Seminar

Tolo Harbour is a semi-closed embayment, locating at northeastern part of Hong Kong’s New Territories. Intensive urbanization and industrialization in the past few decades have dramatically increased nutrient input and induced the most frequent red tide occurrence in Tolo harbour compared to other coastal area in Hong Kong. Although government has enforced the Tolo Harbour Action Plan in 1986 to reduce nutrient loading, annual average total phytoplankton density of Tolo harbour have increased from ~4000 to ~25000 cell L-1. Therefore, submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) driven nutrients input was then speculated to sustain the phytoplankton production. This PhD study mainly focuses on three aspects of nutrients and phytoplankton activities driven by SGD in the harbour. Firstly, link between seasonal phytoplankton community shift and nutrients variety driven by SGD will be analyzed. Then, contribution of riverine water and SGD to growth of phytoplankton growth will be evaluated. Finally, nutrients dynamic in intertidal and benthic zone will be study.