EVALUATION OF PLANKTONIC AND BENTHIC COMMUNITIES OF MICROALGAE IN THE SHRIMP PONDS (Litopenaeus vannamei)

The objective of this work is to evaluate the planktonic and benthic communities of microalgae, looking to establish relationships with the hydrological variables, management and production of shrimp ponds. During the period of September 2005 to October 2006, three Litopenaeus vannamei ponds and the affluent channel were analyzed by taking biweekly samples of phytoplankton and phytobenthics. In the ponds were recorded informations about the hydrological variables, weather, culture parameters and the production data. The Cyanophyta dominated the phytoplankton in all cycles, reaching the relative abundance of 80%, the Pseudoanabaena genus was mainly responsible for this domination. The Bacillariophyta dominated the phytobenthics, with abundance over 85%. The phytoplankton reached higher densities in the ponds, whereas the phytobenthics was dominant in the affluent channel. A positive relationships between the benthics Bacillariophyta and the shrimps' growth was observed.