The abundance and distribution of plankton species in the bonny estuary; Nigeria

Abstract

The plankton community in the bonny estuary was studied. A total population of 2846 plankton was indentified comprising of 2172 Phyto plankton and 674 of Zooplankton measured in cells per litre X 10 6. This population comprised of 63 species made up of 32 Phyto and 31 Zoo. Cosnodiscus radiatus (Diatom) was the highest in abundance and distribution constituting 48.4% (1052 in number) of the entire phytoplankton community and occurring in all the 7 stations studied. This was followed by cosnodiscus lineatus and Biddulphia sinenses (all Diatom) with 9.5% and 9.02% in abundance. For the zooplankton, the Pseudocallanus elongatus (A copepod) was the highest in both occurrence and abundance constituting 45.5% (307 in number) of the entire zooplankton and occurring in all the 7 stations. The Cladocera represented by Pondo lueceti and Evadne nordmani 9.3% and 7.2% respectively followed in abundance.