Environmental control of zooplankton community structure in Tangshan Bay, China

In order to study the relationship between zooplankton community structure and environmental factors in Tangshan Bay, the zooplankton community structure and environmental factors were investigated in 2015 April (spring), July (summer), October (autumn) and December (winter). The temporal and spatial variation of zooplankton community structure and its main environmental driving factors were analyzed by means of multivariate analysis and correlation analysis. The results showed that the main environmental factors affecting the abundance of zooplankton in Tangshan Bay were DIN, SS, temperature and Chla. Multivariate analysis indicated that DO, temperature and Chl a were the principal factors driving spatial differentiation of zooplankton community structure in Tangshan Bay. In different waters of Tangshan Bay, the environmental factors affecting zooplankton community structure were different. The main influencing factors were physical variables for Laoting and Sandao sea areas, while chemical variables for Cao