Satellite view of the saline meadow along the shore of the Yellow Sea, Jiangsu Province, China Photograph by USGS   Eastern Asia: Eastern coast of China Flooded Grasslands and Savannas   2,000 square miles (5,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Delaware Critical/Endangered

· Salty Meadows by the Sea
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Salty Meadows by the Sea

Visit the east coast of China and you may come across a coastal habitat known as the Yellow Sea Saline Meadow. Here you'll find grasses and sedges uniquely adapted to regular saltwater flooding, a wide range of creatures that burrow beneath the saturated soil, and an important refueling stop for migratory shorebirds traveling along the Siberian-Australasian flyway.

Special Features

In prehistoric times, salt marshes covered the lowlands of this region and stretched to the mouth of the Yangzi River. Saline meadows, or salt marshes, occur where rivers deposit silt along the sheltered coastline. Today humans have converted much of this landscape to agricultural fields, but small patches of natural salt marsh remain. Goosefoot and other grasses are the dominant vegetation of the saline meadows, while cogon grass and sedges grow in less "salty" habitats farther inland.

	Pere David's deer have wide hooves that help them walk on soggy soil. Unlike most deer, they’re also great swimmers and will spend hours wading up to their shoulders.

Wild Side

For humans, this region has been celebrated as "the land of fish and rice" for thousands of years. Its nutrient-rich environment also makes it a favorite habitat for a variety of wild species, especially birds. An estimated 40 percent of the world's population of red-crowned cranes breed in the Yancheng Nature Reserve, an important wetland located here. Rare birds, such as dalmatian pelicans, black-faced spoonbills, and little gulls, spend the winter in the coastal flats. The world's largest breeding colony of Saunders' gulls, a seriously threatened Chinese endemic, occupies the intertidal mudflats farther offshore. And in the region's grasslands, you can find such rare creatures as Chinese water deer and Chinese parrotbills. Pere David’s deer once roamed this ecoregion, but are now found only in the Da Feng Nature Reserve, a captive-breeding reserve.

Cause for Concern

The Jiangsu Province, in which this ecoregion lies, is the most crowded province in China. Many parts of the region--especially those lying in inland areas--have lost all traces of their natural vegetation. The commercial rearing of shrimp and clams threatens some coastal areas, as does salt reclamation and industrial and recreational development.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.