Densities of mollusc species at different sites along the Chinese coast

We sampled 21 intertidal sites spanning 20 latitudinal degrees and 18,400 km of coastline. We assessed alpha diversity to verify whether mollusc communities exhibit the expected biodiversity gradient with latitude, and beta diversity gradients with distance. To examine whether human activities such as transportation and culturing could have affected these patterns, we distinguished commercial from non-commercial mollusc species and compared the differences in distribution, density, alpha diversity and beta diversity.