Potential Distribution of Seagrass Meadows Based on the MaxEnt Model in Chinese Coastal Waters

Seagrass meadows are generally diverse in China and have become important ecosystem with essential functions.However,the seagrass distribution across the seawaters of China has not been evaluated,and the magnitude and direction of changes in seagrass meadows remain unclear.This study aimed to provide a nationwide seagrass distribution map and explore the dynamic changes in seagrass population under global climate change.Simulation studies were performed using the modeling software MaxEnt with 58961 occurrence records and 27 marine environmental variables to predict the potential distribution of seagrasses and calculate the area.Seven environmental variables were excluded from the modeling processes based on a correlation analysis to ensure predicted suitability.The predicted area was 790.09 km^(2),which is much larger than the known seagrass distribution in China(87.65 km^(2)).By 2100,the suitable habitat of seagrass will shift northwest and increase to 923.62 km2.Models of the sum of the individual family under-pre-dicted the national distribution of seagrasses and consistently showed a downward trend in the future.Out of all environmental vari-ables,physical parameters(e.g.,depth,land distance,and sea surface temperature)contributed the most in predicting seagrass distri-butions,and nutrients(e.g.,nitrate,phosphate)ranked among the key influential predictors for habitat suitability in our study area.This study is the first effort to fill a gap in understanding the distribution of seagrasses in China.Further studies using modeling and biological/ecological approaches are warranted.

Assessing the Fishery Resource Status of China’s Coastal Waters Using Surplus Production Models

Surplus production models(SPMs)are among the simplest and most widely used fishery stock assessment models.The catch-effort data analysis(CEDA)and a surplus production model incorporating covariates(ASPIC)are softwares for analyzing fishery catch and fishing effort data using nonequilibrium SPMs.In China Fishery Statistical Yearbook,annual fishery production and fishing effort data of the Yellow Sea,Bohai Sea,East China Sea,and South China Sea have been published from 1979 till present.Using its catch and fishing effort data from 1980 to 2018,we apply the CEDA and ASPIC to evaluate fishery resources in Chinese coastal waters.The results show that the total maximum sustainable yield(MSY)estimate of the four China seas is 10.05-10.83 million tons,approximately equal to the marine fishery catch(10.44 million tons)reported in 2018.It can be concluded that China’s coastal fishery resources are currently fully exploited and must be protected with a precautionary approach.Both softwares produced similar results;however,the CEDA had a much higher R2 value(above 0.9)than ASPIC(about 0.2),indicating that CEDA can better fit the data and therefore is more suitable for analyzing the fishery resources in the coastal waters of China.