Based on 4 cruise surveys from July 2006 to October 2007 in the Taiwan Strait, the species composition, community structure and spatio-temporal distribution of dinoflagellate were studied. A total of 131 dinoflagellates belonging to 18 genera were identified. The population was dominated by hyperthermal and hyperhaline species accounting for 72.52% of the total species. Eurythermal and euryhaline species were the second most common one accounting for 25.19% of the total species. It was only 2.29% for neritic species. The maximum species number occurred in summer, while the maximum cell density appeared in spring. The average dinoflagellate cell density was 404.96x104 cells/m3. It showed that the dinof]agellate cell density increased from the nearshore waters to the open sea and from the north to the south. Compared with the results during 1984-1985, the horizontal distribution pattern and seaeonal variation of the dinofiagellate have not changed significantly, but the dinoflagellate cell density increased by 3.01 times. Further analysis of the dinoflagellate abundance variations both in the spatial and temporal aspects, indicated that the abundance of dinoflagellate increased more significantly in cold seasons, and there was a larger increase in the north of the Taiwan Strait. Besides, the dinoflagellate community structure changed notably. It showed that the diversity and evenness index were relatively high, and the proportion of dinoflageliate cell density to the total phytoplankton increased.
