Yanying Zhang

Yantai University · Ocean School

Jellyfish outbreaks are severely exacerbated by coastal eutrophication, overfishing, and aquaculture. Jellyfish proliferation has been shown closely connected with larval populations during the early stages of their life cycle. However, the factors affecting larval populations have not been fully explored. The changes in metabolites during the tran...

Seagrass meadows are important marine ecosystems in coastal areas, offering ecological and economic services to the mankind. However, these ecosystems are facing declines due to climate changes and human activities. Rhizosphere-associated microbiomes play critical roles in the survival and adaptation of seagrasses. While prior studies have explored...

Background Coral reefs experience frequent and severe disturbances that can overwhelm their natural resilience. In such cases, ecological restoration is essential for coral reef recovery. Sexual reproduction has been reported to present the simplest and most cost-effective means for coral reef restoration. However, larval settlement and post-settle...

In the background of global warming, coral bleaching induced by elevated seawater temperature is the primary cause of coral reef degradation. Coral microbiome engineering using the beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMCs) has become a hot spot in the field of coral reef conservation and restoration. Investigating the potential of alleviating the...

Coral reefs are declining due to the rising seawater temperature. Bacteria within and surrounding corals play key roles in maintaining the homeostasis of the coral holobiont. Research on coral-related bacteria could provide benefits for coral reef restoration. During the isolation of coral-associated bacteria, a Gram-stain-negative, motile bacteriu...

Thermal stress causes the overproduction and toxic accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which seems to be correlated with coral bleaching and, ultimately, death. The reduction of ROS concentration within the coral holobiont could minimize the effects of thermal stress and support efforts to reduce coral decline globally. In the current st...

Background Seagrasses offer various ecosystem services and possess high levels of primary productivity. However, the development of mariculture has affected the homeostasis of seagrass meadow ecosystems. Plant-microbiome associations are essential for seagrasses health, but little is known about the role of environmental microbiomes and how they af...

Sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is an ideal model organism for marine invertebrate aestivation; it annually enters a “sleeping state” for nearly 3 months when ambient water temperature range is 25–30 °C. The natural fasting is accompanied by remodeling the intestinal biota and function, which is a part of host biology and could affect the gut m...

In the background of global warming, coral bleaching induced by elevated seawater temperature is the primary cause of coral reef degradation. Coral microbiome engineering using the beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMCs) has become a hot spot in the field of coral reef conservation and restoration. Investigating the potential of alleviating the...

Microplastic pollution has been widely detected across the global ocean, posing a major threat to a wide variety of marine biota. To date, the deleterious impacts of microplastics have predominantly been linked to their direct exposure, while the potential risks posed by the leachates emanating from microplastics have received comparatively less at...

Phaeocystis is an important bloom-forming species and over 100 blooms have occurred since 1997 along the Chinese coasts, while only the species P. globosa was described. In this project, a total of 246 phytoplankton samples collected from the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea in April 2021 were analyzed to evaluate the species diver...

Sulfide is a common harmful substance in sediments, with an especially high risk for deposit feeder organisms. The sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is a typical benthic feeder, and its intestine is the first line of defense and serves as a crucial barrier function. In this study, histological, physiological, gut microbiota, and metabolomic analy...

The world’s coral reefs are threatened by the cumulative impacts of global climate change and local stressors. Driven largely by a desire to understand the interactions between corals and their symbiotic microorganisms, and to use this knowledge to eventually improve coral health, interest in coral microbiology and the coral microbiome has increase...

Larval settlement is a critical bottleneck in the process of coral sexual propagation. Promoting coral larval settlement by inducers is a promising strategy in coral reef restoration engineering. In this study, the settlement-promoting effect of Ca2+ on larvae of the brooding coral Pocillopora damicornis was investigated for the first time. Treatme...

Seagrass meadows have seriously deteriorated in recent years. Seagrass associated phytate-mineralizing rhizobacteria potentially have functions related to seagrass nutrition, health and sustainable growth. The β-propeller phytases (BPPs) are the only phytase family in aquatic environments, but there are few studies on the BPP community structure of...

Seagrass meadows are one of the most important marine ecosystems. Alkanes are the common hydrocarbon contaminants that can affect seagrass growth. In this study, a large spatial-scale investigation has been carried out on the alkane-degrading bacterial community structure in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere sediments of two seagrass species (Tha...

The community structure of coral associated microorganisms will change greatly in coral bleaching. However, the relationship between specific bacteria groups and Symbiodinium, which is easy to be found in the bleaching process, has been ignored for a long time. In this study, the changes of coral microbial community during a natural bleaching event...

Coral reef ecosystems usually distribute in oligotrophic tropical and subtropical marine environments, but they possess great biodiversity and high productivity. It may attribute to its efficient internal nutrient cycle system. However, the knowledge of functional microbial community structure is still limited. In this study, both functional gene a...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), originating from anthropogenic and natural sources, are highly concerned environmental pollutants. This study investigated the impact of two model PAHs (pyrene and phenanthrene) on bacterial community succession in the seagrass meadows sediment in a lab-scale microcosm. Halophila ovalis sediment slurry micro...

The settlement and metamorphosis of coral larvae are the bottleneck of coral recruitment. They are critical for the extension of coral population, which is the basis of the restoration of degraded coral reef ecosystem. In this study, we described the genomic characteristics of Metabacillus sp. cB07, which can efficiently induce larvae settlement an...

Background The coral microbiome plays a key role in host health by being involved in energy metabolism, nutrient cycling, and immune system formation. Inoculating coral with beneficial bacterial consortia may enhance the ability of this host to cope with complex and changing marine environments. In this study, the coral Pocillopora damicornis was i...

Rhizosphere microbes are crucial to seagrass meadows because they promote plant growth and heath. However, information concerning the response of rhizosphere microorganisms in seagrass sediment in the presence of different nitrogen sources is lacking. Here, by means of high-throughput sequencing, we investigated how addition of inorganic nitrogen a...

Coral bacteria are highly dynamic and acutely affected by host health and environmental conditions. However, there is limited knowledge of how the dynamics of coral-associated bacterial communities and interactions among bacterial members change in response to dissolved inorganic nutrient stressors. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing of the 1...

Background: Holobionts comprising nitrogen-fixing diazotrophs and phytoplankton or zooplankton are ubiquitous in the pelagic sea. However, neither the community structure of plankton-associated diazotrophs (PADs) nor their nitrogenase transcriptional activity are well-understood. In this study, we used nifH gene Illumina sequencing and quantitativ...

Background: Holobionts comprising nitrogen-fixing diazotrophs and phytoplankton or zooplankton are ubiquitous in the pelagic sea. However, neither the community structure of plankton-associated diazotrophs (PADs) nor their nitrogenase transcriptional activity are well-understood. In this study, we used nifH gene Illumina sequencing and quantitative...

Holobionts comprising nitrogen-fixing diazotrophs and phytoplankton or zooplankton are ubiquitous in the pelagic sea. However, neither the community structure of plankton-associated diazotrophs (PADs) nor their nitrogenase transcriptional activity are well-understood. In this study, we used nifH gene Illumina sequencing and quantitative PCR to char...

We isolated two filamentous, non-heterocystous cyanobacteria, namely SCSIO T-2 from Xincun Bay, Hainan Island and SCSIO 43686 from the northern South China Sea, China. The taxonomic positions of the studied strains were determined by a polyphasic approach that used morphological, molecular, and ecological analyses. The two cyanobacterial strains pr...

Fungi are the most suitable cellulase producers attributing to its ability to produce a complete cellulase system. 33 Genus, 175 Species fungi were isolated from Sanya mangrove, Hainan, China. Using congo red cellulose (CMC) medium, five fungi of cellulose-degrading were selected for further study. Molecular biology and morphological identification...

Diazotrophic communities make an essential contribution to the productivity through providing new nitrogen. However, knowledge of the roles that both mangrove tree species and geochemical parameters play in shaping mangove rhizosphere diazotrophic communities is still elusive. Here, a comprehensive examination of the diversity and structure of micr...

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus strain STW2, which was isolated from the rhizosphere of seagrass Enhalus acodoides . This study will facilitate future studies on the genetic pathways of marine microbes capable of both polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation and nitrate reduction.

The coral holobiont often resides in oligotrophic waters; both coral cells and their symbiotic dinoflagellates possess ammonium assimilation enzymes and potentially benefit from the nitrogen fixation of coral-associated diazotrophs. However, the seasonal dynamics of coral-associated diazotrophs are not well characterized. Here, the seasonal variati...

The phylogenetic diversity of coral-associated microbes has been extensively examined, but some contention remains regarding whether coral-associated microbial communities are species-specific or site-specific. It is suggested that corals may associate with microbes in terms of function, although little is known about the differences in coral-assoc...

The seagrass meadows represent one of the highest productive marine ecosystems, and have the great ecological and economic values. Bacteria play important roles in energy flow, nutrient biogeochemical cycle and organic matter turnover in marine ecosystems. The sea-grass meadows are experiencing a worldwide decline, and the pollution is one of the m...

Microbial communities were largely existed in the seagrass meadows. A total of 496 strains of the bacteria in the seagrass meadows, which belonged to 50 genera, were obtained by the plate cultivation method from three sites of Xincun Bay, South China Sea. The results showed that Bacillales and Vibrionales accounted for the highest proportions of or...

Seagrass meadows represent one of the highest productive marine ecosystems and are of great ecological and economic values. Recently, they have been confronted with worldwide decline. Fungi play important roles in sustaining the ecosystem health as degraders of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but fewer studies have been conducted in seagra...

In order to increase our understanding of the microbial diversity associated with seagrass Thalassia hemprichii in Xincun Bay, South China Sea, 16S rRNA gene was identified by highthrough sequencing method. Bacteria associated with seagrass T. hemprichii belonged to 37 phyla, 99 classes. The diversity of bacteria associated with seagrass was simila...

Bacteria play important roles in the structure and function of marine food webs by utilizing nutrients and degrading the pollutants, and their distribution are determined by surrounding water chemistry to a certain extent. It is vital to investigate the bacterial community’s structure and identifying the significant factors by controlling the bacte...

Coral associated bacterial community potentially has functions relating to coral health, nutrition and disease. Culture-free, 16S rRNA based techniques were used to compare the bacterial community of coral tissue, mucus and seawater around coral, and to investigate the relationship between the coral-associated bacterial communities and environmenta...

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successively applied to the separation of three sulfur-containing diketopiperazines (DKPs) (including two new compounds cladosporin A (1) and cladosporin B (3), and a known compound haematocin (2)) from a marine fungus Cladosporium sp. The two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acet...

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successively applied to the separation of three sulfur-containing diketopiperazines (DKPs) (including two new compounds cladosporin A (1) and cladosporin B (3), and a known compound haematocin (2)) from a marine fungus Cladosporium sp. The two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acet...

Chemical investigation of the sponge Callyspongia sp. from the South China Sea afforded one new diketopiperazine, cyclo-(R-Pro-6-hydroxyl-S-Ile) (1), along with six known diketopiperazines: staphyloamide A (2), cyclo- (S-Pro-S-Phe) (3), cyclo-(R-Pro-R-Phe) (4), cyclo-(S-Pro-R-Leu) (5), cyclo-(S-Pro-R-Ala) (6), cyclo-(R-Tyr-R-Phe) (7), and three kno...

The new indole alkaloids, mangrovamides A (I), B (II), and C (III) are isolated from the title fungus.

Coral reef ecosystem is known as “tropical rainforest of the ocean” due to its high biodiversity and primary productivity. Bacteria are known to be abundant and active in different coral niches, including coral surface mucus layer, coral tissue, and surrounding reef waters. Coral-associated bacteria play important roles in resisting pathogen, cycli...

Vertical variations of bacterial community composition in the South China Sea was investigated on 18 September 2009 by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and analyzed by multivariate analysis. Twenty-seven sequences retrieved from DGGE bands fell into five groups based on BLAST analysis. The dominant bacteria were Cyanobacteria (35.7%)...

A nitrogen-fixing bacterium, designated strain SCSIO N0430T, was isolated from a mangrove sediment sample. An analysis of the nifH gene responsible for nitrogen fixation in this strain indicated a close relationship to an uncultured bacterium ZNZ-D11 (JF896696). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that this isolate had less than 93% similarity...

Human activities and oceanic influences like mixing and/or upwelling define the hydrochemical and biological characteristics of coastal regions. In Sanya Bay, northern South China Sea, the balance between these two influences on spatial and temporal scales is poorly understood. The influence from human activities was due to discharge from Sanya Riv...

Spatial distribution, diversity and composition of bacterial communities of the northern South China Sea (SCS) surface water and the relationship with the in situ environmental chemistry were investigated. Polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) was used to investigate the bacterial community structure. The DGGE...

Marine microbial nitrogen-fixation is a key part of marine nitrogen cycle, which plays an important role in the introduction of nitrogen into marine ecosystem and the improvement of the ecosystem primary productivity. This paper reviewed the research advances on the marine biological nitrogen-fixation, with the focus on the diversity of nitrogen-fi...

The cyanobacterial communities in the surface and bottom waters of Sanya Bay were investigated on April 24 and 25, 2010. Flow cytometry showed that the total cyanobacterial abundance in the surface and bottom layers ranged from 0.7×104 to 2.38×104 cells mL−1 and from 1×104 to 1.8×104 cells mL−1, respectively. Cyanobacterial diversity was analyzed u...

Human activities and natural processes like mixing and/or upwelling driven by climate change have a strong influence on water quality in the coastal regions. Human activities are the dominant factor for water quality in the mouth of the Sanya River. This region exhibited the maximum influence of discharge from the Saya estimated by higher nutrient...

A self-organizing map (SOM) was utilized to identify the effects caused by human activities on water quality in Sanya Bay, South China Sea. Spatial pattern is mainly related to anthropogenic activities and hydrodynamic conditions. Water quality in Sanya Bay was divided into two groups by SOM: S1 and S2 were in east parts of Sanya Bay (Sanya River E...

Data collected from 12 stations in Daya Bay in different seasons in 2002 revealed the relation between water quality and phytoplankton response patterns. The results showed that Daya Bay could be divided into wet and dry seasons by multivariate statistical analysis. Principal component analysis indicated that temperature, chlorophyll a and nutrient...

In this work, we analyze environmental (physical and chemical) and biological (phytoplankton) data obtained in Sanya Bay during four cruises, carried out in January, April, August, and October. The main objective of this study was to identify the key environmental factors affecting phytoplankton structure and bacterioplankton in the bay. Results su...

In this study, chemometric method is employed to identify anthropogenic effects on the water quality in Sanya Bay, South China Sea, and its marine and natural characteristics. Principal component analysis has extracted the four latent factors, thus explaining 85.52% of the total variance. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis have ident...

Phytoplankton quantification was conducted in Sanya Bay from January 2005 to February 2006. A submersible in situ spectrofluorometer, which permits the differentiation of four algal groups (green algae, diatoms and dinoflagellates, cryptophytes and cyanobacteria) was used. Seasonal variation of total chlorophyll a concentration showed that high val...

A large data set obtained by a 1-year monthly determination of water quality from Sanya Bay, South China Sea, was treated by three-way principal component analysis aimed at exploring the spatial and temporal patterns of water quality in Sanya Bay. Tucker3 model of optimum complexity (2, 2, 1) explaining 33.18% of the data variance, allowed interpre...

Bacterial community structure and the relationship between environmental variables and microbial communities in the surface sediments of tropical mangrove ecosystems were investigated in Sanya, Hainan Island, China. Profiles of bacterial communities were generated using culture-independent PCR-denaturing gradient get electrophoresis (DGGE), and the...