[Phytoplankton assemblage in Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent waters in winter time]

Water samples were collected from Yangtze River Estuary and its adjacent waters in 28th February-10th March, 2005, and the species composition of phytoplankton was analyzed by Utermöhl method. A total of 130 taxa (including 25 uncertain species) which belong to 67 genera of 5 phyla were identified. The phytoplankton community was mainly composed of Bacillariophyta, followed by Dinophyta. There were also a few species belonging to Chrysophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae. The dominant species were Paralia sulcata, Skeletonema costatum, Thalassiosira rotula, Bleakeleya notata, Coscinodiscus radiatus and Thalassiosira excentrica. The cell abundance of phytoplankton ranged from 0.1 to 90.0 cells x ml(-1), with an average of 10.1 cells x ml(-1). Horizontally, the cell abundance was relatively high in inshore and low in offshore; while vertically, it was high in surface water and decreased slightly with increasing water depth. The cell abundance and chl a concentration of phytoplankton positively correlated with the concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, phosphate and silicate in water, but negatively correlated with water salinity. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Pielou evenness index were higher in the center of survey area but lower in northeast part and inshore area.