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Seasonal and spatial variations of macro- and megabenthic community characteristics in two sections of the East China Sea

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Abstract

In spring and summer 2011, the macro- and megabenthic fauna in two sections of the East China Sea were investigated using an Agassiz net trawl to detect the seasonal and spatial variations of benthic community characteristics and the relation to environmental variables. The total number of species increased slightly from spring (131 species) to summer (133) whereas the percentage of Mollusca decreased significantly. The index of relative importance (IRI) indicated that the top five important species changed completely from spring to summer. Species number, abundance and biomass in summer were significantly higher than in spring, but no significant difference was observed among areas (coastal, transitional and oceanic areas, divided basically from inshore to offshore). Species richness (d), diversity (H′) and evenness (J′) showed no significant seasonal or spatial variations. Cluster analysis and nMDS ordination identified three benthic communities from inshore to offshore, corresponding to the three areas. Analysis of Similarity (ANOSIM) indicated the overall significant difference in community structure between seasons and among areas. K-dominance curves revealed the high intrinsic diversity in the offshore area. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that the coastal community was positively correlated to total nitrogen and total organic carbon in spring, but negatively in summer; oceanic community was positively correlated to total nitrogen and total organic carbon in both seasons. Species such as Coelorhynchus multispinulosus, Neobythites sivicola, Lepidotrigla alata, Solenocera melantho, Parapenaeus fissuroides, Oratosquilla gonypetes and Spiropagurus spiriger occurred exclusively in the offshore oceanic area and their presence may reflect the influence of the offshore Kuroshio Current.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank WANG **bao, PENG Songyao, HUANG Hui and XU Peng for their work in the field and laboratory. We also appreciate the valuable comments on the manuscript by the anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Yong Xu  (徐勇), **nzheng Li  (**新**), Lin Ma  (马林), Dong Dong  (董栋), Qi Kou  (寇琦), Jixing Sui  (隋吉星), Zhibin Gan  (甘志彬) & Hongfa Wang  (王洪法)

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Yong Xu  (徐勇), **nzheng Li  (**新**), Lin Ma  (马林), Dong Dong  (董栋), Qi Kou  (寇琦), Jixing Sui  (隋吉星), Zhibin Gan  (甘志彬) & Hongfa Wang  (王洪法)

  3. Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Yong Xu  (徐勇), **nzheng Li  (**新**), Lin Ma  (马林), Dong Dong  (董栋), Qi Kou  (寇琦), Jixing Sui  (隋吉星), Zhibin Gan  (甘志彬) & Hongfa Wang  (王洪法)

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  1. Yong Xu  (徐勇)
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  2. **nzheng Li  (**新**)
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  6. Jixing Sui  (隋吉星)
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  8. Hongfa Wang  (王洪法)
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Correspondence to **nzheng Li  (**新**).

Additional information

Supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA11020303), the Ocean Public Welfare Scientific Research Project, State Oceanic Administration of the PRC (No. 201505004), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41176133, 41406157)

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Xu, Y., Li, X., Ma, L. et al. Seasonal and spatial variations of macro- and megabenthic community characteristics in two sections of the East China Sea. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 35, 1152–1164 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-017-6085-6

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