Two drifting paths of Sargassum bloom in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea during 2019-2020

The macroalgal blooms of floating brown algae Sargassum horneri are increasing in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea during the past few years.However,the annual pattern of Sargassum bloom is not well characterized.To study the developing pattern and explore the impacts from hydro-meteorologic environment,high resolution satellite imageries were used to monitor the distribution,coverage and drifting of the pelagic Sargassum rafts in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from September 2019 to August 2020.Sargassum blooms were detected from October 2019 to June 2020 and presented two successive drifting paths that both initiated from around 37°N.The first path spanned smaller spatial scale and shorter period,starting with a bloom of 3 km^(2) distribution area near the eastern tip of Shandong Peninsula in late October 2019 and drifted southwards,hit the Pyropia aquaculture area in early January 2020,then vanished in the northwest of East China Sea(ca.32°N)around end of January.The second path began with a large distribution area of 23000 km^(2) east of 123°E in late January 2020,firstly moved southwards in the central Yellow Sea and northern East China Sea(north of 29°N)till late April,then turned northwards with monsoon wind and vanished from late June to August.The mean sea surface temperature of 8℃ to 20℃ in the Sargassum bloom areas corresponded to in situ observed temperature range for vegetative growth and floating of S.horneri.There was no observed floating Sargassum blooms during July through September in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.The results indicate that floating S.horneri is unable to complete life cycle in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea,and provide insights to the future management of Sargassum blooms.Further studies are needed to validate the pattern and source of annual Sargassum bloom in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.

Acute toxicity of live and decomposing green alga Ulva (Enteromorpha) prolifera to abalone Haliotis discus hannai

From 2007 to 2009, large-scale blooms of green algae (the so-called "green tides") occurred every summer in the Yellow Sea, China. In June 2008, huge amounts of floating green algae accumulated along the coast of Qingdao and led to mass mortality of cultured abalone and sea cucumber. However, the mechanism for the mass mortality of cultured animals remains undetermined. This study examined the toxic effects of Ulva (Enteromorpha) prolifera, the causative species of green tides in the Yellow Sea during the last three years. The acute toxicity of fresh culture medium and decomposing algal effluent of U. prolifera to the cultured abalone Haliotis discus hannai were tested. It was found that both fresh culture medium and decomposing algal effluent had toxic effects to abalone, and decomposing algal effluent was more toxic than fresh culture medium. The acute toxicity of decomposing algal effluent could be attributed to the ammonia and sulfide presented in the effluent, as well as the hypoxia caused by the decomposition process.

Reproduction Diversity of Enteromorpha prolifera

Enteromorpha prolifera （Muell.） J. Agardh （Chlorophyta, Ulvophyceae）. which is distributed widely in the inter-tidal zone of the ocean, is one of the most common fouling green algae. However, the present understandings of the life history of E. profifera have been insufficient to explain their seasonal abundances. Thus it is essential to investigate how many reproductive strategies are likely to contribute to the successful colonization and flourishing of the green alga. In the present study the reproduction diversity of E. prolifera was observed and studied systematically by culturing chopped tissues. Our results showed that there are in total seven pathways of reproduction for E. prolifera including sexual, asexual and vegetative reproduction, it was indicated that the variety of the reproductive ways and the large quantity of reproductive cells produced and released during the reproductive season are the two key factors that facilitate colonization of E. prolifera. The reproduction of the alga E. prolifera mainly depends on asexual methods. The results presented here contribute to increasing our understanding about how the opportunistic macroalgae successfully maintain colonization and excessive growth.