• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2007

We studied spatial and temporal distributions of the phytoplankton and their relationships to physico-chemical environmental factors in the western Jinhae Bay, Korea from November 2003 to August 2004. In most cases, physico-chemical environmental factors showed homogeneous distribution. The phytoplankton communities were composed of mainly diatoms and dinoflagellates, and their standing crops ranged from $16{\times}10^3\;cells\;l^{-1}\;to\;5,845{\times}10^3\;cells\;l^{-1}$ (with a mean value of $555{\times}10^3\;cells\;l^{-1}$). The bloom of phytoplankton was observed in Gohyun Port in the summer. Seasonal variation of phytoplankton standing crops was higher in winter and summer than in spring and autumn. The dominant species were Skeletonema costatum, Akashiwo sanguinea, Pseudo-nitzschia pungens, Dactyliosolen sp., Leptocylindrus danicus, cryptomonads and etc. Especially, S. costatum was predominant in the summer and A. sanguinea (spring and autumn), Pseudo-nitzschia sp. (summer), Guinardia striata (spring), unidentified flagellates (summer) and cryptomonads (spring) appeared to be an opportunistic species. Concentrations of Chl a ranged from $0.6{\mu}g{\cdot}l^{-1}\;to\;16.7{\mu}g{\cdot}l^{-1}$ (with a mean value of $3.4{\mu}g{\cdot}l^{-1}$). The results of the canonical correspondence analysis implies the study area was grouped into the 2 water masses (inner and outer waters of Gohyun Port) and inner waters had higher abundance and Chl a concentration than outer waters. Also, phytoplankton sanding crops were related with temperature, DO and nutrients ($SiO^2$, TN, TP and etc.) in inner waters. Inner water-mass of Gohyun Port expanded between Gacho Is. and Chilchon Is. during the winter.