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An Inventory and Seasonal Changes in the Recent Benthic Flora of Coral Reefs of Wuzhizhou Island, Haitang Bay, South China Sea (China)

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Intensive algal sampling was conducted from 2017 to 2019 in coastal waters of Wuzhizhou Island (South China Sea, China). In total, 183 species of marine macrophytes, 9 species of Cyanobacteria and 2 species of seagrasses were found. The collection of benthic macroalgae was comprised of 63% of Rhodophyta, 12% of Phaeophyceae, and 25% of Chlorophyta. Among macrophytes, the largest number of species was found on hard substrates (123 species), 83 species were epiphytes, and 16 species grew on artificial substrates. In addition, 4 species of red algae were found on mollusk shells. The largest number of macroalgal species (150 species or 82% of all collections) was found at the end of the dry seasons. Species compositions of macroalgae during both the dry and rainy seasons were not significantly different. Over 50% of the species of macroalgae were common during both seasons. There were more algae found only in the dry season than those found only in the rainy season. In the upper and middle intertidal zone, macrophytes formed mono- and bidominant communities of algal turf and crust algae; in the low intertidal and upper subtidal zones, mosaic polydominant algal turf communities were observed.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to Mr. Fengguo Wang for his help in field work.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41476134), the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea (DX2017003), the Foundation of Hainan University (KYQD(ZR)1805), and the grant “China-Russia special funds 2019” from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, College of Marine Science, Hainan University, 570228, Haikou, China

    X. B. Li & J. Q. Xia

  2. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science, 690041, Vladivostok, s, , Russia

    E. A. Titlyanov, T. V. Titlyanova & O. S. Belous

  3. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510301, Guangzhou, China

    H. Huang

  4. Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 572000, Sanya, China

    H. Huang

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  1. X. B. Li
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  2. E. A. Titlyanov
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  3. T. V. Titlyanova
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  4. O. S. Belous
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  5. J. Q. Xia
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Correspondence to X. B. Li.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies involving animals or human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Li, X.B., Titlyanov, E.A., Titlyanova, T.V. et al. An Inventory and Seasonal Changes in the Recent Benthic Flora of Coral Reefs of Wuzhizhou Island, Haitang Bay, South China Sea (China). Russ J Mar Biol 46, 485–492 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063074020310028

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