Prokaryotic diversity and community composition in the water column of eight stations (63 samples) around the Antarctic Peninsula of the Southern Ocean were investigated. Through pyrosequencing of the V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, we characterized 4 720 089 valid reads representing 48 188 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, 97% similarity). The community was dominated by the phyla Pseudomonadota (original name: Proteobacteria, 47%), Oxyphotobacteria (26%), and Bacteroidota (original name: Bacteroidetes, 18%), which comprised an average of 91% of the total OTUs in all samples. The prokaryotic community composition varied vertically within the water column. Water column prokaryotic communities exhibited a clear depth profile, with higher microbial richness and higher diversity observed with increasing water depth. Cluster analysis of the community composition of water column samples exhibited a similar trend with depth. Correlation with environmental factors suggested distinct variation in prokaryotic community composition with changes in depth, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels. Functional prediction showed presence of active nitrogen, sulphur and methane metabolic cycles along the vertical transect of the studied region. These results will improve our knowledge of prokaryotic diversity and community composition at different depth of water column for better understanding of the microbial ecology and nutrient cycles in Antarctic Peninsula region of the Southern Ocean.

Green tidal algal Enteromorpha species complete their life cycles by the isomorphic alternation of generations. The provenance of green tide caused by them in the western Yellow Sea has been disputed. The cell reproduction derived from adult thallus was observed on E. clathrata collected from Shantou City, Guangdong Province in this study. Subsequently, it further found that E. proliferia collected from Qingdao City, Shandong Province and Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, produced reproductive cells by somatic cells of its early infantile thallus or branch. The latter is functionally similar to that the seedlings of red alga Porphyra yezoensis produce the monospores, and could exquisitely explain the ephemeral or opportunistic trait and environmental adaptation ability of Enteromorpha species. Changes in growth conditions may induce the two types of cell reproduction. They contribute to the bloom, and can effectively reveal the seasonally occurring large-scale and on-year and off-year phenomenon. The latter may have played a decisive role in its formation. This paper analyses the legal status of the species name, the type of generation during bloom, ephemeral traits, the role of microscopic propagule, the area of origin, on-year and off-year phenomenon, early warning and prevention and control of the species, and so on. On this basis, further study on the influence of environmental factors on cell reproduction of early infantile thalli or branches will achieve a positive effect for early warning and prevention and control of the green tidal algal bloom.

Microorganisms are fundamental for the functioning of marine ecosystems and are involved in the decomposition of organic matter, transformation of nutrients and circulation of biologically-important chemicals. Based on the complexity of the natural geographic characteristics of the Changjiang River Estuary, the geographic distribution of sedimentary microorganisms and the causes of this distribution are largely unexplored. In this work, the surface sediment samples from the adjacent sea area of the Changjiang River Estuary were collected. Their prokaryotic diversity was examined by high-throughput sequencing technology, and the environmental factors of the bacterial community were investigated. The results indicated that the distribution of prokaryotic communities in the sediments of the study areas showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. The sampling sequences divided the sample regions into three distinct clusters. Each geographic region had a unique community structure, although Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Desulfobacterota, Acidobacteriota, and Actinobacteriota all existed in these three branches. Canonical correspondence analysis demonstrated that prokaryotic diversity and community distribution were significantly correlated with the geographic location of sediment, seawater depth, and in particular, nutrient content (e.g., total phosphorus, total organic carbon and dissolved oxygen). Moreover, it was found for the first time that the metal ions obviously affected the composition and distribution of the prokaryotic community in this area. In general, this work provides new insights into the structural characteristics and driving factors of prokaryotic communities under the background of the ever-changing Changjiang River Estuary.

Quantitative evaluation of the copepod feeding process is critical for understanding the functioning of marine food webs, as this provides a major link between primary producers and higher trophic levels. In this study, a molecular protocol based on quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) targeting 18S rDNA was developed and used to investigate the feeding and digestion rates of the copepod Acartia erythraea in a laboratory experiment using microalgae Thalassiosira weissflogii, Prorocentrum shikokuense, and Alexandrium catenella as prey. Although offered an equal encounter rate based on biovolume, prey uptake varied substantially among the three algal species, with the ingestion rate (IR) and digestion rate (DR) of A. erythraea differing significantly (P < 0.001) based on both cell counting and qPCR detection. Acartia erythraea showed the highest IR (2.79 × 10⁴ cells/(ind.·h)) and DR (2.43 × 10⁴ cells/(ind.·h)) on T. weissflogii, and the lowest amounts of ingested P. shikokuense were detected. The highest assimilation rate (~90.64%, IR/DR) was observed in copepods fed with P. shikokuense. The qPCR method used here can help determine the digestion rate and assimilation rate of copepods by detecting cells remaining in the gut hence providing the possibility to examine trophic links involving key species in the marine ecosystem. Our results indicate that A. erythraea has diet-specific feeding performance in different processes, and a quantitative assessment of copepod feeding is needed to accurately determine its functional role in the energy and matter uptake from marine food webs.

Channel dredging in estuaries increases water depth and subsequently impacts sediment dynamics and morphology. The Jiaojiang River Estuary is dredged frequently owing to heavy shipping demands. In this study, the effects of different dredging schemes on siltation were assessed through numerical modeling. The sediment model of the Jiaojiang River Estuary utilized an optimized bottom boundary layer model that considered the bed sediment grain size and fluid mud, and this model was calibrated using field data. Result reveal that channel dredging modifies the flow velocity inside and around the channel by changing the bathymetry; subsequently, this affects the residual current, bed stress, suspended sediment concentration, and sediment fluxes. Increasing the dredging depth and width increases the net sediment fluxes into the channel and dredging depth has a greater influence on the channel siltation thickness. When the dredging depth is 8.4 m or11.4 m, the average siltation thickness of the channel is 0.07 m or 0.15 m per mouth respectively. The parallel movement of the channel has small effects on the siltation volume during the simulation period. The sediment deposits in the channel primarily originates from the tidal flats, through bottom sediment fluxes. Vertical net circulation has a dominant impact on siltation because the difference of horizontal current of each layer on the longitudinal section of the channel increases, which intensifies the lateral sediment transport between the shoal and channel. The influence of vertical frictional dissipation on the lateral circulation at the feature points accounts for more than 50% before dredging, while the non-linear advective term is dominant after dredging. Tidal pumping mainly affects the longitudinal sediment fluxes in the channel. These results can be used for channel management and planning for similar estuaries worldwide.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important part in the land-sea interactions, which mainly contains three components: submarine fresh groundwater discharge (SFGD), tidal flat recirculated saline groundwater discharge (tidal flat RSGD) and subtidal recirculated saline groundwater discharge (subtidal RSGD). In order to make a more accurate assessment of the impact of SGD on coastal ecological environment, it is necessary to distinguish the main components of SGD. In this study, the Maowei Sea, located in the northern part of the Beibu Gulf, was selected as the study area. Based on the radium (Ra) tracing method, we present a new analytical method for distinguishing the three main components of SGD in this area combined with field data. The average daily flow along the coastline of the Maowei Sea of tidal flat RSGD was slightly higher than that of SFGD, and both two were on the magnitude of 1×10⁵ m³/d. The average daily flow for the subtidal RSGD of the entire subtidal zone of the Maowei Sea reached to the magnitude of 1×10⁶–1×10⁷ m³/d. The long-term variation trend of terrestrial SGD is a valuable information for the study of the influence of terrigenous material on the coastal ecological environment. Based on the results of four sampling periods, it is found that the fluxes of SFGD and tidal flat RSGD in the Maowei Sea had good linear correlation with the net precipitation. As an example, January 2015 to August 2022 were selected as the study periods, and the variation trends of SFGD and tidal flat RSGD were calculated by linear function with net precipitation as the independent variable. The results showed that the flux of tidal flat RSGD was slightly higher than that of SFGD, and the difference between the two is larger in flood season while smaller in dry season. In general, in the coastal range of China, the total SGD flux in the Maowei Sea area is at a high level, and the SFGD flux is at a medium level.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), which can be traced using naturally occurring radium isotopes, has been recognized as a significant nutrient source and land-ocean interaction passage for the coastal waters of the Daya Bay, China. However, uncertainties in assessing SGD fluxes must still be discussed in detail. In this study, we attempted to utilize the Monte Carlo method to evaluate the uncertainties of radium-derived SGD flux in the northeast and entirety of the Daya Bay. The results show that the uncertainties of the SGD estimate in the northeast bay are very sensitive to variations in excess radium inventories as well as radium inputs from bottom sediments, while the uncertainties of the SGD estimate for the entire bay are strongly affected by fluctuations in radium inputs from bottom sediments and radium end-members of SGD. This study will help to distinguish the key factors controlling the accuracy of SGD estimates in similar coastal waters.

As an important land-ocean interaction process, submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is composed of multiple dynamical processes at different scales and plays an important role in the study of coastal ocean geochemical budgets. However, most of the existing studies focus on the quantification of the total groundwater discharge, few studies are about the differentiation and quantification of groundwater discharge processes at different scales (i.e., short-scale SGD and long-scale SGD). As a world-class river, the Huanghe River is highly turbid and heavily regulated by humans. These natural and anthropogenic factors have a significant impact on groundwater discharge processes in the Huanghe River Estuary (HRE). In this study, the distribution patterns of the natural geochemical tracer radium isotopes (²²⁴Ra and ²²³Ra) and other hydrological parameters in the HRE were investigated during four cruises. By solving the mass balance of ²²⁴Ra and ²²³Ra in the HRE, the long-scale SGD flux was quantified as 0.01−0.19 m/d, and the short-scale SGD flux was 0.03−0.04 m/d. The rate of short-scale SGD remained essentially constant among seasons, while the rate of long-scale SGD varied considerably at different periods and showed a synchronous trend with the variation of river discharge. The results of this study are significant for understanding the SGD dynamics in the HRE and the contribution of SGD to the ocean geochemical budgets.

Naturally occurring radium (²²³Ra, ²²⁴Ra, ²²⁶Ra, and ²²⁸Ra) isotopes have been widely applied as geochemical tracers in marine environments, especially when estimating the submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). In this sense, the influencing factors and transport mechanism of radium isotope activity in aquifers can be key information for SGD estimation. This work evaluates the adsorption/desorption behavior of ²²⁴Ra and ²²⁶Ra in the solid-liquid phase through a leaching experiment and analysis of field data. The results suggested that radium isotope activity was positively correlated with salinity and grain size, in the case of abundant sediments. Through ion analysis, we found that the ions (Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ba²⁺) exchanged with radium isotopes in the process of transport. A 1-D reactive transport model was established to simulate the transport process of radium isotope in aquifers. The model successfully simulated the variation of radium isotope desorption activity with salinity and was subsequently verified in the field. This study contributes to the understanding of the geochemical behavior of radium isotopes in aquifers and provides guidance for selecting a suitable groundwater endmember in SGD estimation.

In this paper, for the first time, we investigated the combined effect of subsurface dams and a typical stratified aquifer (two high-permeability layers with a low-permeability layer between them) on groundwater flow and salinity distribution in a tidally influenced coastal unconfined aquifer. Subsurface dams can inhibit the invasion of saltwater, and the low-permeability layer (LPL) and tide action can increase the effect of subsurface dams and the removal rate of residual saltwater. Through sensitivity analysis, it was discovered that shifting the dam location towards the inland resulted in a reduction in the effective heights of the dam. The upper saline plume contracted with increasing dam height, and the upper boundary of LPL was moved to shallower regions. And the natural removal time increased significantly with increasing dam height and the bottom boundary of LPL was moved to deeper regions. In addition, if the dam location was close to the sea boundary and the bottom boundary of LPL was moved to deeper regions, we could increase the subsurface dam height to reduce the risks of control of saltwater intrusion. This study provides us a comprehensive understanding of the complex hydrodynamics of saltwater intrusion and provides guides for the design of subsurface dams aimed at saltwater intrusion control in stratified coastal aquifers.