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Copepod community structure related to environmental factors from a summer cruise in the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia, eastern Mediterranean Sea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Zaher Drira ,
Malika Belhassen ,
Habib Ayadi ,
Asma Hamza ,
Rafik Zarrad ,
Abderrahmen Bouaïn  and
Lotfi Aleya
Zaher Drira
Affiliation:
Université de Sfax, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Département des Sciences de la Vie. Unité de Recherche UR/05ES05 Biodiversité et Ecosystème Aquatiques, Route Soukra Km 3.5–BP 1171–CP 3000 Sfax, Tunisie
Malika Belhassen
Affiliation:
Institut National des Sciences et Technologie de la Mer, 2025 Salammbô Tunis, Tunisie
Habib Ayadi
Affiliation:
Université de Sfax, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Département des Sciences de la Vie. Unité de Recherche UR/05ES05 Biodiversité et Ecosystème Aquatiques, Route Soukra Km 3.5–BP 1171–CP 3000 Sfax, Tunisie
Asma Hamza
Affiliation:
Institut National des Sciences et Technologie de la Mer, Centre de Sfax–BP 1035–CP 3018 Sfax, Tunisie
Rafik Zarrad
Affiliation:
Institut National des Sciences et Technologie de la Mer, 2025 Salammbô Tunis, Tunisie
Abderrahmen Bouaïn
Affiliation:
Université de Sfax, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Département des Sciences de la Vie. Unité de Recherche UR/05ES05 Biodiversité et Ecosystème Aquatiques, Route Soukra Km 3.5–BP 1171–CP 3000 Sfax, Tunisie
Lotfi Aleya*
Affiliation:
Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249 1, Place Leclerc, 25030 Besançon cedex, France
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L. Aleya, Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249 1, Place Leclerc, 25030 Besançon cedex, France email: lotfi.aleya@univ-fcomte.fr
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Abstract

We studied the summer spatial distribution of the copepod community in both the neritic and oceanic areas of the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia, eastern Mediterranean Sea) coupled with environmental factors. Copepods were the most abundant zooplankton throughout the sampling period, contributing 78% of the total zooplankton. A total of 14 copepod families were identified in all stations, with an overwhelming abundance of Acartiidae and Oithonidae (39.05 and 39.09% of total abundance, respectively). Abundance of Acartia clausi and chlorophyll-a concentrations were negatively correlated with salinity, suggesting that this species probably escaped the high coastal salinity (38 psu). Significant correlation determined between A. clausi and tintinnids at 50 m isobaths indicates that these planktonic ciliates probably served as a substantial food link towards higher trophic levels of this area. Conversely, Oithona nana which was well adapted to high chlorophyll-a concentrations and high salinity along the coast, showed significant correlations with Dictyochophyceae, Dinophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Euglenophyceae, suggesting that this small copepod was capable of feeding on a wide selection of phytoplankton preys.

Keywords

Gulf of GabèscopepodsAcartia clausiOithona nanaphysico-chemical parameters
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 145 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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