Find in Library

The zooplankton community structure in bays fluctuates as a result of anthropogenic activities in such waters. We focused on the short-term variability of a zooplankton community and compared its differences at the outflow of a nuclear power plant (ONPP), in a marine cage-culture area (MCCA) and in unpolluted waters (UW) in the south-west part of Daya Bay from 28 April to 1 June 2001. Environmental factors and zooplankton abundance differed significantly among stations at ONPP, MCCA and UW: high temperatures and a high zooplankton abundance occurred at ONPP, while a high chlorophyll a concentration and a low zooplankton abundance prevailed in MCCA. Statistical analysis revealed that the zooplankton diversity and abundance could be reduced by the activity of the marine cage-culture in a short time. <i>Penilia avirostris</i> made up an important component of the zooplankton in the study area, its abundance ranging widely from 16 to 7267 indiv. m^-3 from April to June and peaking at the ONPP outflow. The outbreak of <i>P. avirostris</i> probably resulted from the combined effects of favourable water temperature, food concentration and its parthenogenetic behaviour.