AstudyofcoccolithassemblagesfromaboxcorefromthecentralSouthYellowSea（SYS）wasperformedrevealingfluctuationsontheirrelativeabundance（%）thatcanberelatedtoclimaticandhydrographicchangesoverthelast230years（1780–2011）.Totalcoccolithabundancesrangedfrom7.0to55.1×106coccoliths·g-1sediment.Althoughtheabundanceofdifferentspeciesvariedwidelythroughoutthecore,seventaxadominatedtheassemblage.Amongthesespecies,Gephyrocapsaoceanicawasthemostdominantspecies,anditshowedanaveragepercentageof50.1%.ThepatternofG.oceanica（eutrophicspecies）wasoppositetothatofthecombinedpercentageofBraarudosphaerabigelowiiandUmbilicosphaerasibogae（botholigotrophicspecies）,indicatingthatintheYellowSea（YS）,thedistributionpatternofG.oceanicamightbecharacteristicofnutrientavailability.SimilarpatternsbetweenG.oceanicaandtheSiberianHighwereobservedonaninter-decadaltimescale,indicatingthattheEastAsianWinterMonsoon（EAWM）maybeanimportantdriverofecologicalchangesintheYS.WhentheEAWMprevails,boththeYellowSeaCoastalCurrent（YSCC）andYellowSeaWarmCurrent（YSWC）strengthen,andtheincreasingnutrientavailabilityandwarmerwaterbroughtbythestrengthenedYSWCfavoreutrophicandwarm-watercoccolithophorespecies,suchasG.oceanica.Thislikelymechanismdemonstratesthatcoccolithassemblagescanbeusedasbenignandreliableproxyforclimatechangeandsurfaceoceanography.
