Figure 1.
Schematic presentation of the major surface currents in the western Pacific Ocean in winter.
(drawn by Yang Dezhou).
Figure 2.
Surface water temperature in western Pacific Ocean in winter (2002–2011), derived from MODIS-Aqua satellite.
Figure 3.
Bottom water temperature of Yellow Sea (August) (1958–1988) [10].
Figure 4.
Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass and abundance of Calanus sinicus [11].
Table 1.
Oceanographic and marine science research vessels of China.
Figure 5.
The number of species in China's seas increases distinctly from the north to the south—from high to low latitude.
Table 2.
Estimated numbers of described and undescribed species per taxon, along with information on the number of endemic and introduced species, and number of experts and identification guides.
Table 3.
Number of different kinds of cold-water and warm-water species of invertebrates and fishes recorded in the Yellow Sea [8].
Table 4.
Number of macrobenthic invertebrate species in China seas [8].
Table 5.
Species richness in China seas by kilometer of coast.
Figure 6.
Marine fauna and flora of the China seas.
Shaded area 1 is the North Pacific Temperate Biotic Region, Far Eastern Cold-temperate Subregion. Shaded area 2 is the North Pacific Temperate Biotic Region, East Asia Warm-temperate Subregion. Shaded area 3 is the Indo-West Pacific Warm-water Biotic Region, China-Japan Subtropical Subregion. Shaded area 4 is the Indo-West Pacific Warm-water Biotic Region, Indo-Malaysian Tropical Subregion. 6A. Distribution of Phyto-benthic Flora; 6B. Distribution of Zoo-benthic Fauna; 6C. Distribution of Marine Fish Fauna.
Figure 7.
Distributions of zooplankton communities in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea.
K - East China Sea Shelf High-Temperature and High-Salinity Community, M – East China Sea Coastal Mixed Community, HE – Yellow Sea-East China Sea Mixed Community, F- Yellow Sea Coastal Community, HC - Central Yellow Sea Community.
Table 6.
Composition of indicator species in plankton communities of Yellow Sea and East China Sea in spring and autumn.
Table 7.
Taxonomic composition and species number found in intertidal communities of the Cangkou mud flat, 1935–1988.
Figure 8.
Distribution and abundance of certain cold-water benthic species in the Yellow Sea (sampled in 1959 and 2007).
A. Ophiura sarsii vadicola Djakonov, 1954; B. Ophiopholis mirabilis (Duncan, 1879); C. Oregonia gracilis Dana, 1851; D. Clinocardium californiense (Deshayes, 1857); E. Pagurus ochotensis Brandt, 1851; F. Thyasira tokunagai Kuroda and Habe, 1951.
Table 8.
Number of genera and species of scleractinian corals recorded from several localities of the China seas [47].
Table 9.
Changes in species composition along the different sections of the Coral Reef in Luhuitou, Sanya, Hainan Island, between 1966 and 1991.
Table 10.
Area of mangrove forests and number of mangrove species in China [51], [52].
Table 11.
Seagrass species, distribution, and cover in southern China [47].
Figure 9.
Distribution of Dugong dugon and seagrass fields along southern China coast.
Figure 10.
Estimated total number of individual Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis, Jiaozhou Bay in August (1981–1993).
Table 12.
Main publications on marine fauna and flora of China's seas.
Table 13.
Annual production of marine fisheries (catch) of China, 2007.
Table 14.
Mariculture production of China, 2007.
Table 15.
Number of species recorded from Quanzhou Bay.
Figure 11.
Marine biodiversity studies carried out by the Census of Marine Zooplankton Project, including the “Arctic Ocean, Equator, Antarctic Ocean” trans-equator transect.