Impact of the Słupia River waters on microbial communities in the port of Ustka and adjacent Baltic Sea waters

Krzysztof Rychert, Magdalena Wielgat-Rychert, Łukasz Lemańczyk

Changes in chlorophyll a (black dots) and total suspended matter (circles) concentrations in surface waters (excluding sample 3D) along the transect between the Słupia River mouth and offshore waters. The correlation between the distance and chlorophyll a is statistically significant (trend line, R2 = 0.63, p = 0.02). The highest concentration of total suspended matter was encountered close to the entrance to the port of Ustka (station 4, 1.43 km from the river mouth, value 3.14 mg l−1)

Paper category: Original research paper
Corresponding author: Krzysztof Rychert (krychert@wp.pl)
DOI: 10.1515/ohs-2018-0040
Received: April 5, 2018
Accepted: June 4, 2018
Full text: here

Citation (APA style):

Abstract

The distribution of bacterial and ciliate abundance, ciliate community composition and other parameters were studied during summer along a transect from the mouth of the Słupia River to offshore waters (southern Baltic Sea). Bacteria were examined under an epifluorescence microscope and ciliates were observed under an inverted microscope. Two water masses were identified along the transect. Less saline waters in the river mouth and in the surface layer in the port of Ustka were characterized by high bacterial abundance (5.51–6.16 × 106 ml−1) and low ciliate abundance (0.34–0.90 cells ml−1). More saline waters in the near-bottom zone in the port of Ustka and in the surface layer outside the port contained smaller numbers of bacteria (0.99–2.14 × 106 ml−1) and larger numbers of ciliates (2.65–5.40 cells ml−1). The differences were statistically significant. The separation of the two water masses indicated that the Słupia River exerted a minor impact on the marine waters. The ciliate community composition changed along the transect studied. The main statistically significant difference observed was the low contribution of oligotrichs and choreotrichs to ciliate biomass (3–4%) in less saline waters and their dominance (45–80% of ciliate biomass) in more saline waters.

References

Bądź pierwszy, który skomentuje ten wpis

Dodaj komentarz