Study On Niche Of Representative Harmful Algal Bloom Species In The Coastal Waters Of China

Over the last decades, the global problem of harmful algal blooms ( HABs ) has expanded both in extent and in its public perception. Knowledge of the ecological characteristics and survival strategies of representative HAB algae are very important for improving the forecast, prevention and mitigation of HABs.Niche theory, a fundamental principle in ecology, has been widely used to explain interspecies competition and community succession. HABs are an ecological event, in which the causing species takes up the best niche and largely dominate the population in terms of abundance. Each causing species has its own distinctive niche, and variations of environmental factors can result in a drastic change in community structure of phytoplankton and the outcome of interspecies competition, even to breaking down the balance of aquatic ecosystem, finally a new bloom caused by another species occurs. Therefore, an understanding of the niche of harmful algae is useful to reveal and demonstrate the blooming mechanisms.In this article, ecological amplitudes for temperature, salinity, irradiance, nitrogen, phosphorus of several representative HAB species were examined by a series of...