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Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 10030

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xiutang Yuan

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
Interests: sea cucumber; shellfish; ocean acidification and warming; environmental factors; human impacts; environmental pollution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Wei Huang

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou 310012, China
Interests: fish; shellfish; ocean acidification and warming; environmental pollutant; microplastic; marine spatial planning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Chuanxin Qin

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Guest Editor

South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, China
Interests: marine ranching; artificial reef; coral reef; environmental factors; human impacts; environmental pollution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine life is currently facing intensive human activity and large-scale environmental pressures, including pollution, eutrophication, and hypoxia at a local scale (human activity), and ocean acidification and/or ocean warming at a global scale (climate change). The responses of marine species (including physiological, behavioral, and molecular levels), biodiversity, community, and ecosystems have been concerning. This Special Issue will focus on a wide range of responses of individuals, community, and even ecosystems in the oceans to anthropogenic activity and environmental stressors. We welcome not only research works, but also reviews and other types of articles.

Guest Editors

Prof. Dr. Xiutang Yuan
Prof. Dr. Wei Huang
Dr. Chuanxin Qin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Marine pollution
Eutrophication
Hypoxia
Ocean acidification
Ocean warming
Physiology and behavior
Molecular
Biodiversity
Community
Ecosystem

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 205 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Marine Organisms in a Rapidly Changing Ocean

by Xiutang Yuan, Wei Huang and Chuanxin Qin

Water 2023, 15(7), 1401; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15071401 - 4 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1205

Abstract

Oceans are changing due to intensive human activities and worsening climate change [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

10 pages, 1037 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Genetic Structure and Diversity of Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys crocea) from the Southern Yellow Sea and North-Central East China Sea: Implications for Conservation and Stock Enhancement

by Fengying Zhang, Yazhou Jiang, Chunyan Ma, Wei Chen, Jiahua Cheng and Lingbo Ma

Water 2023, 15(2), 338; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15020338 - 13 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1576

Abstract

As a wild resource, the large yellow croaker Larimichthys crocea has been seriously threatened since the mid-1980s. Owing to the implementation of protection measures, such as the establishment of a protection zone, fishing prohibitions, restocking programs and successful mariculture, its resources have gradually recovered year by year. Limited by the low spatial resolution and incomplete spatial coverage of sampling stations, the spatial genetic structure and diversity of large yellow croakers from the southern Yellow Sea and north-central East China Sea remains unclear. In order to evaluate the genetic diversity status of this wild stock, 22 wild sites were collected from the southern Yellow Sea and north-central East China Sea and analyzed by investigating genetic variability and its population structure using mitochondrial COI sequence in this study. Among the 662 sequences, a total of 71 different haplotypes were defined. The haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) values were 0.644~1.000 and 0.00220~0.00473 respectively. The highest h and π occurred in the southern Yellow Sea (YS). AMOVA analysis showed no genetic differentiation among those 22 sites after Bonferroni correction. By comparing with previous studies, the croaker has maintained relatively steady genetic diversity in recent years. Our result also suggested that the croakers in the South Yellow Sea and north-central East China Sea belonged to the same group. Thus, they can be released as a management unit without regard for heterogenicity among those in the sea area. The YS populations can serve as parents for released fish fries in the South Yellow Sea and north-central East China Sea. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress)

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13 pages, 3512 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Benthic Habitat Quality Assessment in Estuarine Intertidal Flats Based on Long-Term Data with Focus on Responses to Eco-Restoration Activity

by Anguo Zhang, Yanbin Gu, Xiutang Yuan, Marco C. Brustolin, Xiaolong Yang, Rongliang Zhang, Zhiwen Wang and Honghua Shi

Water 2022, 14(23), 3846; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14233846 - 26 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1830

Abstract

A long-term assessment of the benthic habitat quality of intertidal flats in Liaohe Estuary was conducted by three integrating ecological indices, AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), Multivariate-AMBI (M-AMBI), and Shannon–Wiener diversity index (H′) based on macrobenthos data from 2013 to 2020. The results showed that the macrobenthic communities were characterized by indifferent and sensitive species of AMBI ecological groups. The annual ranges of H′, AMBI, and M-AMBI were 0.77–1.56, 1.44–3.73 and 0.36–0.54, respectively. Noticeable differences were found among assessment obtained by these biotic indices. Approximately 100%, 24%, and 78% sampling sites had “moderate”, “poor”, and “bad” statuses as assessed by H′, AMBI, and M-AMBI, respectively. Compared with H′ and AMBI, M-AMBI may be more applicable to evaluate the benthic habitat quality of intertidal flats in Liaohe Estuary. Results suggest that the benthic habitat quality in the middle parts of intertidal flats still had an unacceptable status and has not improved radically to date after large-scale “mariculture ponds restored to intertidal flats”. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress)

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16 pages, 2152 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Optimal Conditions to Quantify the Relationship between eDNA Concentration and Biomass in Acanthopagrus latus

by Yi Xin, Yu Guo, Meijing Sun, Gang Yu, Zhenhua Ma, Kun Pei and Chuanxin Qin

Water 2022, 14(21), 3521; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14213521 - 3 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1691

Abstract

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a useful tool for monitoring the distributions of aquatic species. eDNA can produce quantitative estimates of fish abundance, but its accuracy depends on the species and system. Therefore, its performance must be evaluated and an investigation of how fish biomass affects eDNA dynamics must be conducted on a case-by-case basis. This study evaluates how the biomass of an ecologically and socioeconomically important fish, Acanthopagrus latus, relates to the eDNA concentration in aquariums. We conducted experiments using juvenile individuals and evaluated eDNA and biomass relationships at seven different time points using a previously developed TaqMan assay targeting the cytochrome oxidase I gene to understand the effect of environmental factors on eDNA concentrations. The results from A. latus showed a strong positive linear correlation between eDNA concentration and A. latus biomass (R² = 0.72–0.93). The eDNA concentration was negatively correlated with time 20 d after removing A. latus. Salinity significantly affected the eDNA concentration of A. latus at 3 h, and temperature significantly affected the eDNA concentration from 3 to 14 d. The combinations of factors with the greatest effect on the yellowfin seabream eDNA concentration were 35‰/30 °C/8.5, 35‰/30 °C/8.0, and 35‰/25 °C/8.5 (salinity/temperature/pH). This study identified the conditions for detecting A. latus eDNA and provided environmental data to monitor and survey yellowfin seabream biomass resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress)

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12 pages, 2509 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel CYP4 Gene Identified in the Polychaete Sternaspis scutata and Its Transcriptional Levels along the Coasts of the Liaodong Peninsula

by Zhenglin Yu, Aimin Qi, Lili Wang, Encui Shan, Dongmei Li, Xiaolong Yang and Anguo Zhang

Water 2022, 14(21), 3489; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14213489 - 1 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1300

Abstract

Polychaetes (such as Sternaspis sculata) can biotransform polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment, and the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme is the key substance in this process. Here, a novel CYP gene was identified from S. sculata, a marine polychaete that is abundantly distributed along marine coasts worldwide. The full-length cDNA of the new CYP is a 1829 bp, encoding a protein of 509 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of the CYP gene contains the conserved motifs of the P450 family (FxxGxxxCxG) and the characteristic sequences of the CYP4 family (EVDTFMFEGHDTT), showing high similarity to CYP4V from marine polychaetes. Therefore, the cDNA sequence might belong to the subfamily of CYP4V, tentatively named SsCYP4V. The expression levels of SsCYP4V in the field were detected in S. sculata sampled from six sites along the coasts of the Liaodong Peninsula. The results showed that the relative expression levels of SsCYP4V in S. sculata were significantly different among the sampling sites; however, no positive relationship was found between SsCYP4V expression levels and PAHs concentrations in the sediments. These findings suggested a complexity of CYP gene expression in the field, and SsCYP4V cannot be used as a biomarker for the field monitoring of PAH pollution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress)

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10 pages, 2394 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Northward Expansion of a Warm-Water Doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884) into a Temperate Bay, China

by Shiwei Wang, Aiyong Wan, Guangtao Zhang and Song Sun

Water 2022, 14(11), 1685; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14111685 - 25 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1683

Abstract

A warm-water doliolid species Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884) was firstly recorded in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) during the autumn of 2019–2020. As a warm-water species, its native habitat lies in the East China Sea Shelf, >1000 km south of JZB. Distribution, abundance, stage composition, size frequency distribution, and relationships with environmental factors were studied. Both asexual and sexual reproduction stages were observed. Gonozooids generally dominated the population, indicating an active population development status. Abundance was significantly correlated to temperature. Water temperature in the two consecutive years was among the highest levels during the recent 3–4 decades. The continuous warming trends both in the China coastal seas and JZB likely expanded the biogeographic range. The sub branches of a boundary current, the Kuroshio Current, especially the Yellow Sea Warm Current, may play a central role during the northward extension. Moreover, its feeding, growth, reproduction, and recruitment could also be benefited from the neritic food environment. Finally, when the temperature dropped below 15 °C in the early winter, it disappeared in JZB. The seasonal expansion of D. gegenbauri in JZB could be facilitated by current transportation, warming, and the neritic environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Responses of Marine Life to Human Activity and Environmental Stress)

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