Prof. Kefu Yu
1. Personal Introduction 
Professor Kefu Yu has been focusing on the study of coral reefs of the South China Sea since 1992, and has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers and several books. His research involves coral reefs’ ecological and geological processes, including corals’ response and adaptation to global changes, coral reefs’ bleaching history and recovery cycles, coral reefs’ formation and evolution, and high-resolution reconstructions of Holocene environment, such as temperature, storm, sea level and El Nino activities. He has drilled through a SCS coral reef (Chenghang Island in Xisha Islands, central SCS) and obtained a 928.75-m-long core, which covered the last 20 million years; He has also drilled numerous Holocene coral cores, which cover almost the last 7500 years.
2. Recent publications
1.Chaoxin Zhang, Hongjie Liu, Shaopeng Wang, Man Zhang, Jiayuan Liang, Hao Fu, YingmeWei, Kefu Yu*, Liwei Wang *. (2024). An advanced early warning technology for coral bleaching crisis based on the electrochemical biosensing of coral-symbiotic zooxanthellae eDNA,Microchemical Journal, 207:111775. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2024.111775
2.Zhiming Ning, Zhijin Liu, Kefu Yu*, Bin Yang, Xueyong Huang, Wei Jiang. (2024). Phosphorus Speciation, Migration and Transformation in Seawater and Sediments and Potential Role in Starfish Outbreaks of the Xisha Islands, Northern South China Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research : oceans, 129(10)e2024JC021259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024JC021259
3.Rongyong Huang, Zhiwei He, Kefu Yu *, Zuofang Yao *, Bin Zou, Junyou Xiao. (2024). Development of a Coral and Competitive Alga-related Index using Historical Multi-spectral Satellite Imagery to Assess Ecological Status of Coral Reefs. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation,134:104194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.104194
4.Shaohua Dang, Zhongfang Liu*, Kefu Yu *, Shichen Tao, Huiling Zhang, Shaopeng Wang, Haimao Lan. (2024). Reduced ENSO Variability During the Onset of the 4.2 ka Event. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 39(9): e2024PA004923. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024PA004923
5.Pin Gan, Xuan Chen, Yuanyuan Zhang*, Xudong Li, Fangyu Liang, Tianhao Wu, Pengfei Xue, Kefu Yu*. (2024). Comparison of the Inactivation of Uronema Marinum in Mariculture by UV/Chlorine, UV/Monochloramine, and UV/Chlorine Dioxide: Efficiency, Mechanism and Feasibility. Journal of Water Process Engineering. 66:105898. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2024.105898
6.Junling Chen, Xiaopeng Yu, Kefu Yu *, Biao Chen, Zhenjun Qin, Zhiheng Liao, Yuling Ma, Lijia Xu *, Yongzhi Wang. (2024). Potential Adaptation of Scleractinian Coral Pocillopora Damicornis during Hypo-salinity Stress Caused by Extreme Pre-flood Rainfall over South China. Environmental Research. Environmental Research.262(1):119848. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.119848
7.Zhaolin Zhang, Wei Jiang*, Tingwu Gu, Ning Guo, Ruipeng Sun, Yang Zeng, Yansong Han, Kefu Yu. (2024). Anthropogenic Gadolinium Contaminations in the Marine Environment and Its Ecological Implications. Environmental Pollution.359:124740. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124740
8.Sanqiang Gong, Jiayuan Liang, Lijia Xu, Yongzhi Wang, Jun Li, Xuejie Jin, Kefu Yu *,Yuehuan Zhang*. (2024). Diel Transcriptional Responses of Coral-Symbiodiniaceae Holobiont to Elevated Temperature. Communications Biology.882 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06542-6
9.Zhen Zhao, Yihua Wei, Yijin Wang, Gen Peng, Eddy Y. Zeng, Kefu Yu, Xiang-Rong Xu*, Ruilong Li. (2024). Fate and Drivers of Mariculture-Derived Microplastics from Ponds to Mangrove Forests. Environmental Pollution. 361: 124790. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124790
10.Yansong Han, Wei Jiang*, Leilei Jiang, Yangyang Yong, Kai Yan, Tingwu Gu, Ning Guo, Kefu Yu*. (2024). Corals Reveal Interdecadal Variation of Tropical Cyclones Modulated by Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.129(7): e2024JD040824.http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024JD040824
11.Zongwu Wei, Xuzhe Zhang, Yingzhan Chen, Hongjie Liu, Shaopeng Wang, Man Zhang, Honglin Ma, Kefu Yu *, Liwei Wang *. (2024). A New Strategy Based on a Cascade Amplification Strategy Biosensor for on-site eDNA Detection and Outbreak Warning of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish. Science of the Total Environment. 927: 172258. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172258
12.Ruijie Zhang*, Songlin Xie, Jun Li , Haoyu Jiang , Zhengen Zhang, Fang Liu, Shizhen Zhao, Yinghui Wang, Kefu Yu, Gan Zhang .(2024). Occurrence, Distribution, and Sources of Organophosphate esters (OPEs) in the Air of the Indo-China Peninsula Based on a Passive Air Monitoring Network.Science of the Total Environment. 929: 172762. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172762.
13.Zhenjun Qin, Nengbin Pan, Kefu Yu*, Shuchang Chen, Xuelu Wei, Biao Chen, Xiaopeng Yu. (2024). Depth Distribution and Depth Adaptation of Microbiomes in Juvenile and Adult Scleractinian Corals (Pocillopora verrucosa) in the Central South China Sea. Coral Reefs. 43(3): 587-600.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02485-w
14.Biao Chen,Yuxin Wei, Kefu Yu*, Yanting Liang, Xiaopeng Yu, Zhiheng Liao, Zhenjun Qin, Lijia Xu, Zeming Bao. (2024). The Microbiome Dynamics and Interaction of Endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae and Fungi are Associated with Thermal Bleaching Susceptibility of Coral Holobionts. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 90(4): e01939-01923. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.01939-23
15.Man Zhang, Shan Huang, Li Luo, Xiaopeng Yu, Hao Wang, Kefu Yu*, Shengping Zhong*. (2024). Insights into the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Differentheat Tolerance of the Scleractinian Coral Pavona Decussata. Coral Reefs. 43(2): 429-442. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02478-9
16.Yingzhan Chen, Qi Bin, Hongjie Liu, Yuanyu Xie, Shaopeng Wang, Jie Lu, Wenchao Ou, Man Zhang*, Liwei Wang*, Kefu Yu. (2024). A Novel Biosensing Strategy on the Dynamic and on-site Detection of Vibrio Coralliilyticus eDNA for Coral Health Warnings. Bioelectrochemistry. 158: 108697. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bioelechem.2024.108697
17.Wen Huang*, Linqing Meng, Zunyong Xiao, Ronghua Tan, Enguang Yang, Yonggang Wang, Xueyong Huang, Kefu Yu*. (2024). Heat-Tolerant Lntertidal Rock Pool Coral Porites Lutea Canpotentially Adapt to Future Warming.Molecular Ecology. 33(5):e17273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.17273
18.Yuxin Wei, Biao Chen*, Kefu Yu, Zhiheng Liao, Xiaopeng Yu, Zhenjun Qin, Zeming Bao, Lijia Xu, Yongzhi Wang. (2024). Evolutionary Radiation and Microbial Community Dynamics Shape the Thermal Tolerance of Fungiidae in the Southern South China Sea. Environmental Microbiology. 12(2): e02436-02423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02436-23
19.Bo Qin, Kefu Yu*, Yichen Fu, Yu Zhou, Yanliu Wu, Wenqian Zhan, Xiaoyan Chen *. (2024). Responses in reef-building corals to wildfire emissions: Heterotrophic plasticity and calcification. Science of the Total Environment, 922: 171271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171271
20. Rui Wang, Kefu Yu*, Brian Jones, Wei Jiang, Tianlai Fan, Yang Yang, Songye Wu. (2024). Strontium isotope dating influenced by Rubidium contamination from terrestrial material: A case study from the Cenozoic dolomite in the Xisha Islands, South China Sea. Sedimentology (2024) 71, 1305–1328. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.13175
21.Xuelu Wei, Kefu Yu*, Zhenjun Qin, Shuchang Chen, Nengbin Pan, Mengling Lan . (2024). The acute and chronic lowtemperature stress responses in Porites lutea from a relatively high-latitude coral reef of the South China Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11: 1321865. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1321865
22.Tingli Yan, Kefu Yu*, Leilei Jiang, Yueer Li, Ning Zhao. (2024). Significant Sea‐Level Fluctuations in the Western Tropical Pacific During the Mid‐Holocene. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 39, e2023PA004783. https://doi.org/10. 1029/2023PA004783
23.Yichen Fu, Xiaoyan Chen *, Yuchen Liu, Yuxiao Li, Kefu Yu*. (2024). The Effects of Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition in Coral-algal Phase Shifts on Remote Coral Reefs. Frontiers in Marine Science. 11:1214449. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1214449
24.Liwei Wang,Qi Bin a , Hongjie Liu, Yibo Zhang, Shaopeng Wang, Songlin Luo, Zhenghua Chen, Man Zhang*, Kefu Yu *.(2023). New Insights into the on-site Monitoring of Probiotics eDNA using Biosensing Technology for Heat-Stress Relieving in Coral Reefs. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 243: 115790. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2023.115790
25.Xiaopeng Yu, Kefu Yu*, Biao Chen, Zhiheng Liao, Jiayuan Liang, Zhenjun Qi, Xu Gao  (2023). Metabolic and immune costs balance during natural acclimation of corals in fluctuating environments. Marine Environmental Research, 193: 106284, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.106284
26.Yansong Han, Wei Jiang, Leilei Jiang, Yangyang Yong, Yuanfu *Yue, Yueer Li, Kefu Yu *. (2023). Influences of Climate Change on Tropical Cyclones: An Insight into the Western North Pacific over the Past Two Millennia. Global and Planetary change. 231: 104319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104319
27.Sanqiang Gong, Jiayuan Liang, Gang Li, Lijia Xu, Yehui Tan, Xinqing Zheng, Xuejie Jin, Kefu Yu*, Xiaomin Xia*. (2023). Linking Coral Fluorescence Phenotypes to Thermal Bleaching in the Reef-Building Galaxea Fascicularis from the Northern South China Sea. Marine Life Science & Technology. 6(1): 155-167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42995-023-00190-1
28.Biao Chen*, Kefu Yu *, Liang Fu, Yuxin Wei, Jiayuan Liang, Zhiheng Liao, Zhenjun Qin, Xiaopeng Yu, Chuanqi Deng, Minwei Han, Honglin Ma . (2023). The diversity, community dynamics, and interactions of the microbiome in the world’s deepest blue hole: insights into extreme environmental response patterns and tolerance of marine microorganisms. Microbiology Spectrum. 11(6): e0053123. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00531-23
29.Minwei Han, Kefu Yu*, Ruijie Zhang*, Biao Chen, Haolan Li, Zheng-En Zhang, Jun Li , Gan Zhang. (2023). Sources of the Elevating Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Pollution in the Western South China Sea and Its Environmental Implications. Environmental Science & Technology,57(49). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c03452
30.Leilei Jiang, Kefu Yu*, Shichen Tao, Wei Jiang, Shaopeng Wang, Yueer Li. (2023). Modulation of East Asian monsoon strength by ENSO during the warm periods of the late Holocene: Evidence from Porites corals in the northern South China Sea. Global and Planetary Change .225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104136.
31.Leilei Jiang, Kefu Yu*, Shichen Tao, Yueer Li, Shaopeng Wang .(2023). Abrupt Increase in ENSO Variability at 700 CE Triggered by Solar Activity. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 128, e2022JC019278. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC019278 
32.Hao Wang, Kefu Yu*, Tao Han, Shendong Xu, Shichen Tao, Shaohua Dang, Xiaopeng Yu (2023). Orbital-insolation controlled Porites coral δ13C seasonality variations since the mid-Holocene in the northern South China Sea. Geophysical Research Letters, 50, e2022GL101284. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101284
33.Xiaopeng Yu, Kefu Yu*, Zhiheng Liao, Biao Chen, Zhenjun Qin, Jiayuan Liang, Xu Gao. (2023). Adaptation strategies of relatively high-latitude marginal reef corals in response to severe temperature fluctuations. Science of The Total Environment, 166439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166439
34.Min Meng, Kefu Yu*, Pamela Hallock, Guoquan Qin, Wei Jiang, Tianlai Fan (2022).  Foraminifera indicate Neogene evolution of Yongle Atoll from Xisha Islands in the South China Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 602: 111163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111163
35.Zhiming Ning, Kefu Yu*, Yinghui Wang, Fen Wei, Zhiheng Liao, Bin Yang, Cao Fang, Ronglin Xia, Xueyong Huang, Guodong Song. (2022). Effects of nutrient enrichment and skewed N:P ratios on physiology of scleractinian corals from Weizhou Island in the northern South China Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 682: 111-122, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13933
36.Shichen Tao, Kefu Yu*, Hongqiang Yan, Huiling Zhang, Luo Wang*, Patrick Rioual, Qi Shi, Zhongzhou Huang, Tegu Chen. (2022). Annual resolution records of sea-level change since 1850 CE reconstructed from coral δ18O from the South China Sea. Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 592: 110897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110897
37.Xiaofeng Xu, Kefu Yu*, Shichen Tao, Tianran Chen, Hongqiang Yan. (2022). Potential geochemical evidence of Porites corals responding to coral bleaching in the 20th century in the Nansha Islands, southern South China Sea. Quaternary International, 625: 66–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2022.03.011
38.Yang Yang, Kefu Yu*, Rui Wang, Tianlai Fan, Wei Jiang, Shendong Xu, Yinqiang Li, Jianxin Zhao. (2022). 87Sr/86Sr of coral reef carbonate strata as an indicator of global sea level fall: evidence from a 928.75-m-long core in the South China Sea. Marine Geology, 44: 106758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106758
39.Biao Chen, Kefu Yu*, Qiucui Yao, Zhiheng Liao, Zhenjun Qin, Xiaopeng Yu, Qian Wu, Biao He. (2021). Insights Into the Environmental Impact on Genetic Structure and Larval Dispersal of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish in the South China Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8: 728349. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.728349
40.Biao Chen, Kefu Yu*, Zhiheng Liao, Xiaopeng Yu, Zhenjun Qin, Jiayuan Liang, Guanghua Wang, Qian Wu, Leilei Jiang. (2021). Microbiome community and complexity indicate environmental gradient acclimatisation and potential microbial interaction of endemic coral holobionts in the South China Sea. Science of the Total Environment, 142690, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142690
41. Leilei Jiang, Kefu Yu*, Tao Han, Shichen Tao, Huiling Zhang,. (2021). Coral perspective on temperature seasonality and interannual variability in the northern South China Sea during the Roman Warm Period. Global and Planetary Change, 207:103675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103675. 
42.Leilei Jiang, Kefu Yu*, Shichen Tao, Shaopeng Wang, Tao Han, Wei Jiang. (2021). ENSO Variability During the Medieval Climate Anomaly as Recorded by Porites Corals From the Northern South China Sea. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 36, e2020PA004173. https://doi. org/10.1029/2020PA004173
43.Yinqiang Li, Kefu Yu*, Lizeng Bian, Yeman Qin, Weihua Liao, Yang Yang, Yifang Ma. (2021). Coralline algal assemblages record Miocene sea-level changes in the South China Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 584: 110673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110673
44.Yinqiang Li, Kefu Yu*, Lizeng Bian, Tianlai Fan, Rui Wang, Wei Jiang, Shendong Xu, Yu Zhang, Yang Yang,. (2021). Paleo-water depth variations since the Pliocene as recorded by coralline algae in the South China Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 562: 110107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110107
45.Yanting Liang, Kefu Yu*, Ziliang Pan, Zhenjun Qin, Zhiheng Liao, Biao Chen, Xueyong Huang, Lijia Xu,. (2021). Intergeneric and geomorphological variations in Symbiodiniaceae densities of reef-building corals in an isolated atoll, central South China Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 163: 111946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111946
46.Zhiheng Liao, Kefu Yu*, Biao Chen, Xueyong Huang, Zhenjun Qin, Xiaopeng Yu. (2021). Spatial distribution of benthic algae in the South China Sea: responses to gradually changing environmental factors and ecological impacts on coral communities. Diversity and Distributions, 27: 929-943. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13243
47.Wuhui Lin, Kefu Yu*, Yinghui Wang, Xinming Liu, Shendong Xu, Binyuan He, Qiuyun Ning, Yinghua Li, Fangfang Deng, Jianjun Wang, Hao Ma. (2021). Assessing the feasibility of the 228Th/228Ra dating method for young corals (<10 a) by gamma spectrometry. Quaternary Geochronology, 61: 101125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2020.101125
48.Zhenjun Qin, Kefu Yu*, Shuchang Chen, Biao Chen, Jiayuan Liang, Qiucui Yao, Xiaopeng Yu, Zhiheng Liao, Chuanqi Deng, Yanting Liang. (2021). Microbiome of juvenile corals in the outer reef slope and lagoon of the South China Sea: insight into coral acclimatization to extreme thermal environments. Environmental Microbiology, 23(8): 4389-4404. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15624
49.Hao Wang, Kefu Yu*, Shichen Tao, Shendong Xu, Tsai-Luen Yu, Chuan-Chou Shen, Shaopeng Wang. (2021). New Evidence for the Periodic Bleaching and Recovery of Porites Corals During the Mid-late Holocene in the Northern South China Sea. Global and Planetary Change, 197, 103397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103397.
50.Rui Wang, Kefu Yu*, Brian Jones, Wei Jiang, Shendong Xu, Tianlai Fan, Yu Zhang. (2021). Dolomitization micro-conditions constraint on dolomite stoichiometry: A case study from the Miocene Huangliu Formation, Xisha Islands, South China Sea.  Marine and Petroleum Geology, 133: 105286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2021.105286
51.Tingli Yan, Kefu Yu*, Rui Wang, Wenhui Liu, Leilei Jiang. (2021). Records of sea-level highstand over the Meghalayan age/late Holocene from uranium-series ages of beachrock in Weizhou Island, northern South China Sea. The Holocene, 1-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09596836211033215
52.Xiaopeng Yu, Kefu Yu*, Biao Chen, Zhiheng Liao, Zhenjun Qin, Qiucui Yao, Yanhua Huang, Jiayuan Liang, Wen Huang. (2021). Nanopore long-read RNAseq reveals regulatory mechanisms of thermally variable reef environments promoting heat tolerance of scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis. Environmental Research, 195: 110782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.110782.
53.Xiaopeng Yu, Kefu Yu*, Zhiheng Liao, Biao Chen, Chuanqi Deng, Jiaoyang Yu, Qiucui Yao, Zhenjun Qin, Jiayuan Liang. (2021). Seasonal fluctuations in symbiotic bacteria and their role in environmental adaptation of the scleractinian coral Acropora pruinosa in high-latitude coral reef area of the South China Sea. Science of The Total Environment, 792: 148438, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148438.
54.Xiaopeng Yu, Kefu Yu*, Biao Chen, Zhiheng Liao, Jiayuan Liang, Qiucui Yao, Zhenjun Qin, Hao Wang, Jiaoyang Yu. (2021). Different responses of scleractinian coral Acropora pruinosa from Weizhou Island during extreme high temperature events. Coral Reefs. 40,1697-1711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02182-y