Zooplankton composition at the estuarine plume front of Terengganu estuary. Thaarshini Paramasivan, Roswati Md Amin
Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
Abstract
The spatial pattern of zooplankton community was studied during southwest monsoon season at the estuarine plume front of Terengganu estuary. Zooplanktons were collected at three main regions of the estuary that were plume, front and shelf during May and August 2022, where comparison of zooplankton composition and diversity and relationship of environmental factors were done. Frontal zone of the estuary yields greater density of zooplankton during high tide with tide height greater than 1.5 m in both surface and mid waters. Zooplanktons sampled during the formation of front due to the convergence of plume and shelf waters also recorded high zooplankton density. The average density of zooplankton recorded in the month of May and August 2022 was 5422.18 individuals per cubic meter and 8030 individual per cubic meter respectively. In both sampling events, copepod group yield higher abundance which was 82.1% and 90.0% respectively. The dominant genus recorded for the month of May 2022 was Oithona sp., and Paracalanus sp. and shift to Oncaea sp., and Microsetella sp. for the month of August 2022. The findings from this study contributes in the baseline understanding of the dynamics of the estuarine plume fronts in shaping the zooplankton community.
Keywords: Zooplankton, Composition, Estuarine Front
