Abstract:The culture area of Pyropia sp. at Fuxin fishing port, in Rizhao City, China, were investigated from November 2016 to March 2017. The temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the nutrient and community structures of phytoplankton and their relationships were analyzed. The main conclusions were as follows: Generally, the spatial horizontal distribution of inorganic nitrogen, phosphate and silicate concentrations showed a decreasing trend between the nearshore area and offshore sea areas. Nitrate, silicate, phosphate, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved organic nitrogen concentrations were significantly different in the different months. Over, all the surveyed sea area was at a mesotrophic level. The range of phytoplankton density was (0.049~3.031) × 104 cells/L and the phytoplankton growth was likely to be controlled by the silicate and phosphate. 37 species of diatom belonging to 27 genera, followed by dinoflagellates represented by 8 taxa (7 genera) and chrysophyceae by 1 taxa (1 genera) were recorded. The most common and dominant species were Skeletonema sp., Chaetoceros sp., and Coscinodiscus sp. The diversity index of phytoplankton decreased significantly in January and March, which may be caused by the sharp decrease in salinity and richness of nutrients in January, significant rises in ammonia nitrogen concentrations, and significant decrease in phosphate concentration in March. The ammonia nitrogen concentration and DIN/P ratio were both negatively correlated with the diversity index of phytoplankton. The negative relationship was significant for the non-cultured area, while it was not significant for the cultured area. It can be inferred from the above correlation analysis results that Pyropia sp. cultivation is beneficial for reducing the ammonia nitrogen levels and DIN/P ratio in the sea area, thus increasing the stability of phytoplankton community structures and the species diversity of phytoplankton, which will help to prevent the occurrence of red tides. These results provide information valuable for marine environment protection, red tide prevention and future developments of aquaculture systems.
