Anthropogenic impacts on hyperbenthos in the coastal waters of Sishili Bay,Yellow Sea

A survey on the hyperbenthic communities was carried out in the coastal waters of Sishili Bay in the Yellow Sea in July 2009,to investigate the impact of putative anthropogenic activities related to the presence of a sewage outfall,a harbor and an aquaculture site on the benthic ecosystem.An Agassiz net trawl was used to collect hyperbenthos at 10 sampling stations.Species,diversity,abundance,and biomass were analyzed against water sample data and historical data obtained from records from nearby Yantai City.Fifty-two species were identified in the region,of which Crustacea were the most abundant taxon,followed by Echinodermata.Dominant species included five crustaceans,two echinoderms,one mollusk and one fish species.The results of a BIOENV analysis show that the concentrations of NO3-N and Chl-a were slightly positively correlated with hyperbenthic community structure,while other factors were negatively correlated,including sediment grain size and the percentage of TN and TOC in sediment.Abundance- Biomass Comparison(ABC method) curves indicate that the hyperbenthos in Sishili Bay had been disturbed by putative sources of human activities.Eight out of 10 stations were classified as "moderately perturbed" to "perturbed".

Marine ciliate community in relation to eutrophication of coastal waters in the Yellow Sea

We assessed the potential of marine ciliate community as an indicator to coastal water quality using water samples collected from four stations in thc Yellow Sea in the summer 2000. The four stations were characterized by different levels of pollution. The ciliate communities consisted primarily of tintinnids and aloricate ciliates that were 〈30 um. A total of 78 species were classified： 55 species at Station 2, 51 species each at Stations l and 4, and 47 species at Station 3. The mean number of species at each site was 29.2±2.0 （Station 1）, 28.5±2.9 （Station 2）, 27.8±1.7 （Station 3）, and 24.5±2.3 （Station 4）. The abundance was highly variable： 19 331±11 187 ind./L at Station 1, 7 960±5 639 ind./L at Station 2, 29 015±12 999 ind./L at Station 3, and 8 190±4 658 ind./L at Station 4. Our results suggest that neither the simple chemical analysis （e.g. chemical oxygen demand, dissolved inorganic nitrogen, and phosphate） nor the eutrophication/pollution index adequately described the water quality at the four stations. The same was true of the number of species and their abundance, both of which had no correlation with the chemical indices. In contrast, Margalef＇s diversity index values （3.12 at Station 2, 2.89 at Station 1, and 2.64 at Stations 3 and 4） generally discriminated the water quality status of the four stations. The difference in water quality among the stations was strongly supported by the pattern of species richness （i.e. the total number of species） of ciliates at each station. Our evaluation was consistent with the results of long-term water quality monitoring at the four stations. With increasing eutrophication, we observed also a compositional and functional shift in the ciliate assemblages from algivorous oligotrich/choreotrich to nonselective-omnivorous gymnostomatids to bacterivorous-detrivorous scuticociliatids. Thus, eiliates may be used to indicate the coastal water quality status of a given site.

Profile of candidate microsatellite markers in Sebastiscus marmoratus using 454 pyrosequencing

Sebastiscus marmoratus is an important sedentary ovoviparous fish distributed in near-shore coastal waters from the coast of China to Japan. Candidate S. marmoratus microsatellite markers were developed in the present study using 454 pyrosequencing, and the marker profile was analyzed. A total of 2 000 000 raw sequence reads were assembled to reduce redundancy. Among them, 1 043 dinucleotide, 925 trinucleotide, 692 tetranucleotide, and 315 pentanucleotide repeats were detected. AC repeats were the most frequent motifs among the dinucleotide repeats, and AAT was the most abundant among the trinucleotide repeats. AAAT, ATAG, and ATCC were the three most common tetranucleotide motifs, and AAGAT and AATAT were the most dominant pentanucleotide motifs. The greatest numbers of loci and potentially amplifiable loci were found in dinucleotide repeats, whereas trinucleotide repeats had the fewest. In summary, a wide range of candidate microsatellite markers were identified in the present study using a rapid and efficient 454 pyrosequencing approach.

Field and Laboratory Observations on Predation and Prey Selectivity of the Scyphomedusa Chrysaora cf.caliparea in Southeast Indian Waters

Chrysaora cf.caliparea,one of the most abundant medusae species in India,seems to be an important predator in the coastal waters of Bay of Bengal.The ability of Chrysaora cf.caliparea to feed at maximum rate in high prey concentrations implies that this jellyfish can efficiently exploit dense prey patches,at least for a short period.This study presents preliminary information regarding digestion and feeding rate upon copepods in a warm water environment.The ingestion rate of the average-sized medusae Chrysaora cf.caliparea is well balanced in nature,which in turn implies that this jellyfish is tuned for optimal utilization of available prey resources.Comparison with earlier research indicates that prey escape speed is one important factor governing which prey will be captured.A full understanding of predation mechanics awaits further investigation of both predator and prey behavior.However,because of the scarcity of long-term quantitative population data most insights have to be made indirectly.Nevertheless,low abun-dance of Chrysaora cf.caliparea in the water column during summer (May 2007) and the overall annual abundance seem not to con-siderably affect the zooplankton population,especially copepods.The present work contributes to the knowledge of prey-predator relationship of the forgotten fauna in Indian waters,which is especially crucial for understanding the process of ecological recovery of coastal water environment.