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JPR Advance Access originally published online on April 10, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(7):739-752; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbp025
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Zooplankton communities in two contrasting Basque estuaries (1999–2001): reporting changes associated with ecosystem health

A. Albaina1,{dagger},*, F. Villate1 and I. Uriarte2

1 Laboratory of Ecology, Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao 644 E-48008, Spain 2 Laboratory of Ecology, Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz E-01006, Spain

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: aitoralbaina{at}hotmail.com

Received on February 17, 2009; accepted on March 23, 2009


  Abstract

This study is a part of the zooplankton monitoring program carried out in the euhaline region of the estuaries of Bilbao and Urdaibai (Basque coast, Bay of Biscay), and analyses between-estuaries differences in zooplankton spatial and temporal patterns in relation to environmental conditions between July 1999 and May 2001. Environmental variables measured were water temperature, dissolved oxygen saturation (DOS), Secchi disk depth (SDD) and chlorophyll a. Relationships between zooplankton community and environmental variables were analysed using canonical correspondence analysis; between-estuaries differences in environmental conditions and distribution of zooplankton taxa in relation to salinity were tested using Mann–Whitney U-test. Spatial differentiation of the zooplankton community was higher in the estuary of Bilbao, with the relative abundance of most of the taxa decreasing more pronouncedly towards the upstream estuary than in the Urdaibai related to significantly lower values of DOS and SDD, reflecting the higher degree of pollution, in the Bilbao estuary. However, the successful establishment of the Acartia discaudata and A. margalefi populations, and the first records of another Acartia species, Calanipeda aquaedulcis and Eurytemora affinis in the Bilbao estuary, along with the increasing similarity between zooplankton assemblages of the Bilbao and Urdaibai estuaries in relation to the period 1997–1999, represent a new step in the recovery of the zooplankton community in the estuary of Bilbao responding to the improvement of water quality.

{dagger} Present Address: Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK

Corresponding editor: Roger Harris


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