Hainan, located in the South China Sea, is the main island of the Hainan province. The name Hainan 海南 refers to the location south of the Qiongzhou Strait, also called Hainan Strait, which separates the Chinese mainland and the Hainan island. Hainan Island is also known as Pearl Cliffs (珠崖), Fine Jade Cliffs (琼崖), and the Fine Jade Land (琼州).
The region is characterized by a tropical monsoon climate with a dry season from November to April and a wet season from May to October. Mean air temperatures range between 14.6 and 20.8 °C in January and 25.2 and 33.1°C in July. The total annual precipitation is 1500 to 2000 m, of which 35-60% are related to typhoon-induced rainfall occuring mainly from July to September (Wang et al., 2001; Wang et al., 2008).
In the past decades, Hainan’s population and economy grew rapidly and the contribution to the gross domestic product from agriculture dropped from 80 % to 40 %. At the same time industry, tourism and aquaculture expanded. Aquaculture effluents are directly released into the environment without prior treatment (Herbeck et al., 2013). In order to maintain the integrity and ecosystem services of coastal habitats which also form major part of Hainan’s economic potential, it is mandatory to close the abovementioned gaps in knowledge and develop measures towards a sustainable management of the coastal resources.
Our studies are carried out on the coastal areas of Hainan, where estuaries, mangroves, corals reefs and seagrass beds are located in immediate vicinity:
- Study area: XinYing Lagoon – Yangpu
- Study area: Wenchang – Changqi – Qingge – Tanmen
- Study area: Xincun Lagoon
Some impressions from Hainan
-
- © Bevis Fedder
-
- © Tim Jennerjahn
-
- © Tim Jennerjahn
-
- © Inga Nordhaus
-
- © Inga Nordhaus
-
- © Bevis Fedder
References:
Herbeck LS, Unger D, Wu Y, Jennerjahn TC (2013) Effluent, nutrient and organic matter export from shrimp and fish ponds causing eutrophication in coastal and back-reef waters of NE Hainan, tropical China. Cont Shelf Res 57: 92-104.
Wang Y, Peter MI, Zhu D, Zhang YZ, Tang W (2001) Coastal plain evolution in southern Hainan Island, China. Chin Sci Bull 46: 90-96.
Wang YM, Ren FM, Li WJ, Wang XL (2008) Climatic characteristics of typhoon precipitation over China. J Trop Meteorol 14: 125−128
