Figure 1
Sketch map of the study area (the Min estuary, southeastern China) with the sampling sites as solid circles
Table 1
Geological and environmental information on sampling locations in different seasons in the Min estuary
| Location | Latitude | Longitude | Water temperature | Salinity | Water depth | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter | |||
| 1 | 26.189 | 119.652 | 20.8 | 26.2 | 21.9 | 14.9 | 28.0 | 29.5 | 29.1 | 27.5 | 11.2 | 10.5 | 10.7 | 10.9 |
| 2 | 26.240 | 119.741 | 21.0 | 27.1 | 21.9 | 14.7 | 30.3 | 32.5 | 29.4 | 31.3 | 10.2 | 13.6 | 13.2 | 11.7 |
| 3 | 26.288 | 119.842 | 20.4 | 26.2 | 21.5 | 15.3 | 32.2 | 33.0 | 28.2 | 33.1 | 20.8 | 18.2 | 19.9 | 19.6 |
| 4 | 26.111 | 119.669 | 21.7 | 26.5 | 22.6 | 15.5 | 25.8 | 29.6 | 25.6 | 27.0 | 10.6 | 11.6 | 8.2 | 9.1 |
| 5 | 26.121 | 119.770 | 20.9 | 27.4 | 21.8 | 16.2 | 30.3 | 31.6 | 28.9 | 32.2 | 12.7 | 11.5 | 10.0 | 13.1 |
| 6 | 26.131 | 119.867 | 20.9 | 25.6 | 22.7 | 15.6 | 23.8 | 32.5 | 29.0 | 34.0 | 19.7 | 23.4 | 22.3 | 22.6 |
| 7 | 26.040 | 119.697 | 21.1 | 27.0 | 22.6 | 14.8 | 23.7 | 25.9 | 19.8 | 27.1 | 7.3 | 7.1 | 8.2 | 9.1 |
| 8 | 26.018 | 119.780 | 21.2 | 27.0 | 22.7 | 14.7 | 28.5 | 31.1 | 16.1 | 32.3 | 13.1 | 12.7 | 14.8 | 15.1 |
| 9 | 25.987 | 119.863 | 22.2 | 26.6 | 22.5 | 13.3 | 20.7 | 31.5 | 30.0 | 36.2 | 18.3 | 22.0 | 19.0 | 17.8 |
| 10 | 25.931 | 119.770 | 22.1 | 27.7 | 22.5 | 13.3 | 25.5 | 31.3 | 23.7 | 31.0 | 15.7 | 16.6 | 13.7 | 14.3 |
| 11 | 25.850 | 119.833 | 21.1 | 26.8 | 22.6 | 13.0 | 30.8 | 34.3 | 25.3 | 33.0 | 25.6 | 24.7 | 24.3 | 24.7 |
Table 2
Species diversity components and descriptors. xi (i = 1, 2, ..., S ) denotes the abundance of the ith species, N is the total number of individuals in the sample, Pi is the proportion of all individuals belonging to species i, ωij is the “distinctness weight” given to the path length linking species i to the first common node with species j in the hierarchical classification
| Component | Descriptor name | Formula | Expected properties | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richness | Species density | S = number of species | Standardize species richness per unit area | |
| Margelef | Adjusted species richness by N | Margelef (1958) | ||
| Evenness | Pielou index | Evenness based on the Shannon-Wiener index H’ | Pielou (1966) | |
| Heip | Sensitive to rare species | Heip (1974) | ||
| Heterogeneity | Shannon-Wiener | Sensitive to rare species | Shannon and Weaver (1949) | |
| Simpson diversity | Sensitive to dominant species | Simpson (1949) | ||
| Taxonomy | Average taxonomic distinctness | natural extensions taxonomic of Simpson relatedness diversity including | Clarke and Warwick (1998) | |
| Variation in taxonomic distinctness | Evenness of the taxonomic level distribution in the taxonomic tree | Clarke and Warwick (1998) |
Table 3
List of fish with their taxonomic status, seasonal abundance and biomass in the Min estuary (-- denotes no samples)
| Order | Family | Genus | Species | Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| abundance (ind.) | biomass (g) | abundance (ind.) | biomass (g) | abundance (ind.) | biomass (g) | abundance (ind.) | biomass (g) | ||||
| Carcharhiniformes | Carcharhinidae | Scoliodon | Scoliodon laticaudus | -- | -- | 7 | 409.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Rajiformes | Rhinobatidae | Rhinobatos | Rhinobatos hynnicephalus | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 886.2 |
| Platyrhina | Platyrhina tangi | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 693.3 | -- | -- | ||
| Platyrhina sinensis | 1 | 300.0 | 3 | 455.8 | -- | -- | 1 | 351.7 | |||
| Myliobatiformes | Dasyatidae | Dasyatis | Dasyatis akajei | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 210.5 |
| Dasyatis laevigata | 1 | 293.0 | 1 | 1468.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Dasyatis zugei | 1 | 641.0 | 4 | 1478.5 | 7 | 1987.5 | -- | -- | |||
| Dasyatis navarrae | 1 | 10018.0 | -- | -- | 2 | 4339.3 | -- | -- | |||
| Taeniura | Taeniura meyeni | 1 | 299.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Anguilliformes | Muraenesocidae | Muraenesox | Muraenesox cinereus | 26 | 1120.4 | 52 | 2951.4 | 2 | 245.7 | 7 | 226.5 |
| Muraenidae | Gymnothorax | Gymnothorax reticularis | -- | -- | 2 | 124.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Congridae | Conger | Conger myriaster | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 30.0 | |
| Ophichthidae | Pisodonophis | Pisodonophis cancrivorus | 9 | 211.8 | 4 | 151.2 | 11 | 214.3 | -- | -- | |
| Pisodonophis boro | -- | -- | 6 | 131.4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Ophichthus | Ophichthus apicalis | -- | -- | 31 | 707.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Neenchelys | Neenchelys parvipectoralis | -- | -- | 2 | 61.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Lophiiformes | Antennariidae | Antennarius | Antennarius hispidus | -- | -- | 2 | 51.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Gonorynchiformes | Gonorynchidae | Gonorynchus | Gonorynchus abbreviatus | -- | -- | 5 | 140.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Siluriformes | Bagridae | Tachysurus | Tachysurus sinensis | 2 | 238.8 | -- | -- | 5 | 109.3 | 3 | 59.01 |
| Clupeiformes | Clupeidae | Konosirus | Konosirus punctatus | 49 | 1050.6 | -- | -- | 1 | 88.3 | 6 | 158.9 |
| Sardinella | Sardinella zunasi | 20 | 312.8 | 1 | 4.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Pristigasteridae | Ilisha | Ilisha elongata | 7 | 160.5 | 1 | 13.4 | 77 | 1913.2 | 4 | 150.7 | |
| Engraulidae | Setipinna | Setipinna taty | 110 | 1944.8 | 182 | 2829.6 | 90 | 866.2 | 1 | 3.3 | |
| Coilia | Coilia mystus | 211 | 2422.7 | 19 | 231.5 | 546 | 5261.7 | 1250 | 9977.8 | ||
| Thryssa | Thryssa kammalensis | 330 | 1020.0 | 13 | 30.5 | 255 | 2002.1 | 20 | 44.3 | ||
| Thryssa vitrirostris | 7 | 72.7 | 5 | 13.5 | 15 | 147.2 | -- | -- | |||
| Thryssa mystax | 2 | 20.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 24 | 170.7 | |||
| Engraulis | Engraulis japonicus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 22.2 | -- | -- | ||
| Stolephorus | Stolephorus commersonnii | 99 | 102.4 | 8 | 21.1 | 8 | 7.3 | -- | -- | ||
| Stolephorus chinensis | 30 | 52.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Aulopiformes | Synodontidae | Synodus | Synodus macrops | 1 | 3.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Synodus hoshinonis | -- | -- | 5 | 6.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Harpadon | Harpadon nehereus | 63 | 1505.8 | 1144 | 34623.2 | 2284 | 29280.9 | 279 | 9622.1 | ||
| Saurida | Saurida undosquamis | 5 | 38.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Saurida elongata | 4 | 258.2 | 56 | 2738.0 | 1 | 32.4 | 28 | 1612.3 | |||
| Scorpaeniformes | Scorpaenidae | Hoplosebastes | Hoplosebastes armatus | -- | -- | 1 | 1.7 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Scorpaena | Scorpaena miostoma | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 157.2 | ||
| Sebastidae | Sebastiscus | Sebastiscus marmoratus | 2 | 1.8 | 4 | 30.2 | 2 | 152 | -- | -- | |
| Synanceiidae | Minous | Minous monodactylus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1.0 | -- | -- | |
| Platycephalidae | Cociella | Cociella crocodilus | -- | -- | 7 | 61.4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Grammoplites | Grammoplites scaber | 5 | 208.4 | 2 | 108.2 | 4 | 42.8 | 1 | 13.1 | ||
| Platycephalus | Platycephalus indicus | 2 | 169.9 | 4 | 52.1 | 1 | 85.2 | -- | -- | ||
| Triglidae | Chelidonichthys | Chelidonichthys kumu | 328 | 2254.7 | 3 | 82.25 | -- | -- | 3 | 258.7 | |
| Mugiliformes | Mugilidae | Moolgarda | Moolgarda cunnesius | 1 | 28.3 | -- | -- | 2 | 67.4 | -- | -- |
| Liza | Liza carinata | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 35.0 | ||
| Mugil | Mugil cephalus | 1 | 26.9 | 3 | 80.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Syngnathiformes | Syngnathidae | Hippocampus | Hippocampus kelloggi | -- | -- | 1 | 0.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Fistulariidae | Fistularia | Fistularia petimba | -- | -- | 5 | 13.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Perciformes | Lateolabracidae | Lateolabrax | Lateolabrax japonicus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 | 4273.0 | 5 | 1063.0 |
| Leiognathidae | Leiognathus | Leiognathus brevirostris | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 7.04 | |
| Leiognathus berbis | -- | -- | 3 | 1.3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Equulites | Equulites rivulatus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 9.9 | -- | -- | ||
| Nuchequula | Nuchequula nuchalis | 6 | 79.37 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 22.15 | ||
| Secutor | Secutor ruconius | 982 | 5120.7 | 1654 | 10399.9 | 299 | 1545.3 | 107 | 282.69 | ||
| Terapontidae | Terapon | Terapon theraps | -- | -- | 1 | 11.1 | 2 | 30.4 | -- | -- | |
| Siganidae | Siganus | Siganus fuscescens | -- | -- | 4 | 35.35 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Siganus canaliculatus | -- | -- | 168 | 1824.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Carangidae | Alepes | Alepes djedaba | -- | -- | 10 | 340.8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Decapterus | Decapterus maruadsi | -- | -- | 141 | 2661.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Trachurus | Trachurus japonicus | 2647 | 6918.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Sciaenidae | Pennahia | Pennahia argentata | 1 | 32.1 | 6182 | 20174.7 | 52 | 1345.5 | -- | -- | |
| Pennahia macrocephalus | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 7 | 31.34 | |||
| Nibea | Nibea albiflora | -- | -- | 3 | 71.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Chrysochir | Chrysochir aureus | 6 | 465.3 | -- | -- | 21 | 643.9 | 5 | 405.2 | ||
| Larimichthys | Larimichthys crocea | 17 | 1168.3 | 353 | 8112.0 | 3 | 250.8 | -- | -- | ||
| Larimichthys polyactis | 1 | 100.7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Johnius | Johnius distinctus | 1 | 51.9 | 2 | 199.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Johnius belangerii | 6 | 149.3 | 81 | 4839.3 | 54 | 1116.6 | -- | -- | |||
| Collichthys | Collichthys lucidus | 130 | 3563.6 | 38 | 334.0 | 228 | 4161.3 | 544 | 12549.7 | ||
| Otolithes | Otolithes ruber | 1 | 71.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Sparidae | Pagrus | Pagrus major | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 428.5 | |
| Parargyrops | Parargyrops edita | 357 | 1268.6 | 122 | 1601.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Acanthopagrus | Acanthopagrus schlegelii | 1 | 218.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Rhabdosargus | Rhabdosargus sarba | -- | -- | 6 | 401.8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Priacanthidae | Priacanthus | Priacanthus macracanthus | -- | -- | 156 | 2488.4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Apogonidae | Apogon | Apogon striatus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 7.3 | -- | -- | |
| Apogon lineata | 1 | 15.0 | -- | -- | 4 | 8.2 | -- | -- | |||
| Hapalogenyidae | Hapalogenys | Hapalogenys analis | -- | -- | 1 | 3.8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Hapalogenys nigripinnis | 1 | 11.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Callionymidae | Callionymus | Callionymus beniteguri | -- | -- | 17 | 148.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Callionymus curvicornis | -- | -- | 3 | 21.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Uranoscopidae | Ichthyscopus | Ichthyscopus lebeck | -- | -- | 3 | 105.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Uranoscopus | Uranoscopus japonicus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 47.9 | -- | -- | ||
| Mullidae | Upeneus | Upeneus japonicus | -- | -- | 1524 | 15023.7 | -- | -- | 1 | 17.3 | |
| Sphyraenidae | Sphyraena | Sphyraena pinguis | -- | -- | 6 | 203.4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Sillaginidae | Sillago | Sillago sihama | 2 | 116.1 | 31 | 175.7 | 4 | 149.2 | 26 | 854.8 | |
| Stromateidae | Pampus | Pampus cinereus | -- | -- | 4 | 190.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Pampus echinogaster | -- | -- | 10 | 500.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Pampus argenteus | 303 | 2227.8 | 24 | 2412.7 | 15 | 2391.2 | 3 | 45.5 | |||
| Pampus chinensis | -- | -- | 25 | 1108.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Centrolophidae | Psenopsis | Psenopsis anomala | 59 | 405.1 | 124 | 4162.3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Trichiuridae | Trichiurus | Trichiurus lepturus | -- | -- | 8 | 468.5 | 2 | 21.5 | -- | -- | |
| Lepturacanthus | Lepturacanthus savala | 1 | 31.6 | 151 | 7776.8 | 20 | 488.2 | 9 | 356.3 | ||
| Polynemidae | Polydactylus | Polydactylus sextarius | -- | -- | 13485 | 30886.6 | 1929 | 13965.1 | -- | -- | |
| Eleutheronema | Eleutheronema tetradactylum | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 234.5 | -- | -- | ||
| Scombridae | Scomberomorus | Scomberomorus niphonius | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 2056.1 | 6 | 3987.0 | |
| Scomber | Scomber japonicus | 16 | 106.3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Gobiidae | Acanthogobius | Acanthogobius hasta | 3 | 33.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Amblychaeturichthys | Amblychaeturichthys hexanema | 448 | 2452.1 | 70 | 149.7 | 436 | 1899.4 | 160 | 1169.6 | ||
| Tridentiger | Tridentiger barbatus | 2 | 25.8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 29.7 | ||
| Trypauchen | Trypauchen vagina | 9 | 108.4 | 60 | 593.9 | 8 | 80.2 | 81 | 840.3 | ||
| Odontamblyopus | Odontamblyopus lacepedii | 67 | 1081.7 | 12 | 40.8 | 5 | 26.8 | 1 | 4.5 | ||
| Myersina | Myersina filifer | 3 | 13.4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Parachaeturichthys | Parachaeturichthys polynema | 2 | 13.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Bathygobius | Bathygobius cotticeps | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 29.7 | ||
| Pleuronectiformes | Paralichthyidae | Pseudorhombus | Pseudorhombus arsius | -- | -- | 15 | 661.3 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Pseudorhombus oligodon | 1 | 144.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Pseudorhombus quinquocellatus | 1 | 15.7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Pleuronectidae | Pleuronichthys | Pleuronichthys cornutus | 1 | 4.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Cynoglossidae | Cynoglossus | Cynoglossus puncticeps | -- | -- | 7 | 71.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Cynoglossus abbreviatus | 233 | 8567.4 | 352 | 4290.4 | 145 | 2820.1 | 276 | 6396.6 | |||
| Cynoglossus roulei | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 23.3 | |||
| Cynoglossus joyneri | 2 | 29.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 227.7 | |||
| Cynoglossus trigrammus | 1 | 9.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 4.3 | |||
| Cynoglossus oligolepis | 8 | 450.3 | 35 | 1899.2 | 6 | 500.5 | 9 | 631.03 | |||
| Soleidae | Zebrias | Zebrias zebra | -- | -- | 19 | 191.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Monacanthidae | Paramonacanthus | Paramonacanthus japonicus | -- | -- | 78.6 | 328.3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Paramonacanthus sulcatus | -- | -- | 5 | 33.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Tetraodontidae | Takifugu | Takifugu poecilonotus | 4 | 118.6 | 4 | 23.9 | -- | -- | 5 | 132.6 | |
| Takifugu vermicularis | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 38.7 | -- | -- | |||
| Takifugu oblongus | 7 | 195.4 | 352 | 3805.1 | 65 | 2333.0 | 11 | 252.1 | |||
| Takifugu xanthopterus | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 280.7 | |||
| Takifugu alboplumbeus | -- | -- | 1 | 9.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| Takifugu bimaculatus | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 1296.0 | -- | -- | |||
| Lagocephalus | Lagocephalus inermis | -- | -- | 12 | 397.5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Lagocephalus wheeleri | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 430.79 | |||
| Lagocephalus spadiceus | -- | -- | 616 | 13003.2 | 22 | 1714.7 | -- | -- | |||
Figure 2
Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination of the sampling locations in the Min estuary in 2015, ordered according to fish abundance (left) and biomass (right) recorded in each season
Figure 3
Plots of correlations of different diversity indices
Table 4
Seasonal variation in multi-component diversity indices of the fish community in the Min estuary
| Spring | Summer | Autumn | Winter | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species richness | S | 64 | 78 | 49 | 46 |
| D | 7.137 | 7.547 | 5.452 | 5.643 | |
| Evenness | J’ | 0.556 | 0.401 | 0.515 | 0.503 |
| EHeip | 0.144 | 0.061 | 0.134 | 0.123 | |
| Heterogeneity | H’ | 2.311 | 1.745 | 2.005 | 1.924 |
| 1 − λ | 0.811 | 0.688 | 0.782 | 0.757 | |
| Taxonomy | Δ+ | 78.556 | 58.159 | 74.553 | 73.279 |
| ˄+ | 96.900 | 84.564 | 95.342 | 96.832 | |
Figure 4
Seasonal variation of dominant species in the fish community in the Min estuary
Table 5
Pianka values (%) of the overlapping ecological niche of dominant species in different seasons
| Species | Season | C. abbreviatus | P. sextarius | C. mystus | C. lucidus | P. argentata | T. japonicus | S. ruconius | U. japonicus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H. nehereus | spring | 1.11 | 0.26 | 1.46 | 99.93 | 25.54 | 47.18 | ||
| summer | 33.63 | 54.28 | 61.96 | 21.79 | 67.94 | 13.75 | 20.40 | ||
| autumn | 2.01 | 2.39 | 59.23 | 15.82 | 5.85 | 1.95 | |||
| winter | 33.46 | 34.99 | 21.90 | 24.35 | 23.56 | ||||
| C. abbreviatus | spring | 87.28 | 90.83 | 0.73 | 12.24 | 19.59 | |||
| summer | 13.26 | 41.35 | 94.70 | 17.54 | 4.63 | 5.07 | |||
| autumn | 8.39 | 53.11 | 19.31 | 19.24 | 23.54 | ||||
| winter | 37.48 | 80.08 | 3.39 | 2.12 | |||||
| P. sextarius | summer | 29.78 | 0.91 | 51.16 | 59.84 | 19.48 | |||
| autumn | 0.47 | 3.06 | 37.21 | 37.00 | |||||
| C. mystus | spring | 93.40 | 0.00 | 2.65 | 14.49 | ||||
| summer | 32.16 | 14.34 | 8.87 | 15.31 | |||||
| autumn | 11.99 | 0.00 | 1.20 | ||||||
| winter | 54.67 | 1.63 | 0.86 | ||||||
| C. lucidus | spring | 0.92 | 16.79 | 10.90 | |||||
| summer | 14.95 | 0.27 | 0.12 | ||||||
| autumn | 6.39 | 7.22 | |||||||
| winter | 0.88 | 0.00 | |||||||
| P. argentata | spring | 24.14 | 45.23 | ||||||
| summer | 19.86 | 0.12 | |||||||
| autumn | 21.41 | ||||||||
| T. japonicus | spring | 28.13 | |||||||
| S. ruconius | summer | 18.21 | |||||||
| winter | 99.99 |