Variability of spatial and temporal distribution of zooplankton communities at Matrouh beaches, south-eastern Mediterranean Sea, Egypt

The objectives of this work are to determine the main environmental drivers of zooplankton variability in water of Matrouh beach, south-eastern Mediterranean Sea and to evaluate the differences in zooplankton abundance and population structure in relation to chemical and biological parameters. Samples were collected seasonally from summer 2009 to summer 2010 at 10 sampling beaches. The zooplankton community was characterized by its high variability, and lower diversity. Zooplankton variability primarily responded to seasonal changes in water temperature and variation in salinity. In total, 49 zooplankton species were quantified; most of them were protozoans (22 species) and copepods (14 species). The average zooplankton abundance was 36.0×103ind.m−3, where copepods were dominant, making up 72.4% of the total population. Protozoa formed the second group, comprising 11.7%. Differences in species diversity were analysed in a zooplankton community, where the dominance of a single species was frequent. The Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index classified Matrouh water as being between moderately polluted and polluted, whereas the WQI demonstrated that it was between good and excellent. It can be concluded that, the index based on WQI is currently more suitable than the zooplankton species index for assessing the quality of water of Matrouh beaches.