Prevalence of Marine Zooplankton around Port Sudan
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Marine zooplankton and some physical parameters (water \ntemperature and transparency) and chemical parameters (salinity, pH and \nphosphate, nitrate, nitrite and oxygen) were studied from November 2009 \nto October 2010, at six stations around Port Sudan. The stations were: \nTires Factory (station 1), Fish market (Station 2), Open Sea (Station 3), \nthe harbour entrance (Station 4), the Faculty of Marine Sciences and \nFisheries (Station 5) and Sea Land (Station 6). Marine zooplankton was \nsampled, preserved, stained and identified according to the standard \nmethods. The physical and chemical parameters were determined \nfollowing standard methods. Fifteen groups of zooplankton (calanoida \ncopepods, cyclopoida copepods, branchyuran zoea, fish eggs, \ncladocerans, oikopleura, shrimp larvae, sagitta, cumaceans, tintinids, \ngastropod larvae, radiolarians, napulii, medusae, and polychaete larvae) \nwere recorded from the different stations at different frequencies. The \nhighest number of zooplankton was recorded in May (13430 ind. /m3). \nCalanoida copepods, cyclopoida copepods were the dominant groups and \ncladocerans were the least recorded. The highest number recorded in a \nstation was (18998 ind/m3) in station 1 and the least was (5519 ind/m3) at \nstation 6. Multiple correlation analysis was used to quantify the \nrelationship between the total number of zooplankton and the physical \nand chemical parameters at each station. The correlation was \nsignificantly high (p<0.05) in station 4 and low in station 5. A positive \nrelationship was found between dissolved oxygen concentration, \ntransparency and nitrate concentration with the total number of zooplankton. A significant correlation (p<0.05) was found between high \nsalinity and low total number of zooplankton. The study derived a \nmathematical model correlating total zooplankton with the physical and \nchemical parameters studied. This model perhaps may be the first of its \nkind in the Red Sea. The study recommends deriving similar models \nfrom other parts of the Sudanese coast and the region, and verifies the \nfeasibility of its application with focus on the physical and chemical \nparameters with highest impact on marine zooplankton. This will reduce \nthe effort and resources expended in these studies.
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2607185925