Abstract
Early life stages of marine fishes play a critical role in shaping recruitment variability and population dynamics, yet the environmental processes structuring ichthyoplankton communities remain poorly understood in many marginal seas. Here, we investigated the seasonal dynamics of early life stage (ELS) fish assemblages and their environmental drivers in the offshore waters of Liaoning Province in the northern Yellow Sea using monthly ichthyoplankton surveys conducted from April to December 2021. Community structure and environmental relationships were examined using multivariate statistical analyses, and species distribution models were applied to project potential spawning habitats of the dominant species Engraulis japonicus under future climate scenarios. A total of 36 fish species were recorded, with spawning activity peaking between May and August. The ichthyoplankton assemblage exhibited pronounced seasonal succession characterized by shifts in dominant species composition and community structure. Temperature-related variables, particularly surface and bottom temperature, together with bottom salinity and depth, were identified as primary environmental drivers shaping the spatial and temporal organization of ELS fish communities. Distribution modelling further indicated that suitable spawning habitats for E. japonicus may expand under low-emission climate scenarios (RCP 2.6) but show increasing instability and potential contraction under moderate (RCP 4.5 and 6.0) and high emission scenarios (RCP 8.5). Our results demonstrate that environmental gradients and seasonal hydrographic variability jointly structure ichthyoplankton communities in the northern Yellow Sea, while future climate change may substantially alter spawning habitat availability for key pelagic species. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms linking environmental variability and early life stage fish dynamics and highlight potential risks to regional fisheries resources under ongoing climate change.
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Acknowledgements
The captain and chief engineer of the research vessels ‘Zhong Yu Ke 101/102’, as well as the entire crew, offered considerable support throughout the survey and sampling phase. This study could not have been carried out without the willing help of those who provided assistance with sample processing and analysis in field survey: Yuxuan Zhang and Huibin Wang. Also, the authors acknowledge the two anonymous reviewers who provided valuable reviews of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (No. ZR2022MD086), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41506168), the Special Financial Projects of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for the Survey and Monitoring of Fish Spawning Grounds in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea (No. C1250515), and the Taishan Industrial Experts Programme (No. tsls20231201).
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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This study did not involve breeding, rearing, surgical manipulation, or prolonged live holding of animals. The main ethical consideration was the collection and preservation of wild ichthyoplankton specimens, and sampling was restricted to the minimum necessary to achieve the study objectives while minimizing habitat disturbance. All procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.
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Appendix A. Supplementary data
Appendix A. Supplementary data
The scientific names of the species refer to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS, https://www.marinespecies.org/).
The Depth and Landis data were obtained from the Global Marine Environmental Dataset (http://gmed.auckland.ac.nz), while the other marine environmental data were obtained from the Bio-ORACLE v2.0 dataset (https://www.bio-oracle.org/).
The data were sourced from the Bio-ORACLE v2.0 dataset, accessible at https://www.bio-oracle.org/.
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Li, X., Cui, P., Han, Q. et al. Early life stage fish community structure and environmental drivers in offshore waters of Liaoning Province, Yellow Sea.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-54223-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-54223-7
Keywords
- Early life stage
- Community structure
- Dominant species
Engraulis japonicus
- Environmental factors
- SDMs
Source: Ecology - nature.com
