Phytoplankton abundance and distribution in Chukai, Kemaman mangrove waterways

Abstract

Phytoplankton percentage abundance and distribution in relation to the environment parameters was studied from 12 stations in Chukai, Kemaman waterways. A hydrolab quanta was used to measure the water quality parameters such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature at each station. Phytoplankton samples were collected by using Kitahara plankton net. Phytoplankton identification and cell counting was done using Lackey's Drop Method. Counts were expressed as number of cells, diversity index and evenness index. The station similarities were portrayed using PRIMER version 5.2 software. CANOCO version 4.5 software was used to show phytoplankton generaenvironment relationship. From the result, there were four major groups of phytoplankton namely Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Dinophyceae and Dhrysophyceae, represent 31 genera. Bacillariophyceae was the dominant group with more than 70% population. Chukai, Kemaman waterways relatively high salinity with an average of 26.75ppt and neutral pH (7). Three groups of station similarity, group 1 (station 1 to 4), Group 2 (station 6) and other stations in group 3 (at 77% similarity) and three groups of phytoplankton genera (at 20% similarity), group 1 represented 4 genera, group 2 represented 2 genera and group 3 represented 26 genera of phytoplankton were observed there. One group represented a relationship between the physical parameters (D.O, salinity, temperature, pH) and phytoplankton genera.