An approach to analyzing environmental drivers of phytoplankton community patterns in coastal waters in the northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

As primary producers, phytoplankton are key components of aquatic food chains. To investigate the environmental drivers of phytoplankton community patterns, a one-year (2014–15) baseline survey was conducted in coastal waters of the northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. A total of 42 phytoplankton spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Regional studies in marine science 2019-05, Vol.29, p.100642, Article 100642
Main Authors: Abdullah Al, Mamun, Akhtar, Aysha, Hassan, Md. Leion, Rahman, Muhammed Forruq, Warren, Alan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bay of Bengal
Bioassessment
Community patterns
Environmental factors
Multivariate analysis
Primary producers
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Summary:As primary producers, phytoplankton are key components of aquatic food chains. To investigate the environmental drivers of phytoplankton community patterns, a one-year (2014–15) baseline survey was conducted in coastal waters of the northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. A total of 42 phytoplankton species were identified including 13 common and 13 dominant species belonging to eight divisions as Ochrophyta (20.41%), Bacillariophyta (17.01%), Ciliophora (16.36%), Cyanobacteria (14.39%), Myzozoa (12.45%), Miozoa (10.24%), Chlorophyta (7.21%) and Haptophyta (1.94%). The highest species richness (2.32) and diversity (3.07) occurred in winter and both were lowest during the monsoon (1.03 and 2.03, respectively) while maximum abundance was in the post-monsoon (27,736 ind./l) and minimum was recorded in the monsoon (6524 ind./l). Multivariate analysis revealed there was a clear seasonal variation in community patterns of phytoplankton communities (global R=0.364, P=0.011). BIOENV indicated that this variation was mainly driven by salinity, transparency, DO and water nutrients either alone or combined with associated factors. Biodiversity parameters showed significantly positive correlation with salinity, transparency, DO, nitrate–nitrogen and TDS whereas negative significant correlation with water temperature. These findings suggest that community patterns of phytoplankton communities were shaped by environmental variables and thus might be used as bioindicators for bioassessment in this marine ecosystems.
ISSN:2352-4855
2352-4855
DOI:10.1016/j.rsma.2019.100642