Effects of sediment contaminants and environmental gradients on macrobenthic community trophic structure in Gulf of Mexico estuaries

Macrobenthic communities from estuaries throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico were studied to assess the influence of sediment contaminants and natural environmental factors on macrobenthic community trophic structure. Community trophic data were also used to evaluate whether results from laboratory sediment toxicity tests were effective indicators of site-specific differences in benthic trophic structure. A multiple regression model consisting of five composite factors (principal components) was used to distinguish the effects of sediment contaminants and environmental variables on benthic community trophic structure. This model explained 33.5% of the variation in macrobenthic trophic diversity (p<0.001), a variable derived from the distribution of taxas among nine original trophic categories. A significant negative relatinship was found between principal components reflecting concentrations of sediment contaminants and macrobenthic trophic diversity. Detritivores including surface deposit-feeders (SDF), subsurface deposit-feeders (SSDF), and filter feeders (FF) were numerically dominant at 201 random sites, each group accounting for 25–30% of total macrobenthic abundance. The relative abundance of SDFs was considerably lower (12.1±2.9% to 17.1±4.4%) at sites where sediment contaminant concentrations exceeded minimum biological effects thresholds (ER-L values from Long and Morgan 1990 than at sites sampled at random (29.3±5.7%). SSDFs were proportionally more abundant at contaminated sites (42.0±7.7% to 63.6±10.3%) versus random sites (27.5±5.7%), and the relative abundance of SSDFs was positively correlated with concentrations of particular contaminants. Benthic trophic structure was also found to be a function of salinity, where the proportion of SSDFs was negatively correlated with salinity (p=0.035, r=−0.223, n=326). Silt-clay content loaded fairly strongly on the first principal component, but trophic structure parameters were not significantly correlated with sediment grain size or dissolved oxygen (perhaps due, in part, to covariation). Results from laboratory sediment toxicity tests with mysids were predictive of differences in macrobenthic trophic structure in situ (i.e., mysid survival was negatively correlated with %SSDF; p<0.001, r=−0.292, n=326). Results from laboratory sediment toxicity tests with ampeliscid amphipods were not indicative of site-specific differences in benthic trophic structure.     

考虑参数空间变异结构的结构化交叉约束随机场模拟方法研究

斜坡岩土体抗剪强度参数的空间变异性具有一定的结构性。为研究岩土体参数空间变异结构对边坡失效概率的影响,依据变异函数的内涵推导出变程与相关距离的数学变换关系,并在此基础上提出了结构化交叉约束随机场模拟方法,用以模拟具有互相关性的参数随机场。建立了结构化交叉约束随机场计算模型,研究不同空间变异结构的抗剪强度参数对边坡失效概率的影响。研究结果表明:结构化交叉约束随机场可用于生成模拟具有复杂各向异性空间变异结构的参数随机场,由于考虑了随机偏差、条件数据和空间变异结构,能较为真实地反映地层实际参数,数据波动较条件参数插值场小。可靠性分析结果表明:不考虑抗剪强度参数空间结构分析易高估边坡的失效概率;考虑c′和φ′互相关性时,失效概率随着相关系数的增加而增加,当参数间呈负相关性时更容易高估边坡的失效概率。     

Trophic structure of macrobenthic communities in the Calcasieu estuary,Louisiana

Trophic groups were used to investigate broad patterns and predict species interactions of macrobenthic assemblages in Calcasieu Estuary, Louisiana. Macrobenthic assemblages of the estuary were numerically dominated by deposit-feeding species. Surface-deposit feeders were the most abundant macrobenthos of the upper estuary, subsurface-deposit feeders dominated the lower estuary, and a trophically well-mixed assemblage inhabited the middle estuary. There were periodic shifts in species dominance within each region, but the shifts were without temporal pattern and seldom led to changes in trophic structure of the region. The macrobenthic assemblages of the upper estuary were dominated by several early-colonizing species which switched feeding modes with changes in water flow, suggesting that disturbances in the upper estuary had a direct effect on macrobenthic communities. Disturbances also may have eliminated macrobenthic species before they could establish a well-mixed community. The presence of trophically mixed communities in the middle estuary probably was indicative of fewer disturbances there. The dominance by subsurface-deposit feeders in the lower estuary probably indicates that sedimentary food in Calcasieu Lake was seldom utilized at the sediment-water interface. Rather, most food became buried and was available only to subsurface-deposit feeders.     

Slope reliability analysis accounting for spatial variation

A practical and transparent procedure is described for implementing a generalized limit equilibrium method via cell-object-oriented constrained optimization in the spreadsheet platform. The formulation allows switching among the Spencer, Bishop simplified and wedge methods on the same template by specifying different side-force inclination and different constraints of optimization. Search for the critical circular or non-circular slip surface is possible. The deterministic procedure is extended probabilistically by implementing the first-order reliability method via constrained optimization of the equivalent dispersion ellipsoid in the original space of the random variables. This procedure is illustrated for an embankment on soft ground, and for a clay slope in southern Norway, both involving spatially correlated soil properties. The effects of autocorrelation distance on the results of reliability analysis are studied. Shear strength anisotropy is modelled via user-created simple function codes in the programming environment of the spreadsheet. The meaning of probability of failure is discussed.     

Arsenic contamination caused by roxarsone transformation with spatiotemporal variation of microbial community structure in a column experiment

Arsenic contamination from roxarsone in livestock manure is common, and livestock manure continuously accumulates in the open environment. Evaluations of the environmental processes of As mobilization and transformation are critical for predicting the fate of As compounds after roxarsone degradation. In this study, spatiotemporal variations in As species and microbial community structure were characterized using laboratory column experiments with background soil collected from Yanggu County (northern Shandong Plain, China), a region of intense poultry production. Organic and inorganic arsenic were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and HPLC with hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC-HG-AFS), respectively. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to describe microbial diversity. Results showed that roxarsone was transformed completely within 7 days, and As(Ⅲ) and As(Ⅴ) were the major degradation products. The concentration of As(Ⅲ) was much lower than that of As(Ⅴ). The As(Ⅲ) concentration increased significantly after Day 14, whereas the As(Ⅴ) concentration increased significantly after Day 84, indicating that As(Ⅲ) was initially produced. The microbial community structure changed significantly as roxarsone transformed into various As compounds. A critical and dominant bacterial strain, norank_f__Family_XVⅢ, was found to be related to the degradation of roxarsone into As(Ⅲ). This study improves our understanding of the fate of As species released from poultry litter to soil and groundwater, which is a threat to human health and environment.     

Small-scale spatial variation of the stress field in the back-arc Aegean area: Results from the seismotectonic study of the broader area of Mygdonia basin (N. Greece)

In the present work a detailed seismotectonic study of the broader area of the Mygdonia basin (N. Greece) is performed. Digital data for earthquakes which occurred in the broader Mygdonia basin and were recorded by the permanent telemetric network of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki during the period 1989–1999 were collected and fault plane solutions for 50 earthquakes which occurred in the study area were calculated with a modified first motions approach which incorporates amplitude and radiation pattern information. Fault plane solutions for the 3 main shocks of Volvi (23/05/78, M_W = 5.8 and 20/06/78, M_W = 6.5) and Arnaia (04/05/95, M_W = 5.8) events and the 1978 aftershock sequence were additionally used. Moreover, data from two local networks established in the Mygdonia basin were also incorporated in the final dataset.Determination of the stress field was realized by the use of the method of Gephart and Forsyth [Gephart, J.W., Forsyth, D.W., 1984. An improved method for determining the regional stress tensor using earthquake focal mechanism data: application to the San Fernando earthquake sequence: Jour. Geophys. Res., v.89, no. B11, p. 9305–9320] for the stress tensor inversion and the results were compared with independent estimates based on the calculation of the average moment tensor [Papazachos, C.B.,Kiratzi, A.A., 1992. A formulation for reliable estimation of active crustal deformation and its application to central Greece. Geophys. J. Int. 111, 424–432]. The obtained stress results show a relatively good agreement between the two approaches, with differences in the azimuth of the dominant extension axis of the order of 10°. Furthermore, comparison with independent information for the mean stress axes provided by the study of kinematics on neotectonic faults [Mountrakis, D., Kilias, A., Tranos, M., Thomaidou, E., Papazachos, C., Karakaisis, G., Scordilis, E., Chatzidimitriou, P., Papadimitriou, E., Vargemezis, G., Aidona, E., Karagianni, E., Vamvakaris, D. Skarlatoudis, A. 2003. Determination of the settings and the seismotectonic behavior of the main seismic-active faults of Northern Greece area using neotectonic and seismological data. Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation (OASP) (in Greek)] shows a similar agreement with typical misfit of the order 10°. The stress inversion method was modified in order to select one or both nodal planes of the focal mechanism which corresponds to the “true” fault plane of the occurred earthquakes and was able to select a single fault plane in the majority of examined cases. Using this approach, the obtained fault plane rose diagrams are in agreement with results from various neotectonic studies. Moreover, several secondary active fault branches were identified, which are still not clearly observed in the field.     

Social geography,spatial structure and social structure

This paper adopts a positivist approach to social geography, which is viewed as a study of the two-way relationship between spatial structure and social structure. This relationship is examined in cities in contemporary Britain and the United States. The concept of social structure is discussed in the first section. It is suggested, after Blau, that social structure may be delineated by parameters which demarcate the lines of differentiation among people, created in their social interaction. Area of residence may be considered such a parameter. Social structure comprises a complex configuration of these parameters. In general, coinciding parameters limit social mobility and lead to an atomised society. The processes by which social structure takes on spatial expression are discussed in the second section. The salience of various parameters of social structure in a spatial setting is assessed first. Behaviouralist, managerialist and structuralist approaches to residential differentiation are reviewed. It is argued that most insight will come from studies of the interaction between groups of households and the major institutions of the housing market in the context of characteristics of the housing supply. The impact of neighbourhood on social structure is examined in the third section. The role of propinquity in social interaction is discussed along with the role of neighbourhood as a status symbol. Individuals may change their position along structural parameters as a consequence of their residential location. Residential segregation is also a means, through its role in circumscribing contacts, by which the continuation of the stratification system is ensured in the next generation. In conclusion, it is noted that the isolation of racial minorities in the disadvantaged parts of the city poses a danger to social stability.     

Temporal and spatial variation in intertidal sedimentation rates

Sediment deposition and erosion rates are reported for an intertidal zone in the Burry Inlet, South Wales. Measured deposition rates over the salt marsh are compared with deposition rates calculated from observed suspended sediment concentrations. Notably, it is concluded that residual turbulence at slack water should not be discounted when calculating deposition rates. Grain-size distributions of suspended sediments over the marsh surface, during flood and ebb tides, contrast with the grain-size distribution of deposited marsh sediments, the latter being significantly coarser. These data in conjunction with mass budget calculations are used to relate total annual deposition and sediment supply by tidal action during settled meteorological periods. The analysis suggests that episodic storm-induced sediment transport is probably an important mechanism for introducing coarse sediment on to the marsh surface. Finally, it is noted that seasonal reworking of the sandy non-cohesive sediments may be related to variations in the intensity of wave-breaking throughout the year.     

Small-scale spatial variations of natural radionuclide and trace metal distributions in sediments from the Hudson River estuary

Multiple sediment cores were collected in June 1994 in the turbidity maximum zone of the Hudson River estuary off Manhattan, New York. Results from X-radiography of the sediments and measurements of natural radionuclides (²³⁴Th,⁷Be, and²¹⁰Pb) and trace metals (Ag, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) show significant spatial variability of sediment composition and structure and patchy distributions of radionuclides activities and trace metal concentrations in this small area (0.6 km × 0.5 km). Radionuclide and trace metal analyses confirm prior work (Olsen et al. 1978; Olsen et al. 1981; Hirschberg et al. 1996) that show the western margin area of the river acts as a repository of these chemical constituents at least for the short-term period (0.5–1 yr), and the mid-channel area is not a depositional area for sediments and associated chemical constituents.⁷Be profiles reveal short-term sediment deposition rates ranging from 6 cm yr^?1 to 26 cm yr^?1 in the western margin area. Significant spatial variations in excess²³⁴Th and⁷Be inventories (up to a factor of 10 and 5 for²³⁴Th and⁷Be, respectively) are found in the western margin depositional area, although the inventories are balanced, on average, with in situ production in water column and atmospheric supply. The spatial variation of surficial excess²¹⁰Pb and trace metal concentrations in depositional areas of the western margin are ≤10% for Ag, Cu, Pb, and Zn and 29% for Cd. However, the variations in the transition zone range from 28% to 93%. This variability is likely related to variations in tidal current velocity, bottom shear stress, and river channel morphology.     

Urbanization and spatial structure in Hungary

The last four decades have brought fundamental changes in Hungarian urbanization. The number of towns has increased from 54 to 166 and the number of settlements with a population over 100 000 has grown from 3 to 8, and the number of small towns with a population just over 30 000 has increased four times compared to the situation at the beginning of the century. While urban concentration has been growing, there has been a degradation of rural settlements, especially in the category of less than 500 inhabitants. This study deals with the spatial structure of Hungarian settlements, categorizing the towns according to their regional roles, population and dynamics of growth. The changes of their social and economic spheres influence their internal structures. The study attempts to summarize all the territorial, regional consequences of the recent social and economic changes that have been defining or modifying the urban development in Hungarian settlements.     

Determining the spatial scale of variation in soil radon concentration

Increasing concern about possible links between emissions of radon and certain types of malignant disease has led to local and regional surveys to measure radon concentrations in the soil and in dwellings. The spatial scale at which radon varies is largely unknown, and so efficient sampling schemes and methods of mapping cannot be selected. To determine the spatial scale of radon variation in the English Midlands we measured radon in the soil using solid-state nuclear track detection in three areas of different geological complexity. In two of them we used an unbalanced multistage sampling scheme with seven stages of nesting: the Hereford survey covered distances from 10 m to 7.5 km, and the Buxton survey distances from 1 m to 3.75 km. The results from the nested surveys suggested that geology exerts a strong control on the variation. Finally radon was measured every 20 m along a 2-km long transect which crossed several lithologies close to Nottingham. The soil radon values changed in an erratic way along the transect. The sample variogram of radon has a substantial nugget variance, suggesting that much of the variation occurred for distances less than the sampling interval. The structure at the longer scale seems to be controlled by the underlying geology. These results have implications for designing further surveys and for selecting a method of mapping. Stratification based on lithology might be the only feasible solution to sampling, estimating and mapping radon concentrations over large areas. Where the locally erratic component of variation is large, estimation by kriging, for example, would confer little additional benefit compared with that by classification.     

The spatial knowledge politics of crisis mapping for community development

Crisis mapping, the combination of software-as-a-service mapping and reporting aimed at large numbers of individuals, is proposed for chronic problems as well as acute issues; it is universalized for global south disasters as well as global north community development. It supposedly affords a new spatial knowledge politics (SKP) that unfolds in local communities. We tested the role of spatial knowledge politics in crisis mapping for community development by co-developing, with local organizations, four applications based on the prominent mapping-telecommunications crisis platform, Crowdmap by Ushahidi. We assessed crisis mapping’s effectiveness in North American community based activities in Francophone and Anglophone Canada. We found persistent technical challenges, consistent with the literature, although crisis mapping allowed increased opportunities for the developer to insert their knowledge. Analysis of the contributions illustrated the use of crisis mapping to report on place-based features that enabled contributors to connect, but also limited the ability to express location and place in 160 characters. It revealed tensions in conceptualization of local spatial knowledge politics as witness versus political influence. Crisis mapping could simultaneously aid and disrupt traditional place-based politics of community based organizations. Our critique serves as a test of crisis mapping’s universality for other fields and its promise of a new SKP.     

Distribution and community structure of estuarine copepods

Distribution, abundance, and community structure were studied over a 30 month period in the planktonic copepod community of the estuaries near Beaufort, North Carolina. Many of the copepod species showed a demersal distribution during the day and entered the surface waters at night. Several species were largely confined to vegetated littoral areas during the day. The copepod community showed consistent trends of seasonal abundance and succession of dominant species which differed greatly from those found by previous workers, whose methods were inadequate to sample quantitatively the small, demersal copepods which dominated the community. Copepod abundances were higher than found in previous studies and were correlated with water temperature. Species composition changed from a winter community dominated byCentropages spp., to a spring community dominated byAcartia tonsa, to a summer community jointly dominated byParacalanus crassirostris andOithona spp. Copepods were much more important grazers in these estuaries than previous studies had concluded.     

土壤入渗特性的空间变异规律及其变异源

以封丘地区典型的4种土地利用类型(传统耕作地、免耕地、金银花地和杨树林地)为例,系统研究了不同土地利用方式下土壤入渗特性的空间变异强度、空间变异结构及其主要变异源。结果表明,频繁的耕作会降低土壤异质性,弱化土壤特性空间变异结构,扰动较小的免耕地和金银花地的土壤入渗特性则具有相对明显的空间变异结构,扰动最小的杨树林地土壤的入渗特性具有最为明显的空间变异结构和最小的变程。容重、有机质含量和初始含水量是耕作地入渗的最主要变异源,初始含水量则是金银花地入渗的唯一显著性变异源;杨树林地入渗变异的主要变异源是有机质和初始含水量;影响免耕地入渗特性变异的变异源并不显著。在有些情况下,水温也可能成为入渗特性空间变异研究的重要干扰因素。     

Implications of spatial and temporal variation for biogeochemical budgets of estuaries

The analysis of nutrient budgets is a common method for assessing the biogeochemical function of estuaries including denitrification and nutrient retention rates. The Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) guidelines for constructing such budgets concentrate on the simplest case where an estuary or embryment is treated as a single box which is well-mixed both vertically and horizontally and at steady-state. We show that these simplifying assumptions can lead to significant and sometimes very large errors in estimates of internal retention (or production) rates. If the load to an estuary varies significantly through the year, the use of time-averaged concentrations of nutrient and salinity to calculate retention rates is shown to cause errors of up to 30% depending on the circumstances. The second case considered examines the consequences of treating an estuary which has significant long-estuary salinity and nutrient gradients as a well-mixed box. In a simple case considered, the calculated internal production from a distributed source is underestimated by a factor of two. The errors are shown to depend on the estuary's mixing and geometrical characteristic as well as on the location of the nutrient sources. The third case considers the errors in the calculated internal retention/production rates of treating an estuary with a two-layer circulation as a single-box system. The potential errors are severe. A comparison between a one-box analysis and a two-box analysis which accounts for the true estuarine circulation shows that the two analyses can yield calculated retention rates of opposite sign. In this situation, one configuration for the estuary would appear to sequester nutrient, whereas the other would be a net exporter of nutrient.     

西藏参考作物蒸发蒸腾量的时空变异规律

根据西藏高原区38个气象站点自建站到2006年的逐日气象观测资料,利用FAO-56标准Penman-Monteith公式计算各站逐日参考作物蒸发蒸腾量(ET₀)。重点分析了7个站点逐日、逐月ET₀年内变化规律,采用Mann-Kendall法对其月际和年际ET₀进行趋势检验;利用Kriging插值及Surfer8.0空间分析功能,得到西藏高原区年ET₀均值的等值线图,分析了全区年ET₀均值的空间分布特征。结果表明:昌都、林芝和那曲的逐日ET₀在年内变化曲线基本一致,呈现单峰抛物线形状,拉萨、泽当和日喀则的逐日ET₀年内变化趋势基本一致,6～9月变化曲线呈现较快的下降趋势,狮泉河的ET₀呈现单独变化趋势;所有站点的逐月ET₀年内变化规律与逐日ET₀相同,最大值均出现在6月份,最小值出现在12月份;日喀则各月及干湿季ET₀的Mann-Kendall检验大多呈现显著的降低趋势,其次是泽当,呈现增加趋势较多的是林芝;全系列年ET₀均值Mann-Kendall检验呈现降低趋势的站点偏多;西藏高原区年ET₀均值具有东部和中南部高,东北部和东南缘低的空间分布规律。     

基于多元统计方法的河流水质空间分析

基于聚类分析和判别分析探讨了河流水质空间分析方法,旨在识别采样点的空间相似性与差异性,从而为水质监测网络优化提供支持。该方法首先利用kurtosis和Skewness检验数据分布特征和进行数据对数转化与标准化处理;然后利用聚类分析进行空间相似性分析,确定空间尺度分类情况;最后利用判别分析识别显著性污染指标,以此反映上述空间尺度分类的差异性。以香港后海湾水质管制区为例,结果表明:①通过对数转化显著改善数据分布特征,使绝大部分污染指标呈正态或接近正态分布;②该区域采样点在个案链锁距离与最大链锁距离之比(D_link/D_max)×100<35处明显分为3类,它们分别代表轻度、中度、重度污染3种类型,且后两者属于采样点主要属于营养盐和重金属污染类型,需要控制其生活污水、畜牧污染、工业污染和地表径流污染;③后退式判别分析具有良好的指标降维能力,仅需7个显著性污染指标(pH,NH₃-N,NO₃-N,F.coil,Fe,Ni和Zn)可以反映整体水质的空间差异性,且具有90.65%的正确判别能力;④归纳起来,从3类采样点中选择一个或多个、监测7个显著性污染指标即可全面反映后海湾水质管制区的水质空间特征,实现水质监测网络优化。     

水稻水分生产函数时空变异规律研究

基于对水稻Jensen模型中敏感指数在全生育期变化规律的认识,以生长曲线函数建立了水稻敏感指数累积函数,分析了其特征,从而解决了不同长时段敏感指数转换计算问题。较全面地揭示了水稻水分生产函数及其敏感指数累积函数中主要参数随气象条件及土壤因子变化的规律。通过参照作物需水量及其频率以及不同地区土壤有效含水量为媒介,建立了对水分敏感指标在不同水文年份 (时间)和不同地区 (空间)进行预报的数学模型,据此提出了水稻水分生产函数在时、空两方面插补、延长、移用与扩展的理论与方法。借助于参照作物需水量等值线图及土壤分布图,探讨了绘制水分生产函数及其主要参数等值线图的原理和方法。     

海南岛西北部海岸线时空变化分析

基于遥感与GIS技术,利用高空间分辨率遥感卫星SPOT-5和GF-2影像数据,对海南岛西北部地区海口市南渡江—东方市2005年和2016年2个时期的海岸线进行人机交互解译,并对其10 a来的时空变化特征进行了分析。结果表明: 10 a间,海南岛西北部海岸线时空变化显著,主要影响因素为人工开发建设; 人工海岸线增幅达到113%,其占比由2005年的24.3%上升至2016年的51.6%; 除部分淤泥质海岸线和砂质海岸线转化为人工海岸线外,自然海岸线以侵蚀为主,局部地区有少量淤积。不同地区海岸线变化特点不同: 儋州市和澄迈县海岸线资源丰富,开发力度较大; 临高县和昌江黎族自治县自然海岸线以侵蚀为主,淤积少; 东方市和澄迈县海岸线侵蚀较少,较易淤积。分析结果可为海南岛西北部海岸线调查、开发和保护提供一定的科学依据。