Abstract: Based on the samples collected from the four cruises carried out in winter (March), spring (May), summer (August) and autumn (November) of 2015, the species composition, abundance, biomass, dominant species, biodiversity and distribution of zooplankton along the coast of Haizhou Bay were analyzed. The results showed that totaling 47 species (excluding 17 plankton larvae) were inspected; the ranking of number of species in each season was summer (31 species) > autumn (29 species) > spring (27 species) > winter (17 species). The annual average abundance was 117.31 ind·m^-3, and the ranking of seasonal value of abundance was spring (256.24 ind·m^-3) > autumn (89.81 ind·m^-3) > winter (74.93 ind·m^-3) > summer (48.26 ind·m^-3). The annual average biomass was 249 mg·m^-3, and the ranking of seasonal value of biomass was autumn (369 mg·m^-3) > winter (274 mg·m^-3) > spring (214 mg·m^-3) > summer (140 mg·m^-3). The dominant species in the area were Calanus sinicus, Labidocera euchaeta and Sagitta crassa. The highest diversity index (H), evenness (J) and richness (d) all appeared in summer, and Calanus sinicus made the largest contribution to the zooplankton abundance in the area. Zooplankton had obvious seasonality and transition from south to north. Temperature was primarily responsible for the spatial and temporal distribution of zooplankton on large scale, while the top-down effect accounted for the distribution in small scale.

Key words: plant community, tiankeng, Zhanyi., spatial distribution