Diversity and spatial distribution of Phyto and Zooplankton in the West Coast of Madagascar.

Study Extent

The pelagic ecosystem study was carried out from August 26 to October 3 2009 in six sites from the south (Cap Sainte Marie) to the west coast of Madagascar (Besalampy Maintirano)

Sampling

The sampling was done in six sites along the west coast. Zooplankton samples were collected using the Hydrobios Multinet at all environmental stations ranging from 200m depth to the surface. The Multinet was equipped with 5 nets for depth-stratified sampling. The nets were fitted with 180 um mesh size, and the water flow through the nets was measured. The Multinet was deployed and retrieved at a rate of around 1.5m per second and was obliquely hauled. The five nets were triggered at the pre-selected depth intervals 0-25m, 25-50m, 50-80m, 80-120m, and 120-200m. All samples were stored in marked bottles and preserved with buffered formaldehyde of 4% for further analysis.

Quality Control

Zooplankton key identification was based on the morphology, especially for the Copepods, which represent up to 80% of the Zooplankton (Mollo and Noury, 2013). The following author’s manuals for Zooplankton identification were used for this work: Mollo and Noury (2013), Tregouboff and Rose (1957). Also, Beaudouin (1973) and Lope (1997) studied plankton assemblages in Detroit de Davis and Mahanoro bay as key references to this work. Copies of the samples are stored and conserved at the Fishery Institute and Marine Science Laboratory for further study and analysis. The data were cleaned with OpenRefine. Organisms scientific names and classification were checked with WORMS database, and when the name was not found therein, further checking was carried out with Taxonomicon database and eventually with other sources, classification was set to comply as near as possible to WORMS'

Method steps

1. Zooplankton key identification was based on the morphology, especially for the Copepods, representing up to 80% of the Zooplankton (Mollo and Noury, 2013). The following author’s manuals for Zooplankton identification were used for this work: Mollo and Noury (2013), Tregouboff and Rose (1957). Also, Beaudouin (1973) and Lope (1997) studied plankton assemblages in Detroit de Davis and Mahanoro bay as key references to this work. Copies of the samples are stored and conserved at the Fishery Institute and Marine Science Laboratory for further study and analysis. For the Laboratory sampling, the marked bottles are inventoried and classified based on the sampling date, station, and depth. A 3-objective light microscope is used for the observation under a microscope: (x10 for scanning and counting), (x40 for identifying the species encountered) (x100: for determining the identification characteristics of zooplankton). The microscope is outfitted with a reflex camera to capture images of zooplankton for use as a database. Before each observation, the bottles are shaken to ensure that the zooplankton is distributed evenly. A sub-sample can be observed between the hollow slide and the coverslip using a 40 µl graduated micropipette. Under a microscope, 10 catches totaling 400 µl were observed and counted for each sample.

This dataset reports various phyto and zooplanktons recorded along the west coast of Madagascar, in the Mozambique channel

1. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
2. Bacteria
   rank: kingdom
3. Chromista
   rank: kingdom
4. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
5. Protozoa
   rank: kingdom

The survey was carried out in the Mozambique channel, along the west coast of Madagascar (between 42° to 46° longitude and -29 to -15 latitude)