Four Research Areas 四大研究方向 27 Research Area 1 研究方向 ( 一 ) Task Leader Prof. Hongbin Liu Department of Ocean Science HKUST 学术带头人 刘红斌教授 香港科技大学海洋科学系 Area 1: Responsemechanismof ecosystemand life processes to environmental changes in the South China Sea (including the Greater Bay Area) With the increasing human activities and impact of global climate change, marine ecosystems face enormous risks and unprecedented challenges. The mechanism of marine ecosystems in response to greenhouse effect, ocean acidification andwarming needs to be studied in depth. Many environmental factors, such as elevated temperatures, acidification of ocean waters, coastal eutrophication, hypoxia, and pollution, may cause adverse changes in marine ecosystems. Marine biodiversity may be reduced. Many fragile ecosystems, such as coral reefs and seagrass beds, are at risk of extinction. These environmental factors coupled with increasing human activities, such as the construction of artificial beaches, reclamation, highdensity marine aquaculture, deep-sea hydrocarbon and natural gas exploration, could have a disastrous impact on the marine ecosystems in the Greater Bay Area, as well as the whole South China Sea. 方向一：南海及邻近海域(包含大湾区) 生态系统与生命过程对环境变化的响应 机制 随着人类活动干扰的不断加深以及全球 气候变化的影响，海洋生态系统面临极 大的风险和严峻的挑战。海洋生态系统 对温室效应、海洋酸化与暖化的响应机 制极需深入研究。许多环境因子的变 化，例如温度升高，海洋水体酸化，富 营养化，水体缺氧，海洋污染等，都可 能对生态系统造成颠覆性的变化，比如 海洋生物多样性可能会降低，许多脆弱 的生态系统（如珊瑚礁，海草床等）面 临消失的危险。加上不断增加的人类活 动，如修建人工沙滩，填海造地，高密 度海水养殖，深海可燃冰、天然气等等 的开采活动，都可能对大湾区乃至南海 海洋生态系统带来灾难性的影响。
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk5Njg=