characteristics of large-scale harmful algal blooms (habs) in the yangtze river estuary and the adjacent east china sea (ecs) from 2000 to 2010大规模的有害藻华的特点(长江口赤潮)和邻东海(ecs)从2000年到2010年.pdfVIP

Journal of Environmental Protection, 2011, 2, 1285-1294 1285 doi:10.4236/jep.2011.210148 Published Online December 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jep) Characteristics of Large-Scale Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the Yangtze River Estuary and the Adjacent East China Sea (ECS) from 2000 to 2010 1* 1 2 2 Li Shen , Huiping Xu , Xulin Guo , Meng Li 1State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China; 2Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. * E-mail: shenli0630426@ Received September 9th, 2011; revised October 12th, 2011; accepted November 17th, 2011. ABSTRACT Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a serious worldwide issue which has posed great risks on marine ecosystems and public health by directly releasing toxins or indirectly leading to anoxia in marine environment. In recent years HABs have caused huge economic losses in China, particularly in the Yangtze Estuary and the adjacent East China Sea (ECS). The present study investigated the spatial-temporal and species characteristics of large-scale HABs in this area using geographic information system (GIS) Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) spatial analysis, statistical methods and sa- tellite image interpretation. Results revealed that the Yangtze Estuary, Zhoushan island, Xiangshan bay and Jiushan island are the regions with highest frequency of large-scale HABs. HABs in the ECS reached a peak in terms of total number and area in 2003 to 2005 and occupied a high percentage (around 70% in area and 60% in occurrence) in the four Chinese coastal waters. The number of large-scale HABs (1000 km2) in the Yangtze Estuary and the adjacent ECS declined after 2005 while that of HABs (100 km2) declined after 2008. Large-scale