Seagrasses in Northern Chinese Seas: Historical Declines and Case Study of the Status

Abstract − Seagrass beds are a type of coastal wetland with many ecosystem services and precious economicvalues. Seagrass meadows used to be widespread along the coasts in northern Chinese seas, yet they have longbeen overlooked and lack devoted study on their history and status. This paper firstly reveals, by synthesis ofinformation on composition of seagrass species and their distribution, that the seagrasses in this region haveexperienced considerable declines, both in terms of distribution and biomass, from the earliest record to presentdays. Then, a case study at the seagrass bed of Chudao is described to show the status of representative seagrassmeadows. The results indicate that the environmental condition is good, seagrasses are in recovery, the plank-toners are healthy and rich fishery resources and the mammal finless porpoise are associated with the seagrassbed. The cause(s) of historical seagrass decline and current conditions are also discussed, and future rec-ommendations on seagrass protection and mapping are suggested.Keywords: Seagrass beds(잘피밭), Distribution(분포), Historical trends(역사적 추세), Northern Chinesecoast (중국 북부연안)