松花江哈尔滨段水域硅藻植物群落及其水质的初步评价

2005-2006年5-9月、12月的两年间,在松花江哈尔滨段水域进行了硅藻植物的调查采集,经观察鉴定,共发现硅藻植物72种43变种3变型,分别隶属于2纲6目9科23属,共计118个分类单位。本文对松花江哈尔滨段水域的环境特征,硅藻植物群落组成、种类丰度的季节性变化进行了研究,利用硅藻植物与环境相关性特点对水质进行了初步评价。研究结果表明松花江段哈尔滨水域的硅藻植物群落,总体来说以普生种类(共计86个分类单位)为每年的常见种类,还有一些嗜碱种类和冷水种类出现;硅藻种类的丰度随季节变化明显,从夏季到秋季逐渐增多。硅藻的群落结构变化主要受pH,温度,TN,BOD_5,氨氮的影响,从优势种的组成来看,β-中污以上的污水指示种类数量最多,一些富营养化种类和耐污种类也有出现,说明2005-2006年松花江流域水质污染呈中度至重度污染。     

Ecological quality assessment of small estuaries from the Portuguese coast based on fish assemblages indices

The importance of establishing the ecological quality of estuarine systems has been widely acknowledged and led to the development of several fish community-based multimetric indices. Nevertheless, a question rose about the accuracy of these tools when natural disturbance is acting upon the organization of the systems’ communities. Four multimetric indices were used to examine their ability to differentiate the ecological status of five small estuarine systems (southern Portugal), and also to test if they reflected the level of anthropogenic pressures. Fish assemblages from Mira, Odeceixe and Aljezur (in the Southwest coast), Gilão and Bensafrim (in the South coast) estuaries were sampled seasonally for one year, and anthropogenic sources of pressure were identified and quantified. We found that although the applied indices provided information on ecological condition differentiation among systems, they are unable to explain different classes of ecological status in systems with equivalent pressure levels.     

Ecological quality assessment of small estuaries from the Portuguese coast based on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages indices

Benthic macroinvertebrates communities are the most consistently emphasized biotic component of aquatic ecosystems and are one of the biological indicators required for assessment by the European Water Framework Directive. In this context, several indices based on these communities have been developed in order to assess ecological quality of estuarine systems. In the present work we used AMBI, M-AMBI, BENTIX and BAT to distinguish ecological status of five small estuarine systems of the Portuguese south and southwest coasts. Although indices outputs did not differ between systems and sampling seasons, results indicated that the metrics in which these indices are based could differentiate community structures as a result of two main gradients that force these communities: the natural variability, and the anthropogenic impact.     

The use of environmental integrative indicators to assess seabed disturbance in estuaries and coasts: Application to the Humber Estuary, UK

The coastal zone is subject to many and varied changes resulting from human activities and natural processes. Existing or emerging agreements and legislation acknowledge the relevance of indicators for monitoring these. In the UK, following a series of recent workshops, potential indicators of nearshore disturbance have been identified and grouped into three broad indices: 'Coastline Morphological Change', 'Resource Use Change' and 'Environmental Quality and its Perception'. The present study developed these indicators further and tested their use by applying them to 18 sections in the Humber Estuary, Eastern England. The results obtained reflect the current knowledge of the state of the Humber environment and show the potential of integrative indicators but indicate that further studies are required to assess the relative importance of the indicators and their value in reflecting the ability of the ecosystems to sustain natural habitats and populations at a good conservation status.     

Phytoplankton pigments as ecological state indices of the Cheboksary Reservoir

Data on the composition and content of plant pigments in water of the Cheboksary Reservoir collected in 1985–2005 are used to analyze the seasonal dynamics and spatial distribution of phytoplankton at different stages of reservoir life. A trophic burst could be distinctly seen in the reservoir in 1985, manifesting itself in exceedingly high (198 ± 41 μg/l) concentrations of photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll. In the process of ecosystem stabilization, chlorophyll concentration significantly dropped to vary from 8.2 ± 1.5 to 45.1 ± 21.0 μg/l in 1989–2005. The reservoir, located in a region subject to high anthropogenic load, has acquired the features of an eutrophic water body immediately after its creation and its trophic status remains unchanged all over its existence.     

Macrophytes as indicators of the ecological state of small rivers in Minsk Region

The ecological state of 18 small rivers in Minsk Region was for the first time estimated by jointly used macrophyte-based characteristics, including saprobity index, biological macrophyte index for rivers, and a scale of cenotic/supercenotic organization of aquatic and coastal-aquatic plants. Rivers with relatively safe ecological status were shown to dominate, while other rivers are in a safe and satisfactory state. The proposed approach to determining the ecological quality of watercourses is based on the calculation of a complex characteristic, i.e., an integral macrophyte index of small river ecological status; this index has been developed in the context of a classification scheme of surface water quality in the National Environmental Monitoring System of the Republic of Belarus.     

Modern pollen assemblages from surface lake sediments in northwestern China and their importance as indicators of vegetation and climate

The modern pollen assemblages of surface lake sediments and topsoils in northwestern China were studied to understand the relationship of modern pollen data with contemporary vegetation and climate, and the differences between the pollen assemblages of surface lake sediments and topsoils. The results show that Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia are dominant elements in the pollen assemblages of northwestern China. Additionally, Ephedra, Cyperaceae, Asteraceae, Poaceae, Picea, Pinus, and Betula are also important pollen taxa. Both pollen assemblages and principal component analysis indicate that pollen data from surface lake sediments and topsoils can be used to differentiate the main vegetation types of this region(desert, steppe, meadow and forest). However, differences exist between modern pollen assemblages of the two types of sediments due to the different relevant source areas of pollen and degrees of pollen preservation. For example, the larger relevant source area of surface lake sediment results in a higher abundance of Betula in pollen assemblage from surface lake sediment, whereas the tendency to disintegrate thin-walled pollen types in topsoil leads to a higher proportion of resistant pollen, such as Asteraceae. Linear regression analysis indicates that the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae(A/C) ratio in pollen assemblages of surface lake sediments can be used to indicate humidity changes in the study area. However, the A/C ratio in topsoils should be used carefully. Our results suggest that pollen data from surface lake sediments would be better references for interpreting the fossil pollen assemblages of lake cores or lacustrine profiles.     

The use of natural tracers as indicators of soil-water movement in a temperate semi-arid region

In a semi-arid area of southern Australia a change in land use from Eucalyptus scrub to cropping with wheat is shown to have caused considerable change in the mechanism of the movement of soil water and the amount of deep drainage. Chloride concentrations of soil water have been used to show the mean annual amount of deep drainage increases from less than 0.1 to 3 mm yr.⁻¹ following clearing of the native vegetation.

The concentration of environmental tritium in soil water beneath the native vegetation is consistent with the hypothesis that some relatively recent water (post 1960) has penetrated to depths of at least 12m along channels occupied by living roots. Where the native vegetation has been cleared, no water which fell as rain since 1960 was found at depths greater than 2.5 m.

¹⁸O and deuterium concentrations suggest that some water movement to the roots of the native vegetation is in the vapour phase.     

Modern diatom assemblages in surface sediments from shallow lakes and streams in southern Pampas (Argentina)

Diatom assemblages preserved in continental sedimentary successions of the southern Pampas (Argentina) can provide useful indicators of past environmental changes. Ecological data, however, are scarce. In order to provide modern data for diatom-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions, sediments from shallow lakes and streams of the region were analyzed. A total of 131 diatom species were identified. Canonical correspondence analysis was used to identify the physical and chemical environmental parameters that best explained the distribution of taxa. Cocconeis placentula, Hippodonta hungarica, Navicula veneta, Cyclotella meneghiniana and Nitzschia amphibia were the most widely extended species. The highest percentage variance in diatom data was explained by conductivity and nutrient concentrations. Diatom assemblage composition was more variable in shallow lakes than in streams, which is in agreement with the different hydrological and geomorphological characteristics of these environments. The results obtained in the present work provide useful analogues for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of water bodies in southern Pampas.     

Climate-driven shifts in diatom assemblages recorded in annually laminated sediments of Sacrower See (NE Germany)

Sacrower See is a eutrophic lake with annually laminated sediments extending back to A.D. 1868. Analysis of annual layers revealed multi-decadal periods of distinct diatom assemblages at A.D. 1868–1875, 1876–1940, 1941–1978, and 1979–2000. Detrended correspondence analysis performed on individual seasonal sediment layers showed decadal-scale patterns of turnover in the diatom flora. The spring–summer layers showed higher sample scores until the early 1960s, after which the differences with the autumn–winter layers became smaller. Rates-of-change analysis revealed that the seasonal variability in diatom assemblages was higher than the annual changes. Summer diatom rates of change over the period A.D. 1894–1960 was on average higher than for winter, whereas between the 1960s and 1970s the winter rates of change became higher than the summer ones. Redundancy Analyses showed that seasonal temperatures and wind strength were significant explanatory variables for diatom assemblages in both annual and seasonal layers. These results suggest that meteorological changes indirectly affected diatom assemblages via the mixing regime of the lake. A comparison of the diatom rates of change with the amplitude of inter-annual climate change shows a statistically significant correlation for the spring-summer layers in the period of A.D. 1963–2000, showing that the sensitivity of diatom assemblages to meteorological changes has varied over the past century, with a stronger effect on diatoms registered during the past 40 years.     

Feedback between residual circulations and sediment distribution in highly turbid estuaries: An analytical model

Motivated by field studies of the Ems estuary which show longitudinal gradients in bottom sediment concentration as high as O(0.01 kg/m⁴), we develop an analytical model for estuarine residual circulation based on currents from salinity gradients, turbidity gradients, and freshwater discharge. Salinity is assumed to be vertically well mixed, while the vertical concentration profile is assumed to result from a balance between a constant settling velocity and turbulent diffusive flux. Width and depth of the model estuary are held constant. Model results show that turbidity gradients enhance tidally averaged circulation upstream of the estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM), but significantly reduce residual circulation downstream, where salinity and turbidity gradients oppose each other. We apply the condition of morphodynamic equilibrium (vanishing sediment transport) and develop an analytical solution for the position of the turbidity maximum and the distribution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) along a longitudinal axis. A sensitivity study shows great variability in the longitudinal distribution of suspended sediment with the applied salinity gradient and six model parameters: settling velocity, vertical mixing, horizontal dispersion, total sediment supply, fresh water flow, and water depth. Increasing depth and settling velocity move the ETM upstream, while increasing freshwater discharge and vertical mixing move the ETM downstream. Moreover, the longitudinal distribution of SSC is inherently asymmetric around the ETM, and depends on spatial variations in the residual current structure and the vertical profile of SSC.     

The use of various interplanetary scintillation indices within geomagnetic forecasts

Interplanetary scintillation (IPS), the twinkling of small angular diameter radio sources, is caused by the interaction of the signal with small-scale plasma irregularities in the solar wind. The technique may be used to sense remotely the near-Earth heliosphere and observations of a sufficiently large number of sources may be used to track large-scale disturbances as they propagate from close to the Sun to the Earth. Therefore, such observations have potential for use within geomagnetic forecasts. We use daily data from the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, made available through the World Data Centre, to test the success of geomagnetic forecasts based on IPS observations. The approach discussed here was based on the reduction of the information in a map to a single number or series of numbers. The advantages of an index of this nature are that it may be produced routinely and that it could ideally forecast both the occurrence and intensity of geomagnetic activity. We start from an index that has already been described in the literature, INDEX35. On the basis of visual examination of the data in a full skymap format modifications were made to the way in which the index was calculated. It was hoped that these would lead to an improvement in its forecasting ability. Here we assess the forecasting potential of the index using the value of the correlation coefficient between daily Ap and the IPS index, with IPS leading by 1 day. We also compare the forecast based on the IPS index with forecasts of Ap currently released by the Space Environment Services Center (SESC). Although we find that the maximum improvement achieved is small, and does not represent a significant advance in forecasting ability, the IPS forecasts at this phase of the solar cycle are of a similar quality to those made by SESC.     

Turbidity as a control on phytoplankton biomass and productivity in estuaries

In many coastal plain estuaries light attenuation by suspended sediments confines the photic zone to a small fraction of the water column, such that light limitation is a major control on phytoplankon production and turnover rate. For a variety of estuarine systems (e.g. San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, Delaware Bay, Hudson River plume), photic-zone productivity can be estimated as a function of phytoplankton biomass times mean irradiance of the photic zone. Net water column productivity also varies with light availability, and in San Francisco Bay net productivity is zero (estimated respiratory loss of phytoplankton balances photosynthesis) when the ratio of photic depth (Z_p) to mixed depth (Z_m) is less than about 0.2. Thus whenever Z_p: Z_m < 0.2, the water column is a sink for phytoplankton production.Much of the spatial and temporal variability of phytoplankton biomass or productivity in estuaries is explained by variations in the ratio of photic depth to mixed depth. For example, phytoplankton blooms often coincide with stratification events that reduce the depth of the surface mixed layer (increase Z_p: Z_m). Shallow estuarine embayments (high Z_p: Z_m) are often characterized by high phytoplankton biomass relative to adjacent channels (low Z_p: Z_m). Many estuaries have longitudinal gradients in productivity that mirror the distribution of suspended sediments: productivity is low near the riverine source of sediments (low Z_p: Z_m) and increases toward the estuary mouth where turbidity decreases. Some of these generalizations are qualitative in nature, and detailed understanding of the interaction between turbidity and estuarine phytoplankton dynamics requires improved understanding of vertical mixing rates and phytoplankton respiration.     

The development of new solar indices for use in thermospheric density modeling

New solar indices have been developed to improve thermospheric density modeling for research and operational purposes. Out of 11 new and 4 legacy indices and proxies, we have selected 3 (F_10.7, S_10.7, and M_10.7) for use in the new JB2006 empirical thermospheric density model. In this work, we report on the development of these solar irradiance indices. The rationale for their use, their definitions, and their characteristics, including the IS 21348:2007 spectral category and sub-category, wavelength range, solar source temperature region, solar source feature, altitude region of terrestrial atmosphere absorption at unit optical depth, and terrestrial atmosphere thermal processes in the region of maximum energy absorption, are described. We also summarize for each solar index the facility and instrument(s) used to observe the solar emission, the time frame over which the data exist, the measurement cadence, the data latency, and the research as well as operational availability. The new solar indices are provided in forecast as well as real time and historical time frames (http://SpaceWx.com JB2006 Quicklink). We describe the forecast methodology, compare results with actual data for active and quiet solar conditions, and compare improvements in F_10.7 forecasting with legacy HASDM and NOAA SWPC forecasts.     

Use of multimetric indices to classify estuaries with different hydromorphological characteristics and different levels of human pressure

The assessment of estuaries based on benthic communities is widely used to determine impacts caused by human pressure and is one of the required tools for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Our study compared multimetric approaches (B-IBI and TICOR) to assess the benthic condition of three Portuguese estuaries (Mondego, Tejo, and Mira rivers) with different levels of natural and human induced stress. Benthic community condition was classified into quality status categories of the WFD and compared for consistency with a priori status categories based upon physical-chemical criteria. Both multimetric indices discriminated equally well between locations classified above or below the good status category but were unable to provide good separation between other quality classes (high/good, moderate, poor/bad). Metrics included in these indices are greatly affected by natural stress and we recommend the development of habitat-specific thresholds to increase the discriminatory ability of any benthic condition index.     

Efficacy of adapted estuarine fish-based multimetric indices as tools for evaluating ecological status of the marine environment

The assessment of ecological status of marine fish communities required by the marine strategy framework directive (MSFD) emphasises the need for fish-based ecological indices in marine waters. In this study we adapt five estuarine multimetric indices to the marine environment and apply them in three types of substrates, analysing the metrics responsible for the obtained patterns of ecological status. The results show inefficiency of the community degradation index (CDI) and the biological health index (BHI) in ecological status assessment and disagreement between the estuarine biotic integrity index (EBI), the estuarine fish community index (EFCI) and the transitional fish classification index (TFCI). Analysis of individual metrics suggests lack of representativeness and consideration for the particularities of each substrate’s typical fish communities. None of the tested indices were efficient on the marine environment, urging the need for new marine indices that account for differences between types of substrate and depth.