The Yellow Sea saline meadow
ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0908) covers a thin strip of wetlands between the
Shandong Peninsula and the mouth of the
Yangtze River on the coast of the
East China Sea
The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...
. The plants of the region are adapted to the wet, saline soils transitioning inland to fresh water arriving from the west. The area is an important stop-over on the
East Asian–Australasian Flyway. The region is under heavy ecological pressure from human development and agriculture.
Location and description
The ecoregion runs north-south along the coast, reaching only inland. At the south end is the outlet of the Yangtze River into the
Yellow Sea; at the northern end is the outlet of the Xinyi River, an offshoot of the
Huai River. Both rivers carry deposits that add to the mud flats of the river deltas, mixing freshwater into saline environments of the coast. Due to the silt additions, the regions is extending an average of 1 km into the sea every 60 years.
Climate
The climate of the ecoregion is ''
Humid continental climate, warm wet summer'' (
Köppen climate classification (Cfa)). This climate is characterized by large seasonal temperature differentials. No month averages below , at least one month averages above , and four months average over . Precipitation is generally highest in the summer.
Annual precipitation is 800 - 1,200 mm. The ecoregion sits in the transition zone between the temperate zone to the north, and the sub-tropical region to the south.
Flora and fauna
Jiangsu Province, in which the ecoregion is located, is the most densely populated province in China, so the area in heavily developed. The land is almost completely converted to human habitation, rice agriculture, or fish aquaculture. There are some areas of saline grass and sedge marshes, and inter-tidal mudflats. The saline meadows are characterized by Suaeda salsa, the inland fresh water fed areas by kunai grass (''
Imperata cylindrica'').
The
Yancheng Coastal Wetlands
The Yancheng Coastal Wetlands is the largest coastal wetlands nature reserve in People's Republic of China, China. It is situated close to Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China.
Location
The reserve is located in the east part of Yancheng, Jiangsu P ...
Nature Reserve is an important component of the ecoregion, hosting an estimated 500,000 migratory birds each year. An estimated 40% of the world's 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 ...
s breed in the area.
See also
*
List of 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 bioge ...
References
{{reflist
Ecoregions of China
Flooded grasslands and savannas
Palearctic ecoregions