State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, The Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA, Hangzhou, China.
PLoS One. 2013 May 9;8(5):e64188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064188. Print 2013.
During the last two decades, large-scale high biomass algal blooms of the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum donghaiense Lu have occurred frequently in the East China Sea (ECS). The role of increasing nutrient concentrations in driving those blooms is well-established, but the source population that initiates them is poorly understood. We hypothesized that the front of Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) may serve as a 'seed bank' that initiates P. donghaiense blooms in the ECS, as the physiochemical conditions in the TWC are suitable for the growth of P. donghaiense. In order to test this hypothesis, two surveys at different spatio-temporal scales were conducted in 2010 and 2011. We found a strong correlation in space and time between the abundance of P. donghaiense and the TWC. The spatial extent of the P. donghaiense bloom coincided with the TWC front in both 2010 and 2011. During the early development of the blooms, P. donghaiense concentration was highest at the TWC front, and then the bloom mass shifted inshore over the course of our 2011 survey. The TWC also moved inshore, albeit after the appearance of P. donghaiense. Overall, these results support our hypothesis that P. donghaiense blooms develop from the population at the TWC front in the ECS, suggesting the role of the ocean current front as a seed bank to dinoflagellate blooms.
在过去的二十年中，东海（ECS）中频繁发生大型高光生物量东海原甲藻（Prorocentrum donghaiense Lu）的赤潮。增加营养浓度在驱动这些赤潮中的作用已得到充分证实，但引发赤潮的起始种群却知之甚少。我们假设，台湾暖流（TWC）的锋面可能充当“种子库”，在东海引发东海原甲藻赤潮，因为 TWC 的理化条件适合东海原甲藻的生长。为了验证这一假设，我们于 2010 年和 2011 年进行了两次不同时空尺度的调查。我们发现，东海原甲藻的丰度与 TWC 之间存在很强的时空相关性。2010 年和 2011 年，赤潮的空间范围与 TWC 锋面一致。在赤潮的早期发展过程中，东海原甲藻的浓度在 TWC 锋面处最高，然后在 2011 年调查过程中，赤潮质量向近岸转移。尽管东海原甲藻出现后，TWC 也向近岸移动。总的来说，这些结果支持了我们的假设，即东海原甲藻赤潮是从 TWC 锋面的种群中发展而来的，这表明了海流锋面作为赤潮种源的作用。
