Biodiv Sci ›› 2010, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (2): 150-155.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2010.155

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The application of taxonomic diversity in macrobenthic ecology: taking Yellow Sea for example

Qu Fangyuan, Yu Zishan*()   

  1. College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong 266003
  • Received:2009-06-30 Accepted:2009-11-11 Online:2010-03-20 Published:2010-03-20
  • Contact: Yu Zishan

Abstract:

Using all available taxonomic data, we updated the master list of macrobenthos for the Yellow Sea, analyzed its taxonomic diversities and 95% probability funnels. There have been 1,360 species, belonging to 17 phyla, 35 classes, 91 orders, 368 families and 842 genera of macrobenthos recorded in the Yellow Sea. The value of average taxonomic distinctness for the region was 93.7, and the variation in taxonomic distinctness was 213.6. To explore the efficacy of these two diversity measures for environmental assessment, we superimposed estimates of these two values for some moderately polluted sites in Jiaozhou Bay on the 95% probability funnels, and all of the stations fell significantly below the 95% probability funnel of average taxonomic distinctness. This result shows the good application foregound of taxonomic diversity in marine pollution monitoring.

Key words: taxonomic diversity, macrobenthos, Yellow Sea