title: Spatiotemporal variations of inorganic nutrients along the Jiangsu coast, China, and the occurrence of macroalgal blooms (green tides) in the southern Yellow Sea.
abstract: Large macroalgal blooms (i.e. green tides of Ulva prolifera) occurred in the southern Yellow Sea, China, yearly from 2007 to 2016. They were among the largest of such outbreaks around the world, and these blooms likely originated along the coast of the Jiangsu Province, China. Understanding the roles of nutrients in the onset of these macroalgal blooms is needed to identify their origin. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal variations in dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus (DIN and PO4-P) and the N/P ratio along the Jiangsu coast from 1996 to 2014 during late-March to April, the months which corresponds to the pre-bloom period of green tides since 2007. A zone of high DIN and PO4-P concentrations has developed along the Jiangsu coast, between the cities of Sheyang and Nantong, since 1996. There was an 18-year trend of increasing DIN concentrations during the pre-bloom period as well as a positive correlation between the U. prolifera biomass and DIN concentrations. Nutrient inputs from rivers and mariculture in the Jiangsu Province may have provided nitrogen that contributed the magnitude of macroalgal blooms that subsequently spread into the southern Yellow Sea.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Marine Biology and Carbon Sequestration, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Marine Biology and Carbon Sequestration, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China. Electronic address: zhangyy@qibebt.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yongyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China.
authors.forename: Hongjie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China; National Marine Hazard Mitigation Service, Beijing, 100194, China. Electronic address: shixy@ouc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF A1C 5S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Rivkin
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, CNRS, Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Observatoire océanologique, 181 Chemin du Lazaret, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Legendre
mesh_terms: D017756:Aquaculture / Q000379:methods; D018533:Biomass; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005068:Eutrophication; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism; D045483:Rivers; D012624:Seaweed / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Harmful macroalgal blooms; Jiangsu coasts; Loading; Nutrients; Porphyra mariculture; Yellow Sea