Rebuttal to: “A bibliometric review on carbon cycling research during 1993–2013” by Zhi et al. (Environ Earth Sci 2015, 74(7): 6065–6075)

A research paper’s contribution exists not only in its originality and creativity but also in its continuity and development for research that follows. The reference section can play a key role to researchers who are interested in a paper’s statement or who would like to follow the study or find useful information from the paper. This section is as important as the core of a paper; however, it was easily to be ignored by the author. This comment offered information for citing original idea of methods, figures, and tables which Zhi et al. (Environ Earth Sci 74(7):6065–6075, 2015) used. It is also suggested that an author not only must be creative but also must be careful while writing in order to publish more valuable and papers more worthy of reading.     

Comments on “An approximation to short-term evolution and sediment transport pathways along the littoral of Cadiz Bay (SW Spain)” by Anfuso and et al. (Environ Geol 56:69–79)

Environmental Earth Sciences -     

Comments on Buzan et al. “Positive Relationships between Freshwater Inflow and Oyster Abundance in Galveston Bay,Texas”

Buzan et al. critique Turner’s (Estuaries and Coasts 29:345–352, 2006) analysis of the relationship between freshwater inflow and oyster productivity in the Gulf of Mexico, using 16 years of fisheries-independent data for Galveston Bay. They conclude that the catch-per-unit effort (CPUE; number h⁻¹) of marketable oysters increase 1 to 2 years after years with increased freshwater inflows, and they express concerns that water supply managers may mis-apply the results of Turner (Estuaries and Coasts 29:345–352, 2006) to justify a reduced freshwater inflow to Galveston Bay. I find no relationship between the CPUE of oyster spat or marketable oyster density and the commercial harvest, but do find a strong inverse relationship between harvest and river discharge in Galveston Bay. There are three possible factors that may explain why the annual variations in the fisheries-independent data are not coherent with the annual variations in commercial harvest: variable levels of water quality, inconsistent fishing effort, and the fact that the fisheries-independent data are not prorated for the area of the reefs actually fished. I concur, completely, with the apprehension that reductions in freshwater inflow will be implemented without examining the full set of assumptions and consequences, and thereby compromise estuarine ecosystem quality, and perhaps permanently, before mistakes can be seen or reversed.     

Qanat: a resource or a hazard? Rebuttal to “Qanat is not a hazard” by Parise (Environ Earth Sci 2016 75: 1476)

A reply essay is presented on the rebuttal article by Parise (Environ Earth Sci 75(23):1476, 2016) suggesting that qanat is not a hazard. It is presented as a refutation on the paper by Abbasnejad et al. (Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016) in which the authors have explained the etiology, the impacts and remedies of a qanat hazard in Iranian urban areas. Since the majority of qanats in Iranian urban areas are abandoned, useless and threatening, according to definition and in comparison with similar features introduced as a hazard, they are considered as a hazard too. However, this does not mean, and Abbasnejad et al. (in Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016) have not claimed, that all qanats are hazardous. In addition, the authors who have studied qanats in Iranian urban areas, before Abbasnejad et al. (in Environ Earth Sci 75:1306, 2016), have also considered qanats as a hazard.     

Comments on Lowe et al. “Otolith Microchemistry Reveals Substantial Use of Freshwater by Southern Flounder in the Northern Gulf of Mexico”

Lowe et al. (Estuaries and Coasts, 34:630–639, 2011) hypothesized that juvenile southern flounder Paralichthys lethostigma (Jordan and Gilbert 1884) would migrate from the Gulf of Mexico into the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta (AL, USA) and use low-salinity (oligohaline/freshwater) habitats during, at least, a portion of their first year of life. Thus, they analyzed the Sr/Ca ratio profiles along the sagittal otoliths of southern flounder collected in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta and observed that one third of the flounders had low Sr/Ca levels in the otoliths’ core and throughout the otolith, suggesting that these fishes hatched in freshwater or low-salinity habitats where they spend the majority of their life. The other two thirds of southern flounder showed high levels of Sr/Ca ratio in the otoliths’ core following a marked decline of Sr/Ca ratio, which then maintained along the remainder of the otolith. This pattern was interpreted as larvae hatched in higher salinity waters before entering the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta; however, in this paper, I list several arguments to support an alternative interpretation for this pattern. I suggest that the high levels of Sr/Ca ratios in the otoliths’ core of southern flounder does not reflect the saline conditions where larvae hatched, instead it reflects the location where the female progenitor hydrated the eggs. Thus, adding my interpretation on the data of Lowe et al. (Estuaries and Coasts, 34:630–639, 2011), it seems that southern flounder might hatch in or near freshwater habitats and the migration of southern flounder into an estuarine ecosystem to spawn might exist.     

Comments on the paper published by Sial et al (2016), Mercury enrichments and Hg isotopes in Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary successions: Links to volcanism and palaeoenvironmental impacts. Cretaceous Research,v. 66, pp. 60–81

The paper published by Sial et al. (2016) contains geochemical information which does not fit into the scheme of the existing planktonic foraminiferal succession across the K/Pg boundary in the Um Sohryngkew River section, Meghalaya India, worked out by either Mukhopadhyay (2008) or Pandey (1981, 1990). The K/Pg boundary reported by Sial et al. (2016) is not compatible with any of these two. In this perspective some of the controversies are highlighted.     

Defining organominerals: Comment on ‘Defining biominerals and organominerals: Direct and indirect indicators of life’ by Perry et al. (2007, Sedimentary Geology, 201, 157–179)

The paper by Perry et al. (2007, Defining biominerals and organominerals: Direct and indirect indicators of life, Sedimentary Geology, 201, 157–179) proposes to introduce “the new term ‘organomineral’” to describe mineral products whose formation is induced by by-products of biological activity, dead and decaying organisms, or nonbiological organic compounds, to be distinguished from the biomineral components of living organisms. The substantive ‘organomineral’, however, is not new: it was first introduced in 1993, with basically the same definition and distinction from biominerals, at the 7th International Symposium on Biomineralization (Défarge and Trichet, 1995, From biominerals to ‘organominerals’: The example of the modern lacustrine calcareous stromatolites from Polynesian atolls, Bulletin de l'Institut Océanographique de Monaco, n° spéc. 14, vol. 2, pp. 265–271). Thereafter, more than twenty-five papers by various authors have been devoted to organominerals and organomineral formation (‘organomineralization’) processes. Only two of these papers are cited by Perry et al., and without any reference to the definitions, or even the terms ‘organomineral’ or ‘organomineralization’, which they included. Moreover, Perry et al. tend to enlarge the original concept of organomineral to encompass all minerals containing organic matter, whether these organic compounds are active or passive in the mineralization, which introduces ambiguities detrimental to a fine understanding of present and past geobiological processes. Finally, Perry et al. propose to consider organominerals as indirect biosignatures that could be used in the search for evidence of life in the geological record and extraterrestrial bodies. This latter proposition also is problematical, in that organominerals may be formed in association with prebiotic or abiotic organic matter.