Detail description of Lithophyllum okamurae(Lithophylloideae,Corallinales), a widely distributed crustose coralline alga in marine ecosystems

Lithophyllum okamurae is one of the important encrusting coralline algae,which plays important roles as primary producer,carbonate sediment builder,and habitat provider in the marine ecosystems.In this study,L.okamurae was collected from tropical coast of Sanya,and firstly described based on both detailed morph-anatomical characteristics and molecular studies of typic DNA sequences.The structure of the thalli of L.okamurae was pseudoparenchymatous construction with radially organized dimerous organizations in the crustose portion.The pseudoparenchymatous construction were composed of three parts,including 1 to 3 layers of epithelia cells which had flatten to round outermost walls,one layer of square or rectangular cells of the hypothallia and multiple layers of square or elongated rectangular peripheral cells.Palisade cells were observed,and the cells of the contiguous vegetative filaments were connected by secondary pit-connections with cell fusions absent.The carposporangial conceptacles,the spermatangial conceptacles,the bisporangial conceptacles and the tetrasporangial conceptacles were observed,and all these four kinds of conceptacles were uniporate.The spermatangial conceptacles were slightly convex and buried at shallow depths in the thalli tissues,and the carposporangial conceptacles and asexual conceptacles were protruding and conical.Phylogenetic studies based on DNA barcoding markers of 18 S rDNA,COI,rbc L and psb A revealed that L.okamurae clustered with the closest relation of L.atlanticum,and formed a distinct branch.Based on the comparative anatomical features and the molecular data,the detailed description of the valid species of L.okamurae was firstly given in this study to provide theoretical basis for algae resources utilization and conservation in marine ecosystems.

Geological evolution of offshore pollution and its long-term potential impacts on marine ecosystems

Populations and metropolitan centers are accumulated in coastal areas around the world.In view of the fact that they are geographically adjacent to coasts and intense anthropogenic activities,increasing global offshore pollution has been an important worldwide concern over the past several decades and has become a very serious problem that needs to be addressed urgently.Due to offshore pollution,various geological disasters occur in high frequency,including intensified erosion and salinization of coastal soils,frequent geological collapses and landslides and increasing seismic activities.Moreover,offshore pollution shows increasingly serious impacts on the topography and geomorphology of offshore and coastal areas,including coastal degradation,retreating coastlines and estuary delta erosion.Offshore sedimentation processes are strongly influenced by the pH changes of terrestrial discharges,and sedimentary dynamics have become extremely acute and complex due to offshore pollution.The seabed topography and hydrodynamic environment determine the fate and transport of pollutants entering offshore regions.Coastal estuaries,port basins and lagoons that have relatively moderate ocean currents and winds are more likely to accumulate pollutants.Offshore regions and undersea canyons can be used as conduits for transporting pollutants from the continent to the seabed.It is particularly noteworthy that the spatial/temporal distribution of species,community structures,and ecological functions in offshore areas have undergone unprecedented changes in recent decades.Due to increasing offshore pollution,the stable succession and development trend of marine ecosystems has been broken.It is thus important to identify and regulate the quantity,composition and transportation of pollutants in offshore regions and their behavior in marine ecosystems.In particular,crucial actions for stabilizing marine ecosystems,including increasing species and biodiversity,should be implemented to enhance their anti-interference capabilities.This review provides an overview of the current situation of offshore pollution,as well as major trends of pollutant fate and transportation from continent to marine ecosystems,transformation of pollutants in sediments,and their bioaccumulation and diffusion.This study retrospectively reviews the long-term geological evolution of offshore pollution from the perspective of marine geology,and analyses their long-term potential impacts on marine ecosystems.Due to ecological risks associated with pollutants released from offshore sediments,more research on the influence of global offshore pollution based on marine geology is undoubtedly needed.

Restorating marine coastal ecosystem health as a new goad for integrated catchment management in Tolo Harbour,Hong Kong,China

The paper demonstrates why it is necessary to take the restoration of marine coastal ecosystem health as a new goal for integrated catchment management, in coastal area of the Tolo Harbour. The present goal of integrated catchment management (ICM) in the Tolo Harbour is to meet with Water Quality Objectives. The performance of an ICM plan, Tolo Harbour Action Plan (THAP), is evaluated by using marine coastal ecosystem health indicators including stress indicators and responses indicators. Since the implementation of THAP in 1988, some significant reduction in pollution loading has been observed - reduction of 83 % of BOD load and 82 % of TN between 1988 and 1999. There has been an improvement in the health state of Tolo Harbour marine coastal ecosystem as evidenced in the trends of the physical, chemical and biological indicators, although some reverse fluctuations in some periods exist. However, this can only be considered as the first sign of the ecosystem health restoration, since ecosystem health

Biotic communities of the marine ecosystem in Meizhou Bay

The current situation of biotic communities in Meizhou Bay is presented in this paper.The species composition,seasonal variation,and distribution of phytoplankton,zooplankton, red tide organisms,fishes,and benthos in Meizhou Bay were investigated,and the content of chlorophyll a and primary production and their seasonal variation were also determined.The water quality of Meizhou Bay was monitored by measuring the density of Escherichia coli. Results reveal that there is a great variety of species in Meizhou Bay and the water in Meizhou Bay is oligotrophic.But the individual numbers of various organisms are very low, especially those of algae.Moreover,there are more than 40 species of red tide organisms and there exist opportunities of red tides between May and November.All these demand cautious be taken in the future development of this area although it has great environment capacity.

Development and Application of a Marine Ecosystem Dynamic Model

A nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton-detritus （NPZD） type of marine ecosystem model was developed in this study,and was further coupled to a three-dimensional primitive-equation ocean circulation model with a river discharge model and a solar radiation model to reproduce the dynamics of the low nutrition level in the Bohai Sea （BS）.The simulation results were validated by observations and it was shown that the seasonal variation in the phytoplankton biomass could be characterized by the double-peak structure,corresponding to the spring and summer blooms,respectively.It was also found that both nitrogen and phosphate declined to the lowest level after the onset of the summer bloom,since the large amounts of nutrients were exhausted by phytoplankton for photosynthesis,and the concentrations of nutrients could resume in winter after a series of the biogeochemical-physical processes.By calculating the nitrogen/phosphorus （N/P） ratio,it is easy to see that the phytoplankton dynamics is nitrogen-limited as a whole in BS,though the phosphorus limitation may occur in the Yellow River （YR） Estuary where the input of riverine nitrogen is much more than that of phosphate.

Effects of a mixture of Cu, Cd, Hg and Zn on marine plankton: Marine Ecosystem Enclosure Experiment

Five experiment ecosystems (MEEE) were employed in April, 1985 to test the effects of a mixture of Cu, Cd, Hg, Pb and Zn on a subtropical planktonic ecosystem in Xiamen Bay, Xiamen, China. The results indicated that the ppb-level of the mixture could suppress the planktonic production. Zooplankton in Xiamen were very sensitive to the metal contamination, especially the larvaceans.

Numerical study on spatially varying control parameters of a marine ecosystem dynamical model with adjoint method

Based on the simulation of a marine ecosystem dynamical model in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, chlorophyll data are assimilated to study the spatially varying control parameters （CPs） by using the adjoint method. In this study, the CPs at some grid points are selected as the independent CPs, while the CPs at other grid points can be obtained through linear interpolation with the independent CPs. The independent CPs are uniformly selected from each 30′ × 30′area, and we confirm that the optimal influence radius is 1.2° by a twin experiment. In the following experiments, when only the maximum growth rate of phytoplankton （Vm） is estimated by two given types of spatially varying CPs, the mean relative errors of Vm are 1.22% and 0.94% while the decrease rates of the mean error of chlorophyll in the surface are 94.6% and 95.8%, respectively. When the other four CPs are estimated respectively, the results are also satisfactory, which indicates that the adjoint method has a strong ability of optimizing the prescribed CP with spatial variations. However, when all these five most important CPs are estimated simultaneously, the collocation of the changing trend of each parameter influences the estimation results remarkably. Only when the collocation of the changing trend of each parameter is consistent with the ecological mechanisms which influence the growth of the phytoplankton in marine ecosystem, could the five most important CPs be estimated more accurately.

Evaluation Techniques of the Loss of Marine Ecosystem Services Caused by Sea Reclamation Project Based on Three Methods

Based on the effect of marine environment caused by sea reclamation and Technical Directives for Marine Ecological Capital Assessment(GB/T 28058-2011), the indexes of the loss of coastal ecosystem services led by sea reclamation were built. The lost value of sea reclamation was calculated using three methods, namely, economic evaluation, emergy analysis and biodiversity experiential formula. The three methods were applied in the new sea reclamation in Taxia, Fuding City, Fujian Province, and the total ecosystem lost value was 6.720 million CNY/year, 8.092 million CNY/year, and 1.333 million CNY/year, respectively. Compared with other relevant researches, this paper analyzed feasibility and applicability of the three methods, so as to include project external cost into the project economic profi t and loss analysis in the evaluation of environmental infl uence, and to provide technical support for the sustainable economic development of coastal zones.

The effects of sediment from an industrial outfall area on a marine planktonic ecosystem

-Sediment from Xiamen industrial area was added to marine ecosystem enclosures to test the effects on the planktonic communities in Xiamen Bay, China, in April, 1985. Sediments were added at two concentrations, 11.2 and 112 ppm dry wt. respectively. The species of phytoplankton did not change as compared with the control, but the number of diatoms markedly decreased in the sediment treated enclosures. A suppression of photosynthesis was presumed to be due to light attenuation by the added sediment. Microflagellates, zooplankton and bacteria were resistant to sediment increase in water column.

Research on stability and Hopf bifurcation of marine ecosystem dynamics models

The predictability of marine ecosystem dynamics models is one of the most vital factors to limit their practical applications, of which the stability is the fundamental condition. In order to discuss the stability and Hopf bifurcation of marine ecosystem dynamics models, an approach based on a theorem termed dimension reduction was proposed and further applied in the mass-conservative nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton-detritus（NPZD） model in this paper. Results showed that the nonsingular equilibrium point of NPZD model was analytically stable in use of the dimension reduction theorem and the Hopf bifurcation might occur when model parameters changed along the threshold values. The analytical results of the NPZD model were further verified by numerical simulation in this study. It can be concluded that this approach based on the dimension reduction theorem is well applicable to the theoretical analysis of a kind of stability problems and Hopf bifurcation of massconservative systems.

Research on Evaluation of China s Marine Talent Ecosystem

Based on the research on talent ecosystem,China s marine talent ecosystem was evaluated and analyzed from the aspects of its constituent elements,characteristics,operation mechanism,and evolution mechanism,and an evaluation index system of China s marine talent ecosystem was constructed.Finally,relevant suggestions on the optimization and perfection of China s marine talent ecosystem were put forward.The research has guiding significance for the in-depth analysis of China s marine talent ecosystem.

The effects of nutrients and heavy metals on the plankton in marine enclosed ecosystem

Applying marine enclosed ecosystem extensively to study the nutrient variation and its relation to biochemical process by marine ecologists and biogeologists in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia has been lasting for many years. Santschi (1982) reviewed the geochemical recirculation of nutrients systematically. Kremling et al. (1978) described the changes in nutrient in marine enclosed e-

Environmental Assessment of Coastal Sand Mining Using Proposed DPSIR Criteria:A Case of Hai Phong

The environmental impact of coastal sand mining activities in Hai Phong city was assessed using ten proposed sustainable criteria for socio-economic development,and ecological and environmental protection.These ten criteria were developed by the analysis of the Dynamics-Pressure-State-Impact-Response(DPSIR)framework,including one driver and pressure criterion(D and P),seven status and impact criteria(S and I),and two response criteria(R).Each criterion is quantified according to five specific evaluation criteria corresponding to the evaluation score from 1 to 5.The results of the ten criterion application for environmental impact assessment of coastal mining Hai Phong by weighting show that the areas with economic activities,benthic biodiversity,and coastal ecosystems are most negatively impacted(score 4/5 and 3.5/5).Other subjects suffer low to moderate impacts(score 1/5 to 3/5).The environmental impact of sand mining(2015-2020)is generally moderate(score ranging from 2/5 to 3/5).The set of adjusted criteria can be applied to similar activities in coastal provinces and cities in Vietnam.

Probable effects of heat advection on the adjacent environment during oil production at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

The latest available data for mean annual air temperature at sites away from the Arctic coast in both Alaska and the Yukon Territory show no significant warming in the last 30-50 years. However, around the Arctic coast of northwest North America centered on Prudhoe Bay, the weather stations show significant warming of both the air and the ocean water, resulting in substantial losses in sea ice west of Prudhoe Bay. These changes appeared shortly after the commencement of shipment of oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1977, but have now reached a quasi-stable thermal state. Since more than 17 trillion barrels of oil have passed through the pipeline after being cooled by the adjacent air, which in turn, can then result in the melting of the adjacent sea ice, there appears to be a very strong relationship between these events, and a marked lack of correlation with the changes of the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This contrasts with the IPCC interpretation of the available climatic data, which assumes that the maximum climatic warming at Prudhoe Bay is typical of the entire region and is the result of increasing greenhouse gases. Engineers need to consider heat advection by oil or gas from underground when designing pipeline facilities, and to take account of the potential environmental con-sequences that they may cause.

Numerical experiments of HAB inducement in Qingdao adjacent coastal area

A three-dimension ecological dynamic model was established to numerically study the relationship of HAB and environmental conditions.The numerical experiments showed that the growth of diatom,the dominant HAB specie,was mainly restricted by phosphate and silicate.If the concentrations of phosphate and silicate reach 17-25 μg/L and 300-375 μg/L respectively,the water is in a state of eutrophication.When phosphate and silicate up to 26-32 μg/L and 350-500 μg/L respectively,HAB could be induced.The major regions of HAB occurrence are Jiaozhou Bay mouth,coastal bays,and coastal area from Maidao to Shilaoren.To avoid HAB occurrence,concentration of phosphate and silicate should not exceed 17-20 μg/L and 300 μg/L as a whole.Reasonable control of pollutant discharge is a key point to prevent water eutrophication and HAB occurrence.

Ecosystem services of the Baltic Sea:An assessment and mapping perspective

The Baltic Sea is essential for marine ecosystem services(MES)provision and the region’s socio-economic dy-namics.It is considered one of the busiest and most polluted regional seas in Europe.In recent years a collective effort in enforcing European and regional environmental policies and directives(e.g.Water Framework Direc-tive 2000/60/EC,2000;Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC,2008;Maritime Spatial Planning Directive 2014/89/EU,2014)has been carried out.Ecosystem Services assessment and mapping is integrated into these directives.An increasing number of scientific studies,projects,and other works were developed in this context,generating a vast body of knowledge.Despite all efforts to improve the Baltic Sea’s environmental status,the targets established were not fulfilled.It is also important to analyze if current methodological approaches for assessing and mapping MES are robust enough to provide the needed results.This perspective paper analyses the status of assessment and mapping methodologies.The results showed that most of the studies were focused on qualitative assessments,with limited validation and reliability.Although the number of robust and quantitative works is increasing,more are needed.It is vital to carry out quantitative assessments to inform decision-makers better and standardize MES practices across the Baltic Sea.

Analysis of the spatial and temporal distributions of ecological variables and the nutrient budget in the Beibu Gulf

Based on a hydrodynamic-ecological model, the temperature, salinity, current, phytoplankton(Chl a),zooplankton, and nutrient(dissolved inorganic nitrogen, DIN, and dissolved inorganic phosphorous, DIP)distributions in the Beibu Gulf were simulated and the nutrient budget of 2015 was quantitatively analyzed. The simulated results show that interface processes and monsoons significantly influence the ecological processes in the gulf. The concentrations of DIN, DIP, phytoplankton and zooplankton are generally higher in the eastern and northern gulf than that in the western and southern gulf. The key regions affected by ecological processes are the Qiongzhou Strait in winter and autumn and the estuaries along the Guangxi coast and the Red River in summer.In most of the studied domains, biochemical processes contribute more to the nutrient budget than do physical processes, and the DIN and DIP increase over the year. Phytoplankton plays an important role in the nutrient budget;phytoplankton photosynthetic uptake is the nutrient sink, phytoplankton dead cellular release is the largest source of DIN, and phytoplankton respiration is the largest source of DIP. The nutrient flux in the connected sections of the Beibu Gulf and open South China Sea(SCS) inflows from the east and outflows to the south. There are 113 709 t of DIN and 5 277 t of DIP imported from the open SCS to the gulf year-around.

Analysis of a Synechococcus sp. Bloom in the East China Sea and Its Causes

In the spring of 2007,a Synechococcus sp. bloom was monitored in station A1( 30° N,123° E) in the East China Sea. The abundance of Synechococcus sp. was nearly 2×10~6 cells/ml,and the contribution of Synechococcus sp. to chlorophyll a was nearly 90%. According to the abundance of Synechococcus sp. in the East China Sea and adjacent Changjiang River estuary in the past tow decades,the main reasons why Synechococcus sp. could form a bloom are listed below: the rising level of nutrients and the further eutrophication of the water body provided sufficient nutrients for Synechococcus sp.;with the global warming,the sea water temperature in the East China Sea rose continuously;the number of major predator heterotrophic flagellates was at a low level,reducing predation pressure.

Procedural generation and real-time rendering of a marine ecosystem

Underwater scene is one of the most marvelous environments in the world. In this study, we present an efficient procedural modeling and rendering system to generate marine ecosystems for swim-through graphic applications. To produce realistic and natural underwater scenes, several techniques and algorithms have been presented and introduced. First, to distribute sealife naturally on a seabed, we employ an ecosystem simulation that considers the influence of the underwater environment. Second, we propose a two-level procedural modeling system to generate sealife with unique biological features. At the base level, a series of grammars are designed to roughly represent underwater sealife on a central processing unit(CPU). Then at the fine level, additional details of the sealife are created and rendered using graphic processing units(GPUs). Such a hybrid CPU-GPU framework best adopts sequential and parallel computation in modeling a marine ecosystem, and achieves a high level of performance.Third, the proposed system integrates dynamic simulations in the proposed procedural modeling process to support dynamic interactions between sealife and the underwater environment, where interactions and physical factors of the environment are formulated into parameters and control the geometric generation at the fine level. Results demonstrate that this system is capable of generating and rendering scenes with massive corals and sealife in real time.

Colonization features of marine biofilm-dwelling protozoa in Chinese coastal waters of the Yellow Sea

Colonization features of biofilm-dwelling protozoa,especially ciliates,are routinely used as a useful tool for marine bioassessment.In this review,we summarize some of these features to develop an optimal sampling strategy for using biofilmdwelling protozoa as bioindicators of marine water quality.We focus on the utility of:(1)diversity in dices to analyze the colonizahon features of biofilm-dwelling protozoa for monitoring marine water quality;(2)MacArthur-Wilson and logistic equation models to determine spatio-temporal variations in colonization dynamics;and(3)homogeneity in taxonomic breadth of biofilm-dwelling protozoa during the process of colonization.The main findings are that:(1)the colonization dynamics of biofilm-dwelling protozoa are similar at depths of 1-5 m in spring and autumn;(2)temporal variability was well fitted to the MacArthur-Wilson and logistic models(P<0.05);and(3)species composition reached an equilibrium after a colonization period of 10-14 days in spring and autumn,but this took less time in the summer and more time in the winter.Ellipse-plotting tests demonstrated spatial variability in homogeneity in taxonomic structure of the ciiiate communities at different depths in the water column,with high levels at 1 m and 2 m and lower levels at 3.5 m and 5 m.Thus,the findings of this review suggest that the colonization dynamics of biofilin-dwelling protozoa may be influenced by different depths and seasons in coastal waters and 1-2 m in spring and autumn may be optimal sampling strategy for bioassessment on large spatial/temporal scales in marine ecosystems.