Northward Expansion of a Warm-Water Doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884) into a Temperate Bay, China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Review
Paper title: Northward expansion of a warm water doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884) into a temperate Bay, China
The authors conducted a field study to collect zooplankton and reveal important biological aspects of the doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri in Jiaozhou Bay, a new location for this species. The authors reported further expansion of this species to the north and attributed this process to climate change. They found a positive significant correlation between abundance and water temperature. The data may have important implications for management and conservation as well as tracking the range expansion of this species as an indicator of global warming.
All these reasons explain the relevance of the paper by Shiwei Wang and co-authors submitted to "Water".
General scores.
The data presented by the authors are original and significant. The study is correctly designed and the authors used appropriate collecting methods. In general, the statistical analyses are performed with good technical standards. The authors conducted careful work that may attract the attention of a wide range of specialists focused on zooplankton biology and climate change.
Recommendations.
L 45, 138. What do the authors mean when using the term "specific"? Please, clarify.
The authors should use the full species name in the figure and table legends.
Change “the JZB” to “JZB” throughout the text.
Specific comments.
L 16. Change “the Jiaozhou Bay” to “Jiaozhou Bay”
L 18. Change “frequency” to “frequency distribution”
L 25. Change “northwards” to “northward”
L 49. Change “since 1980s” to “since the 1980s”
L 51. Change “cities in the” to “cities in”
L 52. Change “pressures” to “pressure”
L 54. Change “the climate change” to “climate change”
L 71. Change “in each month” to “each month”
L 71. Change “was measured” to “were measured”
L 80. Change “data of” to “data on”
L 83. Change “since 1980s” to “since the 1980s”
L 83. Change “From late” to “From the late”
L 85. Change “present” to “the present”
L 93. Change “1990s” to “the 1990s”
L 126. Change “of each month” to “for each month”
L 131. Change “life” to “each life”
L 133. Change “enumerate” to “enumerated”
L 139. Change “V the water” to “V is the water”
L 144. Change “Roles” to “Role”
L 145. Change “environment” to “environmental”
L 148. Change “At first” to “Firstly”
L 161. Change “firstly” to “first”
L 169. Change “indicate” to “indicates”
L 174. Change “highest” to “highest value”
L 195. Change “varied” to “ranging”
L 197. Change “Phorozooid stage was not frequently observed than” to “The phorozooid stage was not more frequently observed as”
L 198. Change “mean proportion” to “the mean proportion”
L 199. Change “Larval stage” to “The larval stage”
L 205. Change “Body size frequency” to “Size-frequency distribution”
L 207. Change “the mean size of” to “a mean size of”
L 208. Change “size of” to “size at”
L 208. Change “egg” to “eggs”
L 209. Change “Phorozooids size varied between 1.8－3.3 mm with the” to “Phorozooid size varied between 1.8－3.3 mm with a”
L 210. Change “which body size” to “their body size”
L 217. Change “salinity anomaly” to “the salinity anomaly”
L 219. Change “1960s” to “the 1960s”
L 295. Change “distributed” to “to occur”
L 298. Change “suggests” to “suggest”
L 303. Change “maximums” to “maxima”
L 312. Change “China” to “Chinese”
L 317. Change “trough” to “through”
L 318. Change “response” to “responds”
L 325. Change “warming trend” to “the warming trend”
L 330. Change “pointed by previous” to “pointed out by previous”
L 335. Change “years of” to “years”
L 337. Change “China” to “Chinese”
L 344. Change “it could” to “they could”
L 345. Change “significant” to “a significant”
L 349. Change “bacteria, phytoplankton” to “bacteria and phytoplankton”
L 351. Change “than the oceanic regions” to “than in the oceanic regions”
L 375. Change “the Jiaozhou Bay” to “Jiaozhou Bay”
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We sincerely thank you for your valuable suggestions. For our detailed responses, please see the attacthment file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This is an interesting manuscript that presents results about the geographical range extension of a warm water doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri in to the Yellow Sea (Jiaozhou Bay). The authors report specimens of this specie in Jiazhou Bay (35°N), 400 km north of its previous reported distribution range in the East China Sea Shelf (31°N). The document is well written scientific report and exhibits scientific solidity. Authors present morphological evidence on the taxonomic identity of the reported specimens, temporal abundance analysis and description of surface temperature, salinity and Chl-a variability. Moreover, they discuss the relationship between positive surface warm trend, costal currents system and extension of spatial distribution of D. gegenbauri.
The title is appropriate for the content of the Article. The abstract is concise and accurately summarizes the essential information of the paper (geographical range extension). The methods implemented are described. I recommend that the authors include a description of how they established the volume of water filtered during the capture of zooplankton. The conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results. This manuscript opens new research opportunities related to the study of the ecological impact of the presence of D. gegenbauri in the pelagic environment of the northern sector of the Yellow Sea.
Suggestions
Line 139: How the volume of filtered seawater was estimate?
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We sincerely thank you for your valuable suggestions. For our detailed responses, please see the attacthment file.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
