Wei Huang

Chronic eutrophication profoundly alters coastal ecosystems, yet its specific impact on the functional structure of fish assemblages remains poorly understood. Using 14 biological traits...

Climate change is reshaping the distributions of marine species and disrupting functional connectivity among protected areas, yet few studies have quantified how these shifts alter the performance of marine protected area (MPA) networks. This study assessed climate-driven changes in functional connectivity for eight economically important fish species across 193 coastal MPAs in China under current conditions and two end-of-century scenarios (SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5, 2090–2100). Ensemble species distribution models (mean AUC: 0.91–0.98; mean TSS: 0.75–0.93) were used to project h\abitat suitability, which was converted into resistance surfaces and analyzed via least-cost path and circuit-theory modelling to identify inter-MPA corridors, pinch-points, and barrier zones. Habitat responses diverged sharply between thermal guilds: warm-water species expanded in total area ( B. taipingensis : +434.6% under SSP5-8.5), whereas cold-temperate species contracted severely ( L. polyactis : −57.8%, with complete loss of high-suitability habitat). Functional connectivity exhibited asymmetric changes at the network level. Effective resistance declined 99% for A. japonica but increased 29-fold for S. niphonius under SSP5-8.5. Critically, corridor quantity and quality diverged for B. taipingensis , which gained 93% more corridors yet experienced a 47.8% increase in effective resistance—demonstrating that network expansion does not ensure improved connectivity. pinch-point counts increased across all four sea regions under SSP5-8.5 (most markedly in the Beibu Gulf: 16 to 28), and dual-stress zones where bottlenecks coincided with high-restoration-potential barriers concentrated along the Zhejiang–Fujian coast, the Bohai Strait, and the Pearl River Estuary. These results demonstrate that static MPA networks are progressively misaligned with dynamic species connectivity requirements, and identify spatially explicit priority zones where adaptive management intervention would yield compounding benefits for network-wide resilience.

Understanding how climate change and anthropogenic stressors jointly affect threatened marine species is critical for conservation planning, yet integrated assessments remain scarce in China’s coastal waters. Using an ensemble species distribution modelling framework (Biomod2) with six algorithms, we projected habitat suitability for ten threatened marine species under climate-only and global-change scenarios for 2040–2050 under SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5. Predictors included 13 natural variables and four anthropogenic variables (fishing pressure, coastal pollution, aquaculture intensity, and shipping density). Ensemble models achieved high predictive performance under both predictor sets (climate-only: mean TSS = 0.87, AUC = 0.96; global-change: TSS = 0.80, AUC = 0.92), consistently outperforming individual algorithms. Mean sea temperature, dissolved oxygen, and bathymetry were the dominant natural drivers, while fishing pressure (up to 16.2%) and coastal pollution (up to 29.5%) were the most influential anthropogenic factors. Under climate-only scenarios, species distribution centroids shifted northward at mean rates of 22.12 km·decade ^-1 (SSP1-2.6) and 47.91 km·decade ^-1 (SSP5-8.5), with Tachypleus tridentatus (98.99 km·decade ^-1 under SSP5-8.5) and Hippocampus trimaculatus (83.64 km·decade ^-1 ) showing the greatest displacement. Habitat responses were highly species-specific: A. glauca , M. griseus , and H. trimaculatus exhibited net expansion, whereas C. mydas and P. largha experienced consistent contraction. Critically, incorporating anthropogenic stressors substantially reduced habitat availability across the assemblage, with mean suitable area per species declining from 31, 813 km² (climate-only) to 19, 080 km² (global-change), a 40.0% reduction. Anthropogenic pressures even reversed climate-driven gains for several species, most notably H. nehereus (from +87.2% to −16.3% under SSP5-8.5) and S. kobiensis (from +2.1% to −86.0%), and intensified contractions for C. mydas and P. largha . Cumulative habitat suitability mapping further identified the Pearl River Estuary, western Taiwan coast, Yangtze River Delta, and central Bohai Sea as priority regions where climate refugia overlap with intense human activities. These findings demonstrate that anthropogenic pressures can transform potential climate refugia into ecological traps, amplifying climate-driven habitat loss, and underscore the urgent need for integrated marine spatial planning addressing both climatic and anthropogenic threats in China’s coastal waters.

Tire Wear Particles (TWPs) are a major type of microplastics (MPs). However, previous studies have predominantly focused on TWP leachates rather than the particles, and their toxic effects on marine organisms remain limited. In this study, the mussels were exposed to TWPs and their leachates for 21 days, followed by a 7-day recovery period in clean conditions. The results showed that the leachates contained organic pollutants (predominantly PAHs) and metal ions (predominantly Zn²⁺). Growth inhibition was observed in exposure to TWPs, while leachate exposure showed no significant effect. As for the antioxidant system, high-concentration TWP and their leachate exposures provoked significant oxidative stress, accompanied by inhibited superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity as well as increased glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Exposure to high concentrations of TWPs significantly inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and trypsin (TRS) activities. Gut microbiota analysis indicated that exposure to TWPs and their leachates modified community structure with significantly reduced relative abundance of Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, potentially attributed to the bacteriostatic activity of released Zn²⁺. Integrated Biomarker Response (IBR) analysis indicated that TWPs elicited stronger integrated toxicity compared to their leachates. This study provides a comparative perspective on the ecological toxicology of TWPs and their leachates.

Oceans are changing due to intensive human activities and worsening climate change