Directional wave measurement at Haifa,Israel, and sediment transport along the Nile littoral cell

Results of three years of directional wave measurement at the Eastern Mediterranean coast of Haifa, Israel are presented. The wave-height and energy-flux distributions reveal a moderately high-energy coast with a bimodal annual cycle.The rate of wave-induced longshore sediment transport is estimated from the directional energy flux distributions. It describes an annual cycle with a maximum northward transport of 75 ± 14 × 10³ m³/month in midwinter and a southward transport of 26 ± 5 × 10³ m³/month in summer. The net annual transport is northward and computed at 110 ± 100 × 10³ m³/yr.We show that a wave-induced transport is sufficient in explaining the apparent transport of sediments in the Nile Littoral Cell, from the Nile Delta source to the Haifa Bay sink.     

野生二粒小麦 Triticum dicoccoides抗杀锈病基因 YrH52分子定位的初步研究(英文)

主要对以色列野生二粒小麦赫尔蒙种群中分离获得的一个抗条锈病基因进行了分子定位研究 ,将源于赫尔蒙山具抗杀锈病的种系 T.dicoccides H52与普通的栽培种 Langdon进行杂交并创建了 F2 代遗传图。研究发现 H52种系抗条锈病的能力由一种显性基因控制 ,将其暂定名为 Yr H52。从 1 2 0个微卫星标记中 ,已经检测到来自亲本 91 %的多态性 ,而且从其中 56个微卫星分子标记中产生了 79个分离的位点 ,有 9个位点显示出了与 Yr H 52基因连锁 ,其重组率 0 .0 2～ 0 .3 5,遗传距离 2 .0 0～ 4 3 .3 7cm之间 ,L OD值 3 .56～ 54.2 2。由 1 0个微卫星位点和 Yr H52构建的染色体 1 B遗传图 ,其图距全长为 1 0 1 .5cm。Yr H52基因位于 Xgwm2 64 a和 Xgwm2 64 c之间 ,且与 Xgwm2 64 a、Xgwm1 8紧密连锁 ,两侧依次分别与 Xgwm1 3 1 a、Xgwm63 6b、Xgwm2 64 c、Xgwm4 0 3 a、Xgwm1 53、Xgwm550 a和 Xgwm1 2 4连锁。同时 ,Yr H52也与 REL P标记物 N or1紧密连锁 ,图距 1 .4 cm,L OD2 9.62。这显然与野生二粒小麦另一个抗条锈病基因 Yr1 5不同 ,研究证明 Yr1 5与 N or1图距是 1 1 .0 cm。     

Hepatic biomarkers of sediment-associated pollution in juvenile turbot, Scophthalmus maximus L

Hatchery-reared turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) were exposed for 3 weeks, under laboratory conditions, to sediment collected from polluted sites in Cork Harbour and a reference site at Ballymacoda, Co. Cork, Ireland. The potential of surficial sediment for inducing hepatic biomarkers was assessed at two levels of biological organisation: expression of cytochrome P450 [Western blotting analysis and 7-ethoxy-resorufin O-dealkylase (EROD), 7-benzoxy resorufin O-dealkylase (BROD), 7-methoxy resorufin O-dealkylase (MROD), 7-pentoxy-resorufin O-dealkylase (PROD) activities] and DNA integrity (Comet assay). Positive controls were generated, either by exposing turbot to cadmium chloride-spiked seawater (Comet assay) or to beta-naphthaflavone by intraperitoneal injection (cytochrome P450 induction). The induction of cytochrome P450 activity (EROD, MROD and PROD) in animals following a 7-day exposure to contaminated sediments was significantly higher than those exposed to reference site sediment and remained elevated thereafter; BROD was not induced. DNA single-strand breaks were also significantly higher following exposure to contaminated sediments throughout the experiment. Although no direct correlation between induction of alkoxyresorufin O-dealkylase activities and a particular chemical class was established, the induction of MROD and PROD activities in fish exposed to sediments containing complex contaminant mixtures, appeared to be more sensitive than conventional EROD activity assays. We conclude from the present laboratory study that S. maximus is a suitable sentinel species for the assessment of moderately contaminated sediments and therefore allows for the further development of this model for future, ecologically relevant, field studies.     

Council Approaches to Implementing Sustainability: a case of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?

Local government has a key role to play in implementing sustainability. Yet even councils attempting to address the issue of sustainability are often unacceptably slow and ineffective in their endeavours. This study investigates the approaches that councils currently take in implementing sustainability, as this may shed additional light on the slow progress of councils towards sustainability. The approaches of three New South Wales councils were examined and assessed using a model developed for the study that utilised the Ecological Footprint as the primary assessment tool. The model assessed three key aspects of council approaches to implementing sustainability: (1) the issues councils target for change; (2) the methods councils use to change behaviours; and (3) the clarity and holistic nature of their approaches. All three council approaches scored poorly against the model mainly as a result of the councils' failure to target the behaviours of their residents that are causing the greatest ecological harm. The major implication is that councils need to reconsider, and possibly overhaul, their approaches to implementing sustainability as these approaches are unlikely ever to achieve sustainability.     

Characteristics of storm waves off the Mediterranean coast of Israel

A two-year series of directional wave measurement off the Eastern Mediterranean coast of Israel reveals an abundance of high storm waves. Some of these waves have significant height in excess of 5 meters and periods as long as 15 sec.The evolution of the storm waves is described and related to the growth and paths of the storm fronts in Mid-Mediterranean. Shorter-period waves are found to always lead the arrival of longer-period swell. This characteristic is explained by a short decay distance and/or a high migration velocity of the storm front.The scatter plot of significant wave height vs period for the recorded events of each storm describes an open-loop time sequence. The difference in period between that of the peak height event and the period of a fully arisen sea of the same height is found to be indicative of the true decay distance the waves have travelled.     

Controlling data uncertainty via aggregation in remotely sensed data

Aggregation may be used as a means of enhancing remotely sensed data accuracy, but there is a tradeoff between loss of information and gain in accuracy. Thus, the choice of the proper cell size for aggregation is important. This letter explores the change in data accuracy that accompanies aggregation and finds an increase in image thematic accuracy with increasing cell size, resulting from 1) reduction in the impact of misregistration on thematic error and 2) mutual cancelation of inverse classification errors occurring within the same cell. A model is developed to quantify these phenomena. The model is exemplified using a vegetation map derived from an aerial photo. The model revealed a major reduction in effective location error for cell sizes in the range of 3-10 times the size of mean location error; reduction in effective classification error was minor.     

Characterizing location and classification error patterns in time-series thematic maps

Studies the spatial patterns of location error and of classification error in spatio-temporal datasets, assess the role of environmental factors in determining error rate and pattern, and test for possible correlation within and between these error types in space and time. A multiple regression was used to determine the effects of local environmental factors (topography, vegetation cover) on each error type. Topographic structure and vegetation cover had significant effects on location error, where larger error was associated with north-facing aspects, steeper slopes and woody vegetation cover. Classification error was also affected by topography, and vegetation cover. Slope was the major factor that affected classification quality. Strong correlation was found between error in different time steps, for both error types. Correlation between these two error types in the same time step was much smaller and in most cases insignificant.