Abstract:

Background & Aim: Marine biogeography is a field investigating the spatiotemporal distributions of marine organisms, as well as the process and drivers of the changes in species distributions. Research in the field of marine biogeography is not only promising for the conservation of marine biodiversity and the stability of ecosystem functioning but also crucial for the sustainability of utilizing marine resources. Species distribution models (SDMs) are an important tool for assessing and predicting the biogeographical changes of marine species’ distributions, providing an unparalleled impetus to the development of marine biogeography.

Progresses: This review consists of three main parts: (1) the development process and current status of marine biogeography studies in China; (2) the commonly used approaches to answer the questions related to marine biogeography with a special focus on SDMs; (3) the research trends and hotspots of marine biogeography studies in China, mainly concerning the shifts in species distribution under global changes, phylogeography of marine species, population connectivity, marine conservation planning, marine ecological restoration and recovery, adaptation of marine species to extreme environments, as well as management of marine fisheries and mariculture planning.

Prospects: In this review, we further outlined the prospects for the future development of marine biogeography and emphasized the importance of optimizing SDMs. We also called for developing comprehensive databases of marine environments and organisms to strengthen the integration of marine biogeography with other disciplines. We hope this review could provide useful insights for the studies of marine biogeography in China.

Key words: marine species distribution, marine biota, correlative models, mechanistic models, global changes, biogeography