Songguang Xie

Chinese Academy of Sciences | CAS · Institute of Hydrobiology

Interbasin water transfer projects (IBWT's) have emerged as dispersal corridors for aquatic species. However, little is known about how water transfer affects regional spread dynamics, or shapes the genetic diversity patterns of non-native populations. Shimofuri Goby Tridentiger bifasciatus is a globally introduced fish species with many well-estab...

The genus Corbicula is well known as one of the most invasive bivalves globally, and is morphologically variable and taxonomically complicated. Continuous effort has been made to establish the correspondence between morphological forms and genetic lineages of Corbicula, mostly across invasive populations, but far less for the native populations, es...

Large-scale cultivation of the seaweed Gracilaria has important economic and environmental benefits. However, the decomposition of seaweed litter affects water quality in the cultivation area and its adjacent waters. In the present study, laboratory controlled experiments (LCE) and in situ experiments (ISE) were carried out to investigate G. lemane...

Knowledge of large‐scale dispersal processes and their associated genetic diversity patterns is significant for managing invasive species. These patterns remain unclear for invasive species that colonise new habitats through inter‐basin water transfer projects. A worm goby Taenioides cirratus colonised several large inland lakes in China, thereby e...

Seaweeds are significant primary producers in marine ecosystems and accumulate heavy metals from the environment during growth. However, seaweed litter is produced during the growth and harvest process and has become an important bottleneck that restricts the sustainable development of the seaweed cultivation industry. In this study, we investigate...

Unselective fishing involves activities that target the entire assemblage rather than specific fish species, size classes, or trophic levels. This common fishing approach has been in practice for decades in inland waters in China but its implications for biodiversity remain unclear. We addressed this issue by studying fish assemblages in freshwater...

The seaweed Gracilaria lemaneiformis can bioremediate heavy metals and improve the environmental quality of mariculture zones. However, the seaweed litter that is produced in the growth and harvest processes becomes one of the important bottlenecks and causes secondary pollution that restricts the development of sustainable seaweed cultivation. Sea...

Abundance and distribution information of fish in reservoirs is fundamental for efficient fishery management and conservation. However, habitat characteristics of large reservoirs usually make the traditional survey techniques impractical in acquiring these information. In this study, we investigated diurnal and vertical distribution of fish abunda...

Understanding long-term changes in life-history traits is central to assessing and managing freshwater fisheries. In this study, we explored how life-history traits have shifted in association with long-term change in population status for a native fish species (freshwater sleeper, Odontobutis sinensis, a by-catch species of shrimp traps) in the mi...

The skin of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) is scaleless, and therefore, represents the first line of defense against a wide variety of environmental stressors. However, the role of the skin in response to hypoxia is poorly understood. We aimed to examine the physiological and histological responses of the skin of yellow catfish to acute h...

Genetic patterns observed among populations by neutral molecular markers is a major method used to reconstruct the invasion history of invasive species. The Shimofuri goby (Tridentiger bifasciatus) has invaded several lakes along the East Route of the South‐to‐North Water Transfer Project, China (ENST). However, neutral molecular markers for this g...

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is essential for the survival of aquatic organisms, while its absence from water effectively compromises the health of fish in aquacultures. Here, we simulated acute hypoxia (DO: 1.14 ± 0.04 mg L⁻¹), and reoxygenation (DO: 6.90 ± 0.14 mg L⁻¹) conditions, analyzed tissue biochemical indicators, antioxidant parameters, and hypox...

The diet composition of an invasive population of Shimofuri goby (Tridentiger bifasciatus) was investigated bimonthly during the period from September 2015 through August 2016 in Nansi Lake, a storage lake of the East Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, China. The diet consists of a broad spectrum of prey items, including mollusca (...

Nansi Lake and Hongze Lake are both water storage lakes along the East Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer project (ESNT). Frequent changes in hydrologic properties are responsible factors for controlling the zooplankton community assemblages in both lakes, so we studied the possible influence of water transfer and environmental factors on z...

The life-history traits of a non-native population of Shimofuri goby (Tridentiger bifasciatus) were investigated in Nansi Lake, which is a storage lake on the East Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, China. The results were analyzed in combination with data from other non-native populations of this species to reveal the life-history...

Understanding the ecological impacts of large-scale hydraulic projects is critical for maintaining ecosystem health while meeting human water needs. It is, however, currently hindered by a lack of direct evidence on ecological impacts associated with this type of project particularly on water quality and fish communities. Here, we characterized pat...

Inter‐basin water transfers create new pathways between previously disjunct systems and communities. If fish movement occurs, it can lead to invasion or altered regional connectivity patterns, which could induce biotic/genetic homogenisation or synchronisation. Understanding ecological factors promoting movement is critical for predicting potential...

Survival of fish in the first year is critical in determining the year‐class strength of fish populations. In river–floodplain ecosystems, affiliated lakes (i.e., floodplain lakes that are hydrologically connected to the river) play a crucial role as nursery habitats for young‐of‐the‐year (age‐0) fish. However, most lakes in the river–floodplain ec...

Drifting larval fish assemblages were investigated at three sections in the middle reach of the Yangtze River downstream of the Three Gorges Dam to reveal recovery gradients and to identify the major environmental factors influencing their temporal and spatial patterns. Larval fish in the river section closest to the dam showed lower abundance, lat...

This study used non-supervised machine learning self-organizing maps (SOM) in conjunction with traditional multivariate statistical techniques (e.g., hierarchical cluster analysis, principle component analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis) to investigate spatio-temporal patterns of eutrophication and heavy metal pollution in the water supplying...

Ichthyoplankton were collected in the upper mainstem of the Yangtze River at Yibin, Zhuyang and Mudong in 2009, 2012 and 2015 to determine the occurrence dynamic and abundance of Pseudolaubuca engraulis (Nichols) larvae. The abundance of P. engraulis larval peaked from mid-May in 2009 and 2012 (pre-impoundment of dam cascade in the Jinsha River), w...

The East Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project of China (ESNT) uses the Grand Canal as the main pathway for water conveyance from the Yangtze River upstream to northern China and links five major lakes that serve as water storages along the route. The ESNT was completed in 2013. It was expanded from the existing Northern Jiangsu Water Tran...

Reservoir impoundment changes original fl uvial habitats into lentic environments. Fish species adapted to lentic habitats may take the advantage of such habitat changes and show typical life history traits might facilitate the population increase. Siniperca kneri rarely occurred in fishery landing in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) area before it...

Ten novel polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed for the freshwater sleeper Micropercops swinhonis, a relatively abundant and broadly distributed lake‐dwelling fish in Asia, using next generation sequencing. These markers were tested in a population of 48 individuals, and characteristics suggest that they may be useful for population geneti...

The mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi (Perciformes: Percichthyidae) is a commercially important freshwater fish in China. However, S. chuatsi populations have declined dramatically in most of the lake and river systems. In this study, ontogenetic development and sagittal otolith microstructure were studied for this species, and relationships between...

Understanding the adaptive responses of fish to different local habitats is important for assessing fragmentation effects and directing conservation management. In this study, morphological and genetic differentiations were tested among Hemiculter leucisculus populations from three lakes, i.e., the Liangzi, Niushan, and Biandantang Lakes, fragmente...

The Yangtze Estuary is the largest estuary in the western Pacific Ocean, and harbors a high diversity of fish fauna. In this study, larval fish were surveyed monthly across three sections within the southern branch of the Yangtze Estuary (SBYE). A total of 49 taxa were collected, with 51.4% of the identified species being freshwater fishes. The col...

Hongze Lake (HZL) is the largest impounded lake along the eastern route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. However, there is surprisingly little ecological understanding on this important ecosystem, especially under the potential water diversion threats. Here, a mass-balance model was constructed to characterize trophic structure an...

Corbicula fluminea is invasive in other parts of the world, but in China, it is native and supports important commercial fisheries. Surprisingly little is known about the ecology of native C. fluminea populations in China, including how life-history parameters, such as growth, may respond to widely variable environmental conditions, especially wate...

DNA barcodes were studied for 1,353 specimens representing 272 morphological species belonging to 149 genera and 55 families of Perciformes from the South China Sea (SCS). The average Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) distances within species, genera, and families were 0.31%, 8.71%, and 14.52%, respectively. A Neighbor-joining (NJ) tree, Bayesian inference...

The Asian clam Corbicula fluminea is a small bivalve with high nutritional and medical values. However, natural resources of C. fluminea have declined in many areas of China including the Hongze Lake. In this study, 119 individuals from 10 sites of this lake and 2 outgroups were analyzed using a 456 bp mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) gene segment...

Larval drift and dispersal are critical processes that affect recruitment success for many riverine fishes. Hypolimnetic discharge from the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) lowers river temperature, and reduces downstream nutrients, inducing distinct shifts in habitat conditions downstream of the dam. The inflow of major tributaries buffers these influences,...

Landscape pattern plays an important role in structuring of larval fish assemblages in large river basins. The lower reach of the Yangtze River includes the river section from the mouth of Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, downward to the estuary. We hypothesized that river–lake connectivity at the upstream portion and tidal intrus...

Landscape pattern plays an important role in structuring of larval fish assemblages in large river basins. The lower reach of the Yangtze River includes the river section from the mouth of Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, downward to the estuary. We hypothesized that river–lake connectivity at the upstream portion and tidal intrus...

Coreius guichenoti is an endemic fish that has been seriously threatened by dam construction in the upper reach of the Yangtze River, and conservation of this species has been a major concern. With a large portion of its spawning grounds disappearing due to dam construction, hatchery release is proposed as a primary strategy for conservation of thi...

Rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) is an emerging model fish in China, and the development of its gonads is still elusive. Germ cell-specific genes are conserved in animals. Dead end (Dnd) was first documented as a germ granule component in zebrafish. Here, we report the cloning and expression profile of dnd in rare minnow. RT-PCR results showed that...

Loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) are a commercially important fish in China and an ideal aquaculture species. However, culturists experience high larval and juvenile mortality during mass production. To provide insight into ways to improve larviculture techniques, we describe the morphological characteristics and behavior of loach during the larv...

Larvae and juveniles of Coilia ectenes were collected in the Yangtze Estuary during June through September 2009 and in May 2011. Our objectives were to reveal the otolith microstructural pattern, and then to reveal the early growth and development process through otolith analysis for C. ectenes. A total of 368 individuals, ranging 4.4-81.2 mm body...

Distirbution and growth for larvae of the major carps (silver carp, bighead carp, grass carp and black carp) were compared at 4 sections in the middle Yangtze River, which, from near to far to the dam, were Jianli (335.62 km to the dam)，Honghu (525.9 km)，Tuanfeng (695.1 km) and Wuxue (823.8 km). Density of larval fish was lowest at Jianli, and incr...

Identification of ichthyoplankton is difficult because fish during early life stages often lack stable morphological characteristics; such difficulty in species identification can be a major hindrance in conducting ichthyoplankton surveys for fish biodiversity investigations. Here, we evaluated the feasibility of a molecular operational taxonomic u...

Bronze gudgeon, Coreius heterodon, is an endemic and economically important fish in the Yangtze River, whose abundance has declined dramatically because of dam construction, overfishing, and water pollution. The Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams block connection of the bronze gudgeon populations above and below the dams. We collected bronze gudgeon fr...

The Yangtze River (6,380 km long) is the longest river in Asia and the third-longest one in the world. Its river basin (a complex riverine–lacustrine network) is especially rich in fish fauna, representing high species richness and endemism, and therefore is a globally significant area for preserving fish biodiversity (Dudgeon 2000; Park et al. 200...

The objective of this study was to provide an inventory on alien fish species based on literature analysis and sampling surveys over 4 years, covering 465 locations of 25 river systems in Western Ghats, India. Thirty‐two species of seven orders and 10 families have so far been recorded in the published literature as alien fishes in the Western Ghat...

This paper reports the growth pattern and length‐weight relationship and summarizes biological data for the clearhead icefish (Protosalanx hyalocranius) in Lake Khanka (Xingkai), on the border between China and Russia. The von Bertalanffy growth was estimated as SL = 20.3(1 − e −2.93 (t − 0.21)). The length‐weight relationship was W = 0.00448 SL2.9...

Neosalanx taihuensis is an important zooplanktivorous commercial fish that has been widely introduced into Chinese freshwaters. Introduction of this species has induced decline and even extinction of native fish species in some waters. In this study, impacts of N. taihuensis introduction on growth and reproductive characteristics of an indigenous z...

Otolith microstructure was analyzed to determine the early growth of Neosalanx taihuensis juveniles from Three-Gorges Reservoir (TGR) and Tian-e-zhou Oxbow (TEO, below the dam). The early growth of the N. taihuensis juveniles differed significantly between the two populations. Higher relative condition index and wider otolith increments of the fish...

Fishery harvest of Coilia mystus in the Yangtze Estuary has declined dramatically since the late 1990s. A full understanding of the reproductive biology of this species is essential for effective management of the population. A total of 1072 females of C. mystus collected from the Yangtze Estuary area between May 2006 and September 2007 were analyz...

Otolith microstructure was used to distinguish Neosalanx taihuensis born in spring and autumn. Increment width during the early life stage was significant narrower for the spring-born than the autumn-born juveniles, and the frequency distributions of the width of the first 5 increments were distinctive and diagnostic. Otolith growth trajectories an...

Rock carp Procypris rabaudi is a vulnerable endemic fish in the upper Yangtze River. Hatchery release has been carried out as a major stock enhancement strategy for this species. Ten microsatellite loci were chosen to compare genetic variation between one wild population and two hatchery groups to evaluate the potential impacts of hatchery release...

Gobiocypris rarus is an emerging fish model for aquatic toxicology in China as it is sensitive to environmental hormone disruptors. Exogenous sex steroids can affect sex differentiation and the expression of sex-related genes. Foxl2, a member of forkhead-box transcription factor family, is the key gene for ovary development and its mutation causes...

Otolith microstructure was used to distinguish specimens of Neosalanx taihuensis born in spring and autumn. Increment width during the early life stage was significantly narrower for spring-born than autumn-born juveniles, and the frequency distributions of the width of the first 5 increments were distinctive and diagnostic. Otolith growth trajecto...

Morphometric analyses of marine pelagic fishes have generally been conducted for stock identification rather than for ecomorphological understanding. Many papers on stock identification of Trachurus japonicus reported polymorphisms in the Japanese Islands waters. However, none of them has found polymorphism in fish less than 100mm standard length (...

The food composition of Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) was studied by analyzing 360 faecal samples collected from their roosting sites at the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve in south-central China during November 2008 and January 2009. A total of 223 fish otoliths were retrieved. Only sagittal otoliths (N = 74) with intact margins...

Variations in otolith patterns, sizes and body morphometrics of jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus juveniles were investigated. Under transmitted light, translucent (W(t)) and opaque otoliths (W(o)) were detected in juveniles collected from Wakasa Bay between July 2005 and April 2006, whereas only opaque otoliths (G(o)) were detected in Goto-nada Se...

The taxonomy of Coilia has been extensively studied in China, and yet phylogenetic relationships among component taxa remain controversial. We used a PCR-based fingerprinting technique, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to characterize and identify all four species of Coilia in China. We examined the genetic relationships of the four sp...

Review for Hydroecology.

Reproductive characteristics of the spring spawning stock of Neosalanx taihuensis varied significantly between the populations in the Three-Gorges Reservoir (TGR) and in the Tian-e-zhou Oxbow (TEO, below the dam). Larger body size, higher condition, higher fecundity, and larger oocyte diameter of the spawning stock in the TGR indicated faster indiv...

Neosalanx taihuensis were sampled from the Tian-e-zhou Oxbow from March 2006 through November 2007. Two separate spawning seasons were identified based on the annual reproductive cycles of the females, designated as the autumn-spawning season and the spring-spawning season. Lifespan of the offspring of the spring-spawning fish was 1year, with them...

The genus Cranoglanis is a group of fish only distributed in East Asia．They live in the drainages of Guangdong，Guangxi，Yunnan and Hainan Province，China，and the Red River drainage in northern Vietnam．At present，the wild resource of Cranoglanis bouderius has decreased rapidly because of excess utilized，and there are still some arguments on the validi...

The jack mackerel, Trachurus japonicus, has a prolonged spawning season and widely spread spawning grounds. The population in the coastal waters of Japan seems to be composed of several cohorts spawned seasonally from different waters. To understand its population structure along the Tsushima Warm Current, we analysed hatchdates and growth historie...

He, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Li, Y., Murphy, B. R., and Xie, S. 2008. Validation of a method of estimating age, modelling growth, and describing the age composition of Coilia mystus from the Yangtze Estuary, China. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1655–1661. A collection of 577 Coilia mystus was made during April 2006 and 2007 from China’s Yangtze...

Anadromous Coilia ectenes was sampled from the Yangtze estuary at Chongming and two of the primary upstream spawning grounds at Jingjiang and Anqing in April, May, June and August 2006. Gonad development was analyzed for females. In April, fish were collected in the estuary and at Jingjiang, but not at Anqing. No female was mature (gonad at stages...

Oceanographic conditions and transport processes are often critical factors that affect the early growth, survival and recruitment of marine fishes. Sagittal otoliths were analysed to determine age and early growth for 381 jack mackerel (Trachurus japonicus) juveniles from Sagami Bay on the Pacific coast of Japan. Two separate hatching periods (Dec...