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A fouling study was conducted in coastal waters southwest of the East China Sea between December 2013 and November 2014. A total of 84 species of fouling organisms belonging to 69 genera, 49 families, and 10 phyla were recorded over the entire year. The community composition was dominated by coastal warm-water species belonging to typical subtropical inner bay communities. The prosperous stage of settlement lasted from April to September, and the adhesion strength of the fouling organisms was the highest in summer. Sessile suspension feeders constituted the main core of settlement for the fouling community. Amphibalanus reticulatus was the most dominant and representative species of fouling organism, and other dominant species included Caprella equilibra, Ectopleura crocea, Anthopleura nigrescens, Stylochus ijimai, Spirobranchus kraussii, Crassostrea angulata, Perna viridis, Jassa falcata, Stenothoe valida, Sphaerozius nitidus, and Biflustra grandicella. The individuals in the fouling community showed a mutual dependence or constraint relationship due to competition for settlement space and food, and they exhibited a particular spatiotemporal distribution in accordance with adaptation to environmental factors. Temperature was the most important environmental factor determining the geographic distribution of fouling organisms. The temperature characteristics of species essentially reflect the differences in the fouling community composition in various climate zones. The species number, settlement stage, and settlement rate of fouling organisms are closely related to water temperature. Local natural environmental conditions (salinity, water currents, light, etc.) as well as human activity (such as aquaculture production) are all important factors affecting the settlement of fouling organisms.

Secondary production by macrofaunal communities in the western Arctic Ocean were quantified during the 4th and 5th Chinese Arctic Scientific Expeditions. The total production and P/B ratio for each sector ranged from 3.8 (±7.9) to 615.6 (±635.5) kJ m −2 yr −1 and 0.5 (± 0.2) to 0.7 (± 0.2) yr −1 , respectively. The shallow shelves in the western Arctic Ocean exhibited particularly high production (178.7–615.6 kJ m −2 yr −1 ), particularly in the two “hotspots” – the southern and northeastern (around Barrow Canyon) Chukchi Sea. Benthic macrofaunal production decreased sharply with depth and latitude along a shelf–slope–basin transect, with values of 17.0–269.8 kJ m −2 yr −1 in slope regions and 3.8–10.1 kJ m −2 yr −1 in basins. Redundancy analysis indicated that hydrological characteristics (depth, bottom temperature and salinity) and granulometric parameters (mean particle size, % sand and % clay) show significant positive/negative correlations with total production. These correlations revealed that the dominant factors influencing benthic production are the habitat type and food supply from the overlying water column. In the Arctic, the extreme environmental conditions and low temperature constrain macrofaunal metabolic processes, such that food and energy are primarily used to increase body mass rather than for reproduction. Hence, energy turnover is relatively low at high latitudes. These data further our understanding of benthic production processes and ecosystem dynamics in the context of rapid climate change in the western Arctic Ocean.