Detection of global change with meiofauna and its benthic environment in a shelf sea cold water mass ecosystem

The marine benthic ecosystems can be affected by global environmental change. The northern Yellow Sea cold water mass (NYSCWM) is locally generated without external intrusion, and relatively independent and sensitive to global change. We utilized multiple scale temporal data collected during 12 cruises (2006–2014) to detect potential impact of global change on meiofauna and its benthic environment in the NYSCWM ecosystem. Time series of bottom water temperature and total organic carbon exhibited increasing trends, while those of meiofaunal abundance, biomass, sedimentary chlorophyll a and bottom water salinity exhibited decreasing trends. The temporal trends observed in our study were coincident with the global reduction of benthic standing stock in response to global change and anthropogenic disturbance. The strong seasonality of meiofauna, however, may mask its long-term pattern, and meiofauna with its sedimentary environment may serve as an integrated indicator of potential impact of global change on the shelf sea cold water mass ecosystem only if longer-term monitoring data can be accumulated and seasonal effect taken into account.