title: Factors driving the seasonal distribution of zooplankton in a eutrophicated Mediterranean Lagoon.
abstract: The distribution of the zooplankton community was studied along with environmental factors at five sampling stations in Ghar El Melh Lagoon (GML) (Mediterranean Sea, northern Tunisia). GML is characterized by specific following properties: broad and shallow, freshwater supply (Station 1); connection to the sea (S2); stagnation (S3 especially), and eutrophic conditions with enhanced nutrient concentrations (S4 and S5). Samples were taken twice monthly from February 2011 to January 2012. Twenty-three zooplankton groups comprising 10 larval stages were identified. Zooplankton assemblages were largely dominated by copepods (37.25%), followed respectively by ciliates (21.09%), bivalve larvae (14.88%) and gastropod veligers (12.53%). Redundancy analysis indicated that while no significant difference was found in the distribution of zooplankton at any station, a strong difference was observed according to season. Both temporal and physicochemical fluctuations explain more than 50% of changes in zooplankton abundances.
authors.affiliation: Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249, Besançon, France; Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer (INSTM), Laboratoire Milieu Marin, Centre la Goulette, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Boutheina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ziadi
authors.affiliation: Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249, Besançon, France; Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer (INSTM), Laboratoire Milieu Marin, Centre la Goulette, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dhib
authors.affiliation: Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer (INSTM), Laboratoire Milieu Marin, Centre la Goulette, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Souad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turki
authors.affiliation: Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249, Besançon, France. Electronic address: lotfi.aleya@univ-fcomte.fr.
authors.forename: Lotfi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aleya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia; D016798:Ciliophora; D033342:Copepoda; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005068:Eutrophication; D007814:Larva; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D012621:Seasons; D014416:Tunisia; D015048:Zooplankton / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Environmental factors; Eutrophic conditions; Ghar El Melh Lagoon; Seasonal distribution; Zooplankton