Phytoplankton biomarkers in surface seawater from the northern South China Sea in summer 2009 and their potential as indicators of biomass/community structure

Biomarkers have been widely used to reconstruct phytoplankton productivity based on the assumption that biomarker contents could reflect phytoplankton productivity in the surface seawater.However,this hypothesis has not been validated with modern survey.In this study,the contents and ratios of three phytoplankton biomarkers in the surface seawater of the northern South China Sea in winter 2009 were analyzed,to indicate spatial distributions of phytoplankton biomass and community structure.The results show high values for diatoms,dinoflagellates and coccolithophorids near the Pearl River Estuary and Guangdong coastal areas.The community structure indicates diatoms are the dominant phytoplankton species in winter.High values of dinoflagellate/diatom ratio occur near the slope area owing to intrusion of the Kuroshio,which favors the growth of dinoflagellates.The coccolithophorid/diatom ratio displays an increasing trend from the Pearl River Estuary to offshore region due to the advantage of coccolithophorids in oligotrophic environment,which is opposite to the productivity pattern of all biomarkers.These results are consistent with previous studies using phytoplankton cell and pigments,which provides support for the use of biomarker to reconstruct phytoplankton productivity and community structure in the SCS.