Liu X, BQ Huang, ZY Liu, L Wang, H Wei, Chaolun Li, Q Huang.J Oceanogr, 2012. 68: 913-927.

Vertical distributions of phytoplankton biomass and community structure were studied in the summer stratified central Yellow Sea (YS) using a submersible spectrofluorometer (Fluoroprobe, bbe Moldaenke, Germany), along with photosynthetic pigments analysis (HPLC-CHEMTAX), and microscope observation. Above all, the results of the dominating group obtained from these methods generally coincided with each other on the transect 35°N. The concentrations of brown algae, green algae and total chlorophylla(Chla) biomass were highly correlated between the results of Fluoroprobe observations and pigments analysis (r= 0.79, 0.91 and 0.82, respectively, n = 54, p<0 .01). in the summer stratified central ys, significant differences in phytoplankton compositions on the vertical distribution was observed. on the basis of hplc-chemtax results, the dominating group of phytoplankton composition generally changed from cyanobacteria to chrysophytes and then to diatoms, from surface to bottom. interestingly, on the basis of high-resolution observations using fluoroprobe, a periodic fluctuation of the pycnocline presumably due to the semidiurnal internal tides was observed at an anchor station (35°n, 123°e). in addition, both nutrients and chlaconcentrations at the depth of the subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) seemed to coincide with the rhythm of the pycnocline fluctuation, indicating the latter might have a potential impact on the dynamics of SCM phenomena in the summer stratified central YS.