| Description |
Large blooms of Ulva prolifera green tides occurred every summer in the Yellow Sea for 12 consecutive years, and has become the largest ecological disaster in coastal waters. Upon the recession or collapse of the blooms, approximately 1,000,000 t biomass (wet weight) of U. prolifera (that were not salvaged in time) was sunk into seawater. These macroalga could be decomposed under the role of microorganisms and would release large amounts of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into seawater. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on their ecological impacts on the molecular compositions of DOC, the spatiotemporal variations and dynamics of DOC, and the accumulation of recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) in coastal waters. The present project will be designed to research the long-term impacts of the green-tide blooms on DOC pools in the Yellow Sea. Hence, we intend to carry out the following researches: 1) the spatiotemporal variations of DOC and their difference in molecular compositions will be studied via field observations among different stages of the macroalga blooms; 2) the long-term decomposition dynamics of DOC from U. prolifera by a natural microbial consortium will be investigated in the laboratory. Moreover, the production of RDOC and their molecular compositions will also be analyzed; 3) finally, the long-term ecological impacts of green-tide blooms on the DOC pools will be assessed based on the historical data of the DOC, the U. prolifera biomass and the estimation of terrestrial input into coastal waters during recent 12 years. Thus, both the fate of DOC released from U. prolifera and their ecological impacts on the DOC pools in coastal waters will be answered in this project. We expected to provide some important information on the impacts of the macroalga blooms on the DOC variation and carbon cycling in local ecosystem. |
