Spatio-temporal Fluctuation of Phytoplankton Size Fractionation in the Uljin Marine Ranching Area (UMRA), East Sea of Korea
To understand size fractioned chlorophyll a and material cycles of coastal ecosystem in Uljin marine ranching area (JMRA) of East Sea, 4 times of survey were conducted from April to November 2008. Picoplankton, nanoplankton and netplankton in the surface of UMRA fluctuated with an annual mean of 0.26 μg L-1 between the lowest value of 0.03 μg L-1 and the highest value of 0.87 μg L-1, annual mean 1.32 μg L-1 between 0.11 μg L-1 and 5.60 μg L-1, annual mean 0.45 μg L-1 between no detected (nd) and 4.68 μg L-1, respectively. And the relative ratio of picoplankton, nanoplankton and netplanktons on the phytoplankton biomass was on annual average 12.9%, 65.0% and 22.1%, respectively. The 10 m layer was similar to the surface. The relative ratio of pico- and nano-plankton was higher throughout the year. That is, the material cycle of UMRA consists of a microbial food web rather than traditional food chain at a lower trophic levels. Primary production is deemed to have a higher possibility of being adjusted by top-down dynamics, such as micro-zooplankton grazing pressure rather than nutrients supply.