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Coupling of phytoplankton community structure to nutrients, ciliates and copepods in the Gulf of Gabès (south Ionian Sea, Tunisia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2009

Zaher Drira ,
Asma Hamza ,
Malika Bel Hassen ,
Habib Ayadi ,
Abderrahmen Bouain  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 Ecosystèmes 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 Sfax 3018Tunisie
Malika Bel Hassen
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 Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, Route Soukra Km 3.5–BP 1171–CP 3000 Sfax, Tunisie
Abderrahmen Bouain
Affiliation:
Université de Sfax, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Département des Sciences de la Vie, Unité de Recherche UR/05ES05 Biodiversité et Ecosystèmes 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- Place Leclerc, F-25030 Besançon cedex, France
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L. Aleya, Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-environnement, UMR CNRS 6249- Place Leclerc, F-25030 Besançon cedex, France email: lotfi.aleya@univ-fcomte.fr
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Abstract

The summer spatial distribution of the phytoplankton community in the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia, eastern Mediterranean Sea), together with environmental factors, were studied during a preliminary study conducted in July 2005 aboard the RV ‘Hannibal’. The phytoplankton community, which showed a decrease in concentration along a coastal–open sea gradient, was dominated by Dictyochophyceae (41%) followed by Dinophyceae (25%), Bacillariophyceae (16%), Cyanobacteriae (17%) and Euglenophyceae (1%). The phytoplankton found along the coast was dominated by opportunistic species (e.g. Dictyocha fibula) associated with high nutrient availability. In the open sea, phytoplankton development seemed influenced by Atlantic hydrodynamics. In addition, the Gulf of Gabès is characterized by an oligotrophic status with a summer stratification that impacted on species composition especially in off-shore areas. The coupling of phytoplankton dynamics to nutrients, ciliates and copepods showed the potential role played by ciliates not only as predators of phytoplankton but also as prey for filter-feeding copepods accounting for the increased fisheries productivity of the Gulf of Gabès.

Keywords

Gulf of Gabèsphysical–chemical factorschlorophyll-aphytoplanktonciliatescopepods
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Special Issue 6: In Honour of Sir Frederick Stratten Russell, FRS , September 2010 , pp. 1203 - 1215
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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