO43-

Correlation between environmental variables and ciliate abundance (N), the number of species (S) in four seasons in Daya Bay

parameters Winter Spring Summer Autumn
N S N S N S N S
Temp. -0.448 0.088 0.374 -0.181 0.282 -0.751** -0.470 -0.083
Sal. -0.606* 0.441 -0.840** -0.103 0.881** -0.720** 0.231 0.431
pH 0.748** -0.537 -0.448 -0.061 0.342 -0.241 0.309 -0.169
DO 0.672* -0.352 -0.379 -0.330 0.757** -0.560 -0.214 -0.064
NO2- -0.469 0.454 0.331 -0.088 0.772** -0.549 0.499 0.395
NO3- -0.489 0.185 0.341 -0.02 -0.346 0.049 -0.161 -0.511
NH4+ -0.113 0.543 0.434 -0.105 -0.088 0.225 0.590* 0.688*
DIN -0.484 0.247 0.468 -0.091 0.179 -0.155 0.474 0.338
PO43- -0.329 0.693* 0.547 -0.165 0.677** -0.278 -0.423 -0.794**
Chl a 0.395 0.179 0.244 0.432 0.026 0.047 -0.065 -0.298

Environmental variables for Daya Bay water samplings in winter 2013, spring, summer and autumn 2014

Parameters Unit Winter Spring Summer Autumn
Temp. °C 16.93 24.73 27.75 24.89
Sal. PSU 32.83 31.86 33.94 33.80
pH   8.27 8.31 8.07 8.20
DO mg l-1 7.21 5.98 5.45 5.46
NO2- μmol l-1 0.39 0.27 0.63 0.20
NO3- 1.57 1.73 7.05 2.09
NH4+ 1.53 1.74 3.12 1.78
DIN 3.49 3.74 10.8 4.08
PO43- 0.29 0.20 0.41 0.22
Chl a μg l-1 1.78 2.07 3.92 2.48
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