The Bohai Sea saline meadow
ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0902) covers the coastal deltas of the
Yellow River and the
Luan River where they enter the
Bohai Sea in China. The saline meadows and intertidal mudflats provide an important stopping-over point for birds migrating on the
East Asian–Australasian Flyway
The East Asian–Australasian Flyway is one of the world's great flyways. At its northernmost it stretches eastwards from the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia to Alaska. Its southern end encompasses Australia and New Zealand. Between these extremes the ...
. The region is under heavy ecological pressure from human development.
Location and description
The ecoregion rims the crescent-shaped shore of
Bohai Bay, on the northwest of the Bohai Sea. The river deltas are expanding from silt carried by the Yellow River from the
loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
soil regions to the west, and by the Luan River from the north.
Both natural and artificial wetlands are extensive in the region. The natural wetlands - reed fields and tidal flats - have diminished greatly in recent years through conversion to aquaculture and development. Artificial wetlands include paddy fields, salt fields, reservoirs and ponds.
A portion of the region is a Ramsar Convention wetland of international importance.
The Dongying-Huang He Nature Reserve is the area sits on the second largest oil-field in China.
Climate
The climate of the ecoregion is ''
Humid continental climate, hot summer'' (
Köppen climate classification (Dwa)), with a dry winter. This climate is characterized by large seasonal temperature differentials and a hot summer (at least one month averaging over ), and cold winters having monthly precipitation less than one-tenth of the wettest summer month.
The average precipitation in the region is 592 mm/year, varying up to 20%.
Flora and fauna
There are a wide variety local habitats, influenced by the interplay of fresh water and silt arriving by river with salt water pressure from the sea. The interior grasslands are characterized by Kunai grass (''
Imperata cylindrica''), the saline meadows by salt-tolerate plants such as
Suaeda. Freshwater stands inland have mostly been converted to rice paddies and aquaculture ponds.
The region is an important migratory stop-over for the endangered
Red-crowned crane
The red-crowned crane (''Grus japonensis''), also called the Manchurian crane or Japanese crane (; the Chinese character '丹' means 'red', '頂/顶' means 'crown' and '鶴/鹤' means 'crane'), is a large East Asian crane among the rarest cran ...
and
Siberian crane. The vulnerable
Saunders's gull uses the region as one of its few breeding sites.
Biodiversity is high: scientists have recorded 367 species of bird, and 197 species of fish, in the Shandong delta alone.
See also
*
Ecoregions in China {{Short description, none
The following is a list of terrestrial ecoregions of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The transition between two of the planet's eight terrestrial biog ...
References
{{reflist
Ecoregions of China
Flooded grasslands and savannas
Palearctic ecoregions