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Jellyfish Blooms pp 207–218Cite as

Contrasting Trends in Populations of Rhopilema esculentum and Aurelia aurita in Chinese Waters

Abstract

Rhopilema esculentum and Aurelia aurita are the most common scyphozoan species in Chinese waters. Here the population trends of R. esculentum and A. aurita are described and compared. The possible causes of their contrasting population trends are discussed by reviewing the status of existing information and introducing new data collected on blooms and reproduction of A. aurita in northeastern China. The population change of R. esculentum was described based on the annual harvest of R. esculentum in Chinese waters since 1955. It is generally accepted that a stock enhancement program has been successful in increasing the total catches of R. esculentum. However, the catches have declined since 1998, and this may be due to current stock enhancement levels exceeding the carrying capacity of the fishery ground or deterioration in the coastal marine environment. In contrast, blooms of A. aurita are causing increasing problems in the coastal waters of northern China with suitable settlement substrate provided by expansive coastal aquaculture implicated in these population increases. In addition to anthropogenic influences such as fishing, stock enhancement, and the proliferation of coastal infrastructure, the variation in reproductive and life history traits between R. esculentum and A. aurita may also explain the different recruitment potentials of the two species.

Keywords

  • Jellyfish blooms
  • Rhopilema esculentum
  • Aurelia aurita
  • Chinese coastal waters
  • Jellyfish fisheries
  • Stock enhancement
  • Population dynamics
  • Polyps
  • Aquaculture rafts
  • Life histories

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Acknowledgments

 We especially appreciate Dr. Kylie Pitt of Griffith University for the invitation to contribute to this book and for carefully checking and correcting several versions of our chapter. The authors also like to thank Shin-ichi Uye of Hiroshima University and anonymous reviewers whose comments helped improve the final version of the chapter. The authors also thank Yao Fu, Baoping Di, Yujue Wang, Yajun Shi, Qingxi Han, and Xin Li for their field investigation and assistance in experiments. This work was supported by grants from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA05130703), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41206086), and Research Encouragement Foundation of Excellent Midlife-Youth Scientists of Shandong Province (No. BS2011HZ023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong, 264003, P.R. China

    Zhijun Dong & Dongyan Liu

  2. CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship, Marine and Atmospheric Research, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA, 6913, Australia

    John K. Keesing

Authors
  1. Zhijun Dong
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  2. Dongyan Liu
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  3. John K. Keesing
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhijun Dong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Rivers Institute and Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Griffith, Queensland, Australia

    Kylie A. Pitt

  2. National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

    Cathy H. Lucas

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Dong, Z., Liu, D., Keesing, J.K. (2014). Contrasting Trends in Populations of Rhopilema esculentum and Aurelia aurita in Chinese Waters. In: Pitt, K., Lucas, C. (eds) Jellyfish Blooms. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7015-7_9

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