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Vol. 37 No. 4, 1998
Taxonomic Composition and Grazing Impact of Calanoid Copepods in Coastal Waters near Nuclear Power Plants in Northern Taiwan
Chong-Kim Wong1, Jiang-Shiou Hwang2,* and Qing-Chao Chen3
1Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
2Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan 202
3South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Academia Sinica, Guangzhou, China
Chong-Kim Wong, Jiang-Shiou Hwang and Qing-Chao Chen (1998)
This study was carried out in August 1996 to study the taxonomic
composition and grazing impact of calanoid copepods in coastal waters
at 8 sampling stations outside Nuclear Power Plants 1 and 2 on the
northern tip of Taiwan. Thermal pollution was observed at station 3
outside Nuclear Power Plant 2 where surface water temperature reached
30.0 cC. At each sampling station, the abundance and species
composition of calanoid copepods were analyzed; the gut fluorescence
method was used to estimate in situ ingestion rates and clearance
rates. Thirty-seven species of calanoid cope pods were identified. The
abundance and species composition of calanoid copepods varied among
sampling stations. Acrocalanus gracilis, comprising 30%-90% of the
numerical abundance, strongly dominated the calanoid copepod community
in the area during the study period. Variability of ingestion rates and
clearance rates for a single species was high among the sampling
stations. Despite its relatively small size and low clearance rate, A.
gracilis was the most important grazer because of its numerical
abundance. Grazing impact, estimated as the fraction of chlorophyll
removed from 1 rn" of water by the calanoid copepod assemblage ranged
from 0.05% to 11%, suggesting that the grazing pressure of calanoid
copepods on phytoplankton in the near shore waters outside Nuclear
Power Plants 1 and 2 was minor. There was no evidence to suggest that
the slightly elevated surface water temperature had affected the
community structure or grazing impact of calanoid copepods at station 3.
Key words: Calanoid copepods, Taxonomic composition, Grazing impact.
*Correspondence: -
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