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Vol. 53, 2014
Distinct difference of littoral rotifer community structure
in two mangrove wetlands of Qi'ao Island, Pearl River estuary, China
Nan
Wei1 and Run-Lin Xu2*
1Pearl
River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery
Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510380, China
2School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, China
Abstract
Background: Less study was focused
on the ecological community of littoral rotifers than on pelagic area
worldwide. Moreover, rotifers were overlooked mostly due to the
improper sampling methods and lack of experienced taxonomists for
ecological researches, and the diversity and role of estuarine rotifers
in ecological systems were underestimated severely.
Results: A long-term investigation of the littoral
rotifer in a shallow mangrove swamp (MS) and a tidal creek (TC) of
Qi'ao Island, the Pearl River estuary of southern China, revealed
significant differences of the community structure at different sites
and in different seasons. Ninety-four monogonont rotifers were detected
in total. The average abundance of rotifer at MS (97.0 individuals/L)
was lower than that at TC (140.8 individuals/L), but all average
diversity indexes at MS were higher than those at TC. The main species
at MS were Colurella sp.1, Encentrum marinum, Colurella adriatica, Synchaeta cf. kitina, Synchaeta sp., and Cephalodella cf. innersi, whereas they were Synchaeta cf. kitina and Brachionus
angularis at TC. The rotifer community was correlated with the salinity
and total nitrogen group most at MS, while temperature contributed most
at TC.
Conclusions: .This study revealed
higher diversity and abundance of littoral rotifers at the two close
mangrove wetlands of Qi'ao Island compared to other studies. Different
kinds of biotopes at the two sites displayed significant difference of
the community structure, which was mainly due to the abundance of
different main species present at the two sites. The peculiar
environment of MS created an unusual rotifer community which had more
marine species with higher abundance mostly in winter.
Key words: Littoral rotifer; Abundance;
Diversity; Community structure; Stenohaline; Mangrove wetlands.
*Correspondence: E-mail: xurunlin_1960@yahoo.com
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