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Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Keywords

the South China Sea; marine ecosystem; coral reef; cold seep; marine ecological protection

Document Type

S&T Forefront and Emerging Productivity

Abstract

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the concept of “Martime Community with a Shared Future”. The ocean circulation, the mid-oceanic ridge, and the thermal lava flows constitute the dynamical systems of the maritime community, while the ocean circulation and the material and energy cycles are essential to the global ocean’s connectivity, the mid-oceanic ridge and its thermal lava flows underlie global submarine connectivity, and the marine circulation system, together with the marginal sea submarine system, supports the highly complex biological habitats in the China Sea. Coral island reefs and cold seeps constitute the most characteristic marine ecosystems in China. Conducting research, protecting, and utilizing distant-sea coral island reefs and deep-sea cold seeps are crucial for managing the ocean. Situated in the northwest region of the Indo-Pacific convergent area, the “Coral Triangle”, the South China Sea is one of the world’s three major centers of marine biodiversity, a large number of coral island reefs are distributed there, and its coral island reef ecosystem is of global, regional, scientific, and strategic significance. Cold seeps are widely distributed in the continental shelf, slope, and deep sea of the South China Sea, particularly in critical zones of combustible ice enrichment, methane gas “source-sink” areas under the seabed, and chemosynthesis processes for marine organisms. Devices for studying cold seep ecology mainly consist of undersea laboratories, fidelity-simulation systems, and mother ships, serving as valuable tools for investigating cold seep methane gas “source-sink” processes and biological chemosynthesis. Leveraging the ecological characteristics and resource advantages of coral island reefs and cold seeps, the development of ocean-based renewable energy, marine ranching, and recreational tourism centered around island reefs as well as cold seep carbon sinks will undoubtedly create a new pattern of scientifically efficient marine economic development in China.

First page

1591

Last Page

1601

Language

Chinese

Publisher

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences

References

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