Using sea surface salinity (SSS) observation from the soil moisture active passive (SMAP) mission, we analyzed the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of SSS around Changjiang River (Yangtze River) Estuary for the period of September 2015 to August 2018. First, we found that the SSS from SMAP is more accurate than soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) mission observation when comparing with the in situ observations. Then, the SSS signature of the Changjiang River freshwater was analyzed using SMAP data and the river discharge data from the Datong hydrological station. The results show that the SSS around the Changjiang River Estuary is significantly lower than that of the open ocean, and shows significant seasonal variation. The minimum value of SSS appears in July and maximum SSS in December. The root mean square difference of daily SSS between SMAP observation and in situ observation is around 3 in both summer and winter, which is much lower than the annual range of SSS variation. In summer, the diffusion direction of the Changjiang River freshwater depicted by SSS from SMAP is consistent with the path of freshwater from in situ observation, suggesting that SMAP observation may be used in coastal seas in monitoring the diffusion and advection of freshwater discharge.

Food differentiation among coexistent species in the field is important strategy for copepods to acquire materials and maintain population stabilization. In situ diet analysis of co-occurring six copepod species in coral waters of the Sanya Bay was conducted using a PCR protocol based on 18S ribosomal gene. Various prey organisms were uncovered, including dinoflagellate, diatom, green algae and plant, protozoa and metazoan. All these spatially co-existing six species showed different dietary diversity, with the food niche breadth (B) ranging from 1.00 (Temora turbinate in morning) to 10.68 (Calanopia elliptica in night). While food overlap between all these copepods were low, with the average value of the diet niche overlap index being approximately 0.09. Even temporally co-existing species sampled from the same time point fed on different groups of prey items with the food overlap index of 0.04 to 0.07 in midday and night but 0 in morning. As the most important dominant copepod in the Sanya Bay, Subeucalanus subcrassus seems to be capable to regulate its feeding, by exhibiting a rhythm of herbivorous feeding in midday and carnivorous feeding in morning and night, to better coordinate with other competitors for utilization of food resources. For most copepods, none of the prey items belonged to the dominant phytoplankton in the ambient water, indicating that copepod can better their survival by widening the choice of potential food resources in food limited environment. The dietary separation observed here might be important strategy for copepod to maintain population stabilization and thriving in the Sanya coastal waters.

Transitional ecosystems, estuaries and the coastal seas, are distinctively affected by natural and anthropogenic factors. Organic matter (OM) originating from terrestrial sources is exported by rivers and forms a key component of the global biogeochemical cycles. Most previous studies focused on the bulk biochemical and anthropogenic aspects affecting these ecosystems. In the present study, we examined the sources and fate of OM entrained within suspended particulate matter (SPM) of the Zuari River and its estuary, west coast of India. Besides using amino acid (AA) enantiomers (L- and D-forms) as biomarkers, other bulk biochemical parameters viz. particulate organic carbon (POC), δ¹³C, particulate nitrogen (PN), δ¹⁵N and chlorophyll a were analyzed. Surprisingly no significant temporal variations were observed in the parameters analyzed; nonetheless, salinity, POC, δ¹³C, PN, δ¹⁵N, glutamic acid, serine, alanine, tyrosine, leucine and D-aspartic acid exhibited significant spatial variability suggesting source differentiation. The POC content displayed weak temporal variability with low values observed during the post-monsoon season attributed to inputs from mixed sources. Estuarine samples were less depleted than the riverine samples suggesting contributions from marine plankton in addition to contributions from river plankton and terrestrial C₃ plants detritus. Labile OM was observed during the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons in the estuarine region. More degraded OM was noticed during the pre-monsoon season. Principal component analysis was used to ascertain the sources and factors influencing OM. Principally five factors were extracted explaining 84.52% of the total variance. The first component accounted for 27.10% of the variance suggesting the dominance of tidal influence whereas, the second component accounted for heterotrophic bacteria and their remnants associated with the particulate matter, contributing primarily to the AA pool. Based on this study we ascertained the role of the estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) controlling the sources of POM and its implications to small tropical rivers. Thus, changes in temporal and regional settings are more likely to affect the natural biogeochemical cycles of small tropical rivers.

China (herein referred as China’s mainland, and excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) ranks as the world’s leading fishing nation, with approximately 11.1 million tons of domestic marine catch acquired in 2017. Marine fisheries resources in China are mainly exploited by its 11 coastal provinces and municipalities, and the development of fishing industry varies among them. However, few studies have examined the exploitation history of the 11 coastal provinces and municipalities. In this paper, we systematically quantified the exploitation history of marine fishery resources in China and then measured the vulnerability of the 11 coastal provinces and municipalities of China to a reduction in marine catches. Our analysis suggested that Chinese marine fisheries experienced rapid growth from the mid-1980s to the end of the 20th century, and this rapid increase in marine catches were mainly promoted by increased fishing effort. The total primary production required level amounted to approximately 80% of the average primary productivity in 2017, and Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Hainan and Guangdong provinces were the main fishing provinces in China. By assessing three dimensions of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) to the impacts of a reduction in marine catches in the 11 coastal provinces and municipalities, we found that Hainan, Guangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces had high or very high vulnerability, while the municipalities of Shanghai and Tianjin had low vulnerability. Identifying suitable adaptation policies and management plans based on the differences in vulnerability among coastal provinces is important in sustainable fisheries management.

Halocyprid ostracods are appreciable part of ostracods floating through virtually everywhere in marine environment. In this study, we describe a new species of genus Polyconchoecia Xiang, Chen and Du, 2018, tribe Conchoeciini Chavtur and Angel, 2011, family Halocyprididae Dana, 1853 from the middle of the South China Sea. Polyconchoecia chenii sp. nov. is very close to P. commixtus Xiang, Chen and Du, 2018. But it differs from P. commixtus by the distinctions of locations of major glands of carapace and the characteristics of appendages: more posteriorly situated left asymmetric gland of carapace, no right asymmetric gland; segmented frontal organ; the endopod 2 of the first antenna with a very small seta; a- and c-setae of the first antenna with long end joint have long end joint, the b- and d-setae have no end joint, spinose e-seta without end joint; the e-seta of the second antenna is present; teeth side is distinctive; the setal counts of the mandible, maxilla, fifth limb, and sixth limb are individual. The locations of the major glands on carapace and the characteristics of the first antenna can be the key of the new species. This work is the second discovery of the genus Polyconchoecia from the world.

Most of reported harmful algal blooms (HABs) of microalgae (75%) have been caused by dinoflagellates. Studies on the negative effects of HABs have generally focused on animals, valuable organisms in particular, and environmental factors such as dissolved oxygen and nutrients, but relatively fewer on community level, particularly that using metagenomic approach. In this study, we reported an investigation on the effects of a HAB caused by the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum donghaiense on the species diversity and community structure of the dinoflagellate sub-community via a pyrosequencing approach for the samples taken before, during, and after the bloom season of P. donghaiense in the East China Sea. We sequenced partial 28S rRNA gene of dinoflagellates for the field samples and evaluated the species richness and diversity indices of the dinoflagellate community, as a sub-community of the total phytoplankton. We obtained 800 185 valid sequences (categorized into 560 operational taxonomic units, OTUs) of dinoflagellates from 50 samples and found that the biodiversity of dinoflagellate community was significantly reduced during the blooming period in comparison to that in pre- and after-blooming periods, as reflected in the four diversity indices: the species richness expressed as the number of OTUs, Chao1 index, Shannon index (evenness), and Gini-Simpson index. These four indices were all found to be negatively correlated to the cell density of the bloom species P. donghaiense. Correlation analyses also revealed that the P. donghaiense cell abundance was correlated negatively with ${\rm{NO}}_3^- $-N, and ${\rm{NO}}_2^- $-N, but positively with total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP). Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) showed that the community structure of dinoflagellates was markedly different among the different sampling periods, while the redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed P. donghaiense abundance, salinity, ${\rm{NO}}_3^- $-N, and ${\rm{SiO}}_3^{2-} $ were the most four significant factors shaping the dinoflagellate community structure. Our results together demonstrated that HABs caused by the dinoflagellate P. donghaiense could strongly impact the aquatic ecosystem on the sub-community level which the blooming species belongs to.

The samples of Anthomedusae were collected from the Guangdong coastal water, China. Three new species of Anthomedusae, i.e. Zhangiella condensum Huang, Zhang et Sun, sp. nov., Hydractinia leizhouensis Huang, Zhang et Yang, sp. nov., and Cladosarsia simplex Huang, Zhang et Ke, sp. nov. are described. All type specimens are deposited in College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University.

Ciliates are important components in planktonic food webs, but our understanding of their community structures in different oceanic water masses is limited. We report pelagic ciliate community characteristics in three seas: the tropical West Pacific, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Planktonic ciliate abundance had “bimodal-peak”, “surface-peak” and “DCM (deep chlorophyll a maximum layer)-peak” vertical distribution patterns in the tropical West Pacific, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, respectively. The abundance proportion of tintinnid to total ciliate in the Bering Sea (42.6%) was higher than both the tropical West Pacific (7.8%) and the Arctic Ocean (2.0%). The abundance proportion of small aloricate ciliates (10–20 μm size-fraction) in the tropical West Pacific was highest in these three seas. The Arctic Ocean had higher abundance proportion of tintinnids in larger LOD (lorica oral diameter) size-class. Proportion of redundant species increased from the Arctic Ocean to the tropical West Pacific. Our result provided useful data to further understand ecology roles of planktonic ciliates in different marine habitats.

The Lake Tian E Zhou (TEZ, an oxbow lake) was formed during the rerouting of the Changjiang River in 1972, with strong influences from the main river channel and flood events. Herein, a sediment core was collected from the Lake TEZ for the measurements of carbon isotopes and biomarkers, including stable carbon isotopes (δ¹³C), radiocarbon composition (∆¹⁴C), and lignin phenols, as well as lead-210 to reconstruct recent heavy flood events over the past 70 years. At the 24–26 cm interval, the sediment contained the highest OC%, TN%, and lignin phenols content, as well as significantly depleted ¹³C but enriched ¹⁴C, corresponding to the extreme flood event in 1998. In addition, statistics from t-test showed that lignin phenols normalized to OC (Λ8), the concentration of 3, 5-dihydroxy benzoic acid (3, 5-BD), and the ratio of p-hydroxy benzophenone to total hydroxyl phenols (PHB/HP) were all significantly different between the layers containing flood deposits and the layers deposited under normal non-flood conditions (p<0.05). These results indicate that the later three parameters are highly related to flood events and can be used as compelling proxies, along with sediment chronology, for hydrological changes and storm/flood events in the river basin and coastal marine environments.