Haiyang-2A (HY-2A) is China’s first ocean dynamic environment satellite and the radar altimeter is one of its main payloads. One of the main purposes of the radar altimeter is to measure the sea surface height (SSH). The SSH determined from the altimeter range measurements includes some range and geophysical corrections. These corrections largely affect the accuracy of the SSH measurements. The range and the geophysical corrections are reprocessed and the altimeter waveforms in HY-2A sensor interim geophysical data set records (S-IGDR) are retracked from June 1, 2014 to June 14, 2014, and the accuracy of the reprocessed SSH measurements is evaluated. The methods of the range and geophysical corrections used to reprocess HY-2A altimeter data are validated by using these methods to reprocess the Jason-2 range and geophysical corrections and comparing the results with the range and geophysical corrections in Jason-2 geophysical dataset records (GDR) product. A crossover analysis is used to evaluate the accuracy of the reprocessed HY-2A SSH measurements. The standard deviation (STD) of the crossover SSH differences for HY-2A is around 4.53 cm while the STD of the SSH differences between HY-2A and Jason-2 is around 5.22 cm. The performance of the reprocessed HY-2A SSH measurements is significantly improved with respect to the SSH measurements derived from HY-2A interim geophysical dataset records (IGDR) product. The 2015–2016 El Niño has been the strongest El Niño event since 1997–1998. The range and the geophysical corrections in HY-2A IGDR are reprocessed and sea level anomalies are used to monitor the 2015–2016 El Niño. The results show that the HY-2A altimeter can well observe the 2015–2016 El Niño.

Marginal seas play important roles in regulating the global carbon budget, but there are great uncertainties in estimating carbon sources and sinks in the continental margins. A Pacific basin-wide physical-biogeochemical model is used to estimate primary productivity and air-sea CO₂ flux in the South China Sea (SCS), the East China Sea (ECS), and the Yellow Sea (YS). The model is forced with daily air-sea fluxes which are derived from the NCEP2 reanalysis from 1982 to 2005. During the period of time, the modeled monthly-mean air-sea CO₂ fluxes in these three marginal seas altered from an atmospheric carbon sink in winter to a source in summer. On annual-mean basis, the SCS acts as a source of carbon to the atmosphere (16 Tg/a, calculated by carbon, released to the atmosphere), and the ECS and the YS are sinks for atmospheric carbon (–6.73 Tg/a and –5.23 Tg/a, respectively, absorbed by the ocean). The model results suggest that the sea surface temperature (SST) controls the spatial and temporal variations of the oceanic pCO₂ in the SCS and ECS, and biological removal of carbon plays a compensating role in modulating the variability of the oceanic pCO₂ and determining its strength in each sea, especially in the ECS and the SCS. However, the biological activity is the dominating factor for controlling the oceanic pCO₂ in the YS. The modeled depth-integrated primary production (IPP) over the euphotic zone shows seasonal variation features with annual-mean values of 293, 297, and 315 mg/(m²·d) in the SCS, the ECS, and the YS, respectively. The model-integrated annual-mean new production (uptake of nitrate) values, as in carbon units, are 103, 109, and 139 mg/(m²·d), which yield the f-ratios of 0.35, 0.37, and 0.45 for the SCS, the ECS, and the YS, respectively. Compared to the productivity in the ECS and the YS, the seasonal variation of biological productivity in the SCS is rather weak. The atmospheric pCO₂ increases from 1982 to 2005, which is consistent with the anthropogenic CO₂ input to the atmosphere. The oceanic pCO₂ increases in responses to the atmospheric pCO₂ that drives air-sea CO₂ flux in the model. The modeled increase rate of oceanic pCO₂ is 0.91 μatm/a in the YS, 1.04 μatm/a in the ECS, and 1.66 μatm/a in the SCS, respectively.

In the Nanliu River Estuary of Guangxi, China, the naturally expanding process of a mangrove swamp (primarily consist of Aegiceras corniculatum) over past decades is studied by satellite images. From 1988 to 2013, the area of studied mangrove swamp increased significantly from 60 hm² to 134 hm². The expanding process is not gradual and the significant expansion only took place in some special periods. To reveal the dynamic of mangrove swamp expansion, the evolution of tidal flat elevation and the climate change in past decades are studied respectively. The hydrodynamic condition and nutrient supply are also analysed. The study results show that the climate factors of typhoon intensity and annual minimum temperature are crucial for controlling mangrove expansion. A large number of mangrove seedlings on bare tidal flats can survive only in special climate optimum periods, which are continuous years of low typhoon intensity and high annual minimum temperature. In past decades, the scarcity of climate optimum periods resulted in a non-gradual process of mangrove expanding and a time lag of 30 years between the elevation reaching the low threshold for mangrove seedling survival and the eventual emergance of the mangrove. Compared with the climate factors, the hydrodynamic condition and nutrient supply are not important factors affecting mangrove expansion. In the future, combined with global warming, the enhanced frequency and energy of landing typhoons will most likely restrain the further expansion of this mangrove swamp.

The morphological similarities of Pampus fishes have led to considerable confusion in species-level identification, and no accurate information on neotype or DNA barcoding of Pampus echinogaster is available. Two hundred and seven specimens of P. echinogaster were collected from the coastal waters of Dandong, Dongying, Qingdao, Nantong, Zhoushan, Wenzhou, Changle, Taiwan, and Wakayama (Japan), from June 2010 to April 2013. The diagnostic characteristics of P. echinogaster are as follows: dorsal fin VIII-XI-43–51, anal fin V-VIII-43–49, pectoral fin 22–27, caudal fin 19–22, pelvic fin absent; first gill rakers sparse, slender (pointed), 3–4+12–16=15–20; vertebrae 39–41; transverse occipital canal on top of head moderately small, wavy ridges not reaching upper origin of pectoral fin; ventral branch of lateral line canal spare, shorter than dorsal branch of lateral line canal. By combining congener sequences of the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene from GenBank, two absolute groups were detected among all specimens, which further indicated that two valid species were present based on genetic differences in amino acid sequences and the distance between the groups. The sequences of Group 1 can be regarded as DNA barcoding of P. echinogaster. The correct morphological redescription and DNA barcoding of P. echinogaster are presented here to provide a guarantee for efficient and accurate studies, a theoretical basis for classification, and enable appropriate fishery management and conservation strategies for the genus Pampus in the future.

The Guanine nucleotide exchange factor Vav2 (Vav2) is a member of the Vav family that serves as an important regulators for the Rho family of Ras-related GTPases. In the current study, an ortholog (Lj-Vav2) of Vav2 was identified in the lamprey (Lampetra japonica). To elucidate the phylogenetic relationship of Vav2, the metazoan genome databases were analyzed to mine the ortholog of Vav. It was found that Vav2 genes were only existed in vertebrates and Lj-Vav2 was the original one found in agnathans. The evolutionary dynamics of conserved motifs of Vav2 were explored using combined amino acid sequence as markers, and it is revealed that the Calponin homology (CH) domain, Dbl-homologous (DH) domain, Pleckstrin homology (PH) domain, Cysteine-rich (C1) domains, Src homology 3 (SH3) domains and Src homology 2 (SH2) domain were conserved throughout the Vav2 gene family in vertebrates during gene evolution. Relative quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the Lj-Vav2 was distributed in the heart, kidney, supraneural myeloid body, liver, gill and lymphocyte-like cells. The Lj-Vav2 was found to be expressed in these tissues, and the level of which was upregulated in lymphocyte-like cells after the animal was stimulated with LPS. These results indicated that the Lj-Vav2 might be involved in the immune response of lymphocyte-like cells in lamprey. Meanwhile, our findings provided a foundation for further investigation of the function of Lj-Vav2 in the primary vertebrate.

Sediment samples were collected in the intertidal zone of the Dagu River Estuary, Jiaozhou Bay, China in April, July and October 2010 and February 2011 for examining seasonal dynamics of meiofaunal distribution and their relationship with environmental variables. A total of ten meiofaunal taxa were identified, including free-living marine nematodes, benthic copepods, polychaetes, oligochaetes, bivalves, ostracods, cnidarians, turbellarians, tardigrades and other animals. Free-living marine nematodes were the most dominant group in both abundance and biomass. The abundances of marine nematodes were higher in winter and spring than those in summer and autumn. Most of the meiofauna distributed in the 0–2 cm sediment layer. The abundance of meiofauna in high-tidal zone was lower than those in low-tidal and mid-tidal zones. Results of correlation analysis showed that Chlorophyll a was the most important factor to influence the seasonal dynamics of the abundance, biomass of meiofauna and abundances of nematodes and copepods. CLUSTER analysis divided the meiofaunal assemblages into three groups and BIOENV results indicated that salinity, concentration of organic matter, sediment sorting coefficient and sediment median diameter were the main environmental factors influencing the meiofaunal assemblages.

Maintaining stable water quality is one of the key processes for recirculating coral aquaculture. Traditional aquarium systems which mainly utilized a nitrification of nitrifying bacteria attached to the surface of massive artificial filter material are difficult to maintain the oligotrophic conditions necessary for coral aquaculture. This study investigated the removal effects of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (ammonia and nitrate) by live rock (LR), a key component in the "Berlin system" coral aquarium. The expression levels of bacterial functional genes, AOA3, amoA and nosZ, were measured on the exterior and interior of LR. The nitrifying and denitrifying bacterial abundance on LR was quantified and the nitrogen nutrient regulatory effects of LR were evaluated. The results demonstrated that LR mainly removed ammonium (NH₄⁺) from the water with a mean efficiency of 0.141 mg/(kg·h), while the removal of nitrate (NO₃^–) was not significant. Bacterial diversity analysis showed that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were the most common bacteria on LR, which accounted for 0.5%–1.4% of the total bacterial population, followed by denitrifying bacteria, which accounted for 0.2% of the total population, and the ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) were the least common type (<0.01%). The low abundance of denitrifying bacteria may be responsible for the poor nitrate (NO₃^–) removal of LR. Thus, other biological filtration methods are needed in coral aquaria to control nitrates generated from nitrification or biological metabolism.

With the development of aquaculture, there is an urgent demand for an alternative antibacterial agent to reduce the drug resistance and environmental pollution caused by the abuse of antibiotics. Recently, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been viewed as a novel type of antimicrobial agents due to their unique advantages. In this study, AgNPs were biosynthesized with the ginger rhizomes extract. The biosynthesized AgNPs were characterised by UV–visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activities of the AgNPs were fully analyzed against six typical aquatic pathogens. The results indicated that the components in ginger extract could function as the chemical reductant to synthesize AgNPs. Moreover, compared with the AgNPs synthesized by chemical methods, the biosynthesized AgNPs were smaller, and had higher stability and antibacterial activity. Therefore, the biosynthesized AgNPs using ginger extract may have prospective applications in aquaculture.

The biomass and size fraction of phytoplankton in terms of chlorophyll a (Chl a) was measured during four cruises conducted in April, July, October 2013 and January 2014 in mariculture area, the Sanggou Bay, China. Results show that total Chl a levels in the surface seawater of the Sanggou Bay generally range from 0.10 to 20.46 μg/L, with an average value of 2.13 μg/L. Nano-phytoplankton was the most important size-fraction and accounted for about 65.1% of total Chl a. In order to evaluate the importance of the “protozoan trophic link” for energy transfer from the microbial loop to filter-feeding feeders, Zhikong scallop Chlamys farreri was then offered a natural planktonic community as potential prey. Results show that scallops obtained carbon source from natural plankton with the rate of 11 033.05 μg/(g·d). Protists (nanoflagellates and ciliates) were the dominant source of carbon retained by scallop (48.78%). The microbial loop provided 58.45% of the carbon source for farmed scallops. These results indicate that the microbial loop represent a valuable trophic resource in mariculture system of the Sanggou Bay.

Based on a 3-D Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM), tidal dynamics has been studied in the sea area around the Phase III Project of Maji Mountain Port (MMP). Furthermore, taking typhoon “Canhong” as an example, a storm surge and sediment model has also been established to study the impact of the Phase III Project on current flows and siltation during extreme weather. Tidal currents before and after the project have been compared. Model results show that the changes of tidal current mainly occur in the engineering areas with a magnitude change of 0.3–0.4 m/s during maximum flood and ebb tides. The flow condition for the port has been improved as the flow direction is changed to parallel to the wharf after the completion of the project. There is little siltation in the adjacent area, which will not affect the safety of ship navigation. Besides, the sudden siltation during typhoon period is relatively weak. The back silting in two days is less than 5 cm indicating no sudden siltation occurs.