Benthic Sargassum composition and community characteristics in the intertidal zone of Hainan Island, China

ABSTRACT

Sargassum is one of the most important economic algae in Phaeophyta. It has broad prospects for development and application in industry, agriculture, food, medicine and ecological restoration, and plays an important role in maintaining the marine ecosystem. In recent years, however, environmental degradation, offshore farming and overharvesting have changed the ecosystem structure and threatened the Sargassum resources. To understand the composition and characteristics of Sargassum in Hainan, we conducted an annual field survey of four bays around Hainan Island, including Haiwei, Qinglan, Lingshui and Sanya. Results indicated that 16 species of Sargassum were collected in the intertidal zone of Hainan Island, belonging to two subgenera, three sections, and S. polycystum was the dominant species at all stations throughout the year. Lingshui and Sanya had the highest biodiversity index, followed by Qinglan and Haiwei. The community similarity between Qinglan and Lingshui was the highest, followed by Haiwei and Sanya. The biodiversity index of Sargassum was the highest in summer, followed by late spring and autumn, and the lowest in winter.

KEYWORDS:

• Community
• diversity index
• Hainan Island
• tropical China
• Sargassum
• seasonal succession

Acknowledgements

We thank Lim Phaik Eem of the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, who helped to improve an earlier version of the manuscript with constructive suggestions for revision.

Ethical approval

No animal testing was performed during this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant (321RC637), Key R & D Program of Hainan Province under Grant (ZDYF2021SHFZ106), Financial Fund of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, P. R. of China under Grants (NHYYSWZZZYKZX2020; NFZX2018) and Central Public-Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund for Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences under Grant (1630052019010).