Spawning of major carps in the lower Halda River,Bangladesh

Spawning biology and spawn fishery of three valuable species of Indian major carps,Catla catla, Labeo rohita andCirrhinus mrigala, in the lower Halda River, Bangladesh, were studied in 1978. The major carps spawned only in the Sonairchar oxbow-bend from April to June on or near the dates of the full moon and the new moon. The tide was then at its highest level, and there was heavy flood water runoff from the hill region with sharp increases in water level, turbidity and current velocity, as well as decreases in water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and hydrogen ion concentration. These three heterogeneric species, as a result of parallelism or convergence in evolution, overlap in their environmental requirements for spawning. The nursery ground of the major carp fry spawned in the Halda River was found to be in the Bay of Bengal. The brood stock origin is suspected to be at the Shankha River, 40 miles south of the Karnafuli River. The spawn fishery in the Halda River was intensive but inefficient. Engineering works and water management schemes are threatening the spawning habitat.     

Population Structure of Adult Blue Crabs, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Callinectes sapidus</Emphasis>, in Relation to Physical Characteristics in Barnegat Bay,New Jersey

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are an important species in coastal or lagoonal estuaries where adult population characteristics may differ as compared to drowned-river estuaries. Barnegat Bay, in southern New Jersey, is composed of two large embayments: one without and one with a salinity gradient. We tested the influence of physical characteristics on the abundance, sex ratio, and size of adult blue crabs and examined variation in measures of reproductive potential (e.g., sperm stores) in both sexes in Barnegat Bay from June to September, 2008–2009. Population structure was distinct between the embayments due to sex-specific responses to salinity: male abundance was negatively correlated with salinity whereas adult females were more abundant in high salinity because of proximity to Barnegat Inlet. This produced high sex ratios in low salinity areas and low sex ratios in high salinity areas. Summer was a growing season for adult males while in late summer-early fall, juvenile males recruited to the adult size class. The spawning season lasted from May to August and ovigerous females were concentrated near the inlets. Information on female sperm stores and ovarian development identified two cohorts of adult females: females that will spawn in the current summer and females that will not spawn until the following summer. Thus, not all adult females near the spawning grounds were members of the current spawning stock. This suggests that annual estimates of spawning stock size which overlook the proximity of females to spawning are overestimating the current spawning stock in Barnegat Bay and other estuaries.     

The effect of temperature and food density on survival and growth of Menidia peninsulae larvae (Pisces: Atherinidae)

Day of hatch tidewater silversides, Menidia peninsulae, were stocked at 5 fish per liter in 3 1 of seawater at 30‰ and raised for 16 days at 20°, 25° and 30 °C. Food organisms (Brachionus sp. or Artemia nauplii) were maintained at 500, 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 organisms per 1. The influence of food density on growth of larval M. peninsulae was temperature dependent. At 20 °C, there was no difference in final size of fish based on food densities. But at 25° and 30 °C there was an increase in final body size as food density increased. There were no significant differences in survival among food densities in tests at 20°, 25° or 30 °C. However, for any given temperature and food density, the number of survivors in a replicate affected the final size attained. Optimal culture condition for larval M. peninsulae, considering both survival and growth was determined to be 5,000 food organisms per 1 at 25 °C.     

Life cycle and population structure of the polychaeteFicopomatus enigmaticus (Serpulidae) in Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon,Argentina

Ficopomatus enigmaticus, a polychaete inhabiting the subtidal zone in the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, builds reef-like aggregates that facilitate silt accumulation. To describe the life cycle, samples were take monthly from September 1984 to September 1985. In contrast with other polychaetes, it has two oocyte generations per year; maturation of the oocytes takes approximately 4 mo. Temperature level and day length regime do not appear as environmental signals to the onset of oogenesis, although they possibly affect oogenesis growth. Two periods of spawning and recruitment were observed in November–December and April–May, when water temperature is above 18°C. Hermaphroditic individuals were not found. Sex ratio was male-biased in all months, significantly in November, February, and August (p<0.001). Monthly size-frequency distributions show distinct year-classes with early (November–December) and late (April–May) recruitment. Early recruited cohorts have two spawning periods during a 24-mo lifespan. Late cohorts have one spawning period during their 20-mo lifespan. The life cycle of this species can be summarized as follows: annual iteroparous—1 to 2 batches of small eggs per female during each lifespan, free spawning, planktotrophic larvae, sedentary suspension-feeder worms.     

Spawning origin of small,late-hatched Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) larvae in a Maine estuary

Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) larvae have been collected for resource monitoring purposes in the Sheepscot River in mid-coastal Maine during October–February, for the past 20 years. During this period, the larval population in the river has typically peaked in October-early November and has been composed of larvae derived from August–September spawning in eastern Maine and New Brunswick waters and from September-early October spawning along the central Maine coast. Larvae from eastern coastal spawning areas are transported to the river by the prevailing westerly coastal current. The appearance of small (≤15 mm SL) larvae in the river during December and January 1985–1989 suggested an additional time and area of origin. Aging procedures based on enumeration of daily otolith increments showed the majority of these small larvae were spawned from mid October to mid November when spawning usually occurs in western Maine coastal waters and in the vicinity of Jeffreys Ledge. Comparison of back-calculated hatching dates for small larvae collected in the river with wind direction and velocity data from mid October through November suggested that larvae were transported eastward against a weakened Gulf of Maine coastal current to the Sheepscot River by complex wind-driven surface currents that occur off the western Maine coast in the fall. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A01BY059 00003     

Diel variation of selenium and arsenic in a wetland of the Great Salt Lake, Utah

Diel (24-h) changes in Se and As concentrations in a freshwater wetland pond bordering the Great Salt Lake (GSL) were examined. Selenium concentrations (filtered and unfiltered) changed on a diel basis, i.e., were depleted during early morning and enriched during daytime over August 17-18. During the May 24-25, 2006 and September 29-30 diel studies, no significant 24-h trends were observed in Se concentrations compared to August, which showed daily maximums up to 59% greater than the daily minimum. Both filtered and unfiltered As concentrations also varied on a diel cycle, with increased concentrations during early morning and decreased concentrations during daytime. Filtered As concentrations increased 110% during the May 24-25, 2006 diel study. Selenium varied in phase with pH, dissolved O₂ (DO), and water temperature (T_w) whereas As varied opposite to Se, pH, DO and T_w. Changes in pH, DO and T_w showed a direct linear correlation (r = 0.74, 0.75, and 0.55, respectively) to filtered Se. Also pH, DO and T_w were inversely correlated to filtered As concentration (r = −0.88, −0.87, and −0.84, respectively). Equilibrium geochemical speciation and sorption models were used to examine the potential oxidation state changes in Se and As, and sorption and desorption reactions corresponding to the observed 24-h variations in pe and pH. In this wetland it was postulated that diel Se variation was driven by sorption and desorption due to photosynthesis-induced changes in pH and redox conditions. Diel variations of As were hypothesized to be linked to pH-driven sorption and desorption as well as co-precipitation and co-dissolution with mineral phases of Mn.     

Vertical disturbance of sediments by horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) during their spawning season

Biological and physical reworking of sediments can profoundly affect the structure and functioning of benthic communities. The depth of the disturbance is an important factor that controls the types of organisms that can exist within the sediments. Large numbers of horseshoe crabs,Limulus polyphemus, spawn each spring on the sandy shores of Delaware Bay beaches. We have used this abundance peak to provide an estimate of the depth of sediment disruption caused by this species on an intertidal flat adjoining a major spawning beach. Vertical columns of marked sediment were placed in three locations of an intertidal flat. Some columns were protected with cages while others remained unprotected. Analysis of variance of the depth of disruption of the marked sediment indicated that different areas of the intertidal zone were disrupted to different depths. Caged marked sediment was disturbed to an average depth of 3.2 cm while unprotected sediment was disturbed to a mean depth of 11.1 cm. Deepest mixing occurred in a trough between sandwave crests and averaged 17.7 cm deep. These mixing depths are greater than the 1.2 cm deep disturbance produced by nonstorm wave action in the study area.     

Spatial structure of hydrography and flow in a Chilean fjord,Estuario Reloncaví

Underway current velocity profiles were combined with temperature and salinity profiles at fixed stations to describe tidal and subtidal flow patterns in the middle of the northernmost Chilean fjord, Estuario Reloncaví. This is the first study involving current velocity measurements in this fjord. Reloncaví fjord is 55 km long, 2 km wide, and on average is 170 m deep. Measurements concentrated around a marked bend of the coastline, where an 8-km along-fjord transect was sampled during a semidiurnal tidal cycle in March 2002 and a 2-km cross-fjord transect was occupied, also during a semidiurnal cycle, in May 2004. The fjord hydrography showed a relatively thin (<5 m deep), continuously stratified, buoyant layer with stratification values >4 kg m⁻³ per meter of depth. Below this thin layer, the water was relatively homogeneous. Semidiurnal tidal currents had low amplitudes (<10 cm s⁻¹) that allowed the persistence of a surface front throughout the tidal cycle. The front oscillated with a period of ca. 2.5 h and showed excursions of 2 km. The front oscillations could have been produced by a lateral seiche that corresponds to the natural period of oscillation across the fjord. This front could have also caused large (2 h) phase lags in the semidiurnal tidal currents, from one end of the transect to the other, within the buoyant layer. Tidal phases were relatively uniform underneath this buoyant layer. Subtidal flows showed a 3-layer pattern consisting of a surface layer (8 m thick, of 5 cm s⁻¹ surface outflow), an intermediate layer (70 m thick, of 3 cm s⁻¹ net inflow), and a bottom layer (below 80 m depth, of 3 cm s⁻¹ net outflow). The surface outflow and, to a certain extent, the inflow layer were related to the buoyant water interacting with the ambient oceanic water. The inflowing layer and the bottom outflow were attributed to nonlinear effects associated with a tidal wave that reflects at the fjord's head. The weak subtidal currents followed the morphology of the bend and caused downwelling on the inside and upwelling on the outside part of the bend.     

吉林南部变质岩太古宙—元古宙分界时限的确定及过渡性构造演化

吉林南部古老岩石测年数据偏新和太古宙与元古宙之间分界时限的混乱,本文运用Ｓｍ－Ｎｄ等时线法和锆石Ｕ－Ｐｂ法将吉林南部变质岩系划分为４个年龄段：前阜平旋回（〉２６００Ｍａ）;阜平旋回第一幕（２６００￣２５００Ｍａ）;阜平旋回第二幕（２５００￣２４００Ｍａ）;阜平旋回第三幕（２４００￣２３５０Ｍａ）。阜平旋回第三幕归入太古宙并作为太古宙－元古宙之间分界时限,吉林南部古陆构造环境由活动趋向于稳定,新、老     

Rectangular tank surface aerators: scale up criteria and energy conservation

Surface aeration experiments were conducted in two types of rectangular tanks of aspect ratios i.e., length to width ratio (L/W) of 1.5 and 2 and developed simulation equations to correlate the oxygen transfer coefficient, k and power number, P₀ with a parameter governing theoretical power per unit volume X. The parameter X is defined as equal to F^4/3R^1/3, where F and R are impellers’ Froude and Reynolds numbers respectively). Results have shown that the P₀ can not be simulated singularly with either Reynolds number, R or Froude number, F, which results in scale-effects; there appears to be a need to incorporate the effects of both F and R. It was found that P⁰ is uniquely related to X for rectangular aeration tanks of both aspect ratios, however, such relationships are different depending upon the aspect ratios. It has been demonstrated that energy can be saved substantially if the aeration tanks are run at relatively higher input powers. It is also demonstrated that smaller sized tanks are more energy conservative and economical when compared to big sized tanks, while aerating the same volume of water, and at the same time by maintaining a constant input power in all the tanks irrespective of their size.     

Feeding ecology of the gulf silverside,Menidia peninsulae,near Crystal River,Florida, with notes on its life history

Feeding habits ofMenidia peninsulae were analyzed monthly over a one year period and compared to planktonic prey available at the capture site. Three feeding stages were found: (1) In early spring, young-of-the-year fed on tychoplankton and detritus. (2) From late spring through winter,M. peninsulae preyed selectively on calanoid copepods and cypris larvae. (3) GravidM. peninsulae fed primarily on amphipods and larval silversides. In the Crystal River area,M. peninsulae reproduce in early spring. Silversides apparently migrate from the higher salinity bays to the lower salinity marshes in the summer, and then move back into the bays in fall.     

Vertical migration ofcentropages typicus (copepoda) in Chesapeake Bay,with some thoughts on migration studies

Centropages typicus was collected at two hour intervals over a diel cycle at a station near the Chesapeake Bay mouth. The species migrated upward at dusk and downward at dawn. Neither light, temperature, salinity, nor density appeared to cue the migration. Attention is drawn to the need for information on the extent and regularity of migration by individual organisms, and how the lack of such information may lead to poor interpretations of migration data.     

Relationship between South Asia High Low Frequency Oscillation and the Drought and Flood in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River

Based on the NCEP/NCAR daily reanalysis data and the daily rainfall data of ground observation at 164 weather stations in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River from 1960 to 2013, the relationship between South Asia high low frequency oscillation and the drought and flood in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were analyzed using a composite analysis, wavelet analysis and band-pass filtering analysis method. The results indicated that in the typical drought and flood years, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 200 hPa atmosphere u, v low-frequency primary cycle and the summer rainfall cycle over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were the same. In more summer rainfall, from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to east China and west Pacific coast, there existed a cycle-anticyclone-cycle low frequency wave train. Low-frequency anticyclone controlled eastern China and the low-frequency cyclone controlled the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In drought years, results were opposite. In flood years, the precipitation of low frequency over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and that of 200 hPa atmospheric low frequency change of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was closely related. When the northerly wind in the northeast part of the the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was strong, and Lake Baikal southerly wind was strong, there was more precipitation. On the contrary, precipitation was less. The low frequency oscillation wave train was mainly spread from the northeast of China and Japan's southern to China’s southwest. However, in drought years, the relationship between them was not clear and needed to be further studied.     

Reproductive conditions of the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) in the Hudson River

Ninety-four prespawning adult Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) were sampled in the Hudson River for age, sex, body size, gonad weight, fecundity, mature oocyte size, and plasma concentrations of gonadotropins, sex steroids, and vitellogenin during the spring spawning migrations in 1992 and 1993. In males, the age and total length ranged from 12 yr to 19 yr and from 133 cm to 204 cm and in females from 14 yr to 36 yr and from 197 cm to 254 cm. The majority of males were 13–16 yr old, and females were 16–20 yr old. Some females had residual atretic ovarian bodies, presumably remaining from a previous spawning and indicating iteroparity. Pre-ovulatory condition was recognized by migration of the germinal vesicle or by germinal vesicle breakdown and by significantly elevated plasma gonadotropins, progesterone, and vitellogenin. All pre-ovulatory females were captured upriver from Hudson River kilometer 136. Individual fecundity ranged from 0.4 million to 2.0 million eggs and oocyte diameter from 2.4 mm to 2.9 mm, and both characters exhibited a significant (p<0.05) positive relationship with female body size. Iteroparous females, tentatively identified by the presence of atretic bodies remaining in the ovary from a previous spawning, had significantly (p<0.05) higher fecundity and produced larger eggs, compared with females spawning presumably for the first time.     

Bicarbonate Daily Variations in a Karst River: the Carbon Sink Effect of Subaquatic Vegetation Photosynthesis

Using the Guancun River, an underground stream-fed river, in Rong’an County of Guangxi, China as a case study, the daily biochemical cycle was examined in this paper based on the data collected a weeklong via high resolution data logger monitoring and high-frequency sampling. Furthermore, the loss of inorganic carbon along its flow path was estimated. Results show that chemical components of the groundwater input are quite stable, showing little change extent; while all of the chemical parameters from two downstream monitoring stations show diel variation over the monitoring period, suggesting that plant activity in the river has a strong influence on water chemistry of the river. The comparison of the input fluxes from the groundwater with the output fluxes of HCO3? estimated at the downstream monitoring station during the high-frequency sampling period shows a strong decrease of HCO3?, indicating that the river is losing inorganic carbon along its flow path. The loss is estimated to be about 1,152 mmol/day/m of HCO3? which represent about 94.9 kg/day of inorganic carbon along the 1,350 m section of the Guancun River. It means that HCO3? entering the river from karst underground stream was either consumed by plants or trapped in the authigenic calcite and thus constitutes a natural sink of carbon for the Guancun karst system.     

Spatial and temporal distribution of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) spawning in Delaware Bay: Implications for monitoring

Concern for the status of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) has increased as harvest for conch and eel bait has increased and spawning habitat has decreased. In early 1999 a workshop was held at the behest of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to design a statistically valid survey of horseshoe crab spawning in Delaware Bay. The survey that resulted was a redesign of a volunteer-based spawning survey that began in 1990, and its network of volunteers was relied on to implement the three-stage sampling design in 1999. During May and June of 1999, 163 participants surveyed during the highest of the daily high tides on 16 beaches (8 on each site of Delaware Bay). During the first half of the spawning season, spawning was associated with lunar phases, but moderated by wave height. Disproportionately more spawning occurred within 3 d of the first new and full moons, and spawning activity (measured by an index of female density) was correlated inversely to the percent of beaches with waves ≥0.3 m. Spawning was heaviest on the Delaware shore around the full moon in May in spite of low waves in New Jersey during the new and full moons in May. Number of beaches sampled was the most important factor in determining the precision of the spawning index and power to detect a decline. Explicit consideration of statistical power has been absent from the current debate on horseshoe crab status and harvest. Those who argue against harvest restrictions because of a lack of statistically significant declines take on a burden to show that the surveys they cite have high statistical power. We show the Delaware Bay spawning survey will achieve high statistical power with sufficient sampling intensity and duration. We recommend that future Delaware Bay spawning surveys sample on 3 d around each new and full moon in May and June and increase the number of beaches to ensure high statistical power to detect trends in baywide spawning activity.     

Diel variation of arsenic,molybdenum and antimony in a stream draining natural As geochemical anomaly

The Mokrsko Stream in the central Czech Republic is an oxic and slightly alkaline stream that drains a natural As geochemical anomaly. Although long-term monitoring has characterized the general seasonal trends in trace element concentrations (i.e., As, Mo, Cu, Zn) in this stream, little is known about solubility controls and sorption processes that influence diel cycles in trace element concentrations. Trace elements (including As species, Cu, Mn, Mo, Pb and Sb) and other parameters were monitored over two 24-h periods in unfiltered and filtered (0.1 μm) samples collected in August 2010 and June 2011. Copper and Pb were predominantly (>92% of the mass) associated with the particulate fraction (>0.1 μm). Arsenic, Mo and Sb were predominantly (>88% of the mass) in the “dissolved” (<0.1 μm) form. Particulate-associated elements displayed up to a factor of 13 differences between minimum and maximum concentrations, most likely due to increased streamflow related to rainfall events. Dissolved concentrations of the trace metal cations (Cu, Fe, Mn and Pb) were consistently low and displayed no diel trends. Dissolved As(V), Mo and Sb varied on a diel cycle, with increased concentrations (up to 36%) during the late afternoon and decreased concentrations during the nighttime. Diel trends in trace anionic elements are explained by temperature-dependent sorption, as the diel changes in pH during base flow were very small (0.07 std. units). Very low concentrations of As(III), which have been shown to vary in a diel cycle, were attributed to enhanced hydraulic exchange with As(III)-rich hyporheic water during rainfall events.     

Diel Variation in the Pelagic Fish Assemblage in a Temperate Estuary

The pelagic fish assemblage within a temperate estuary was examined to determine if there were diel differences in species richness, total abundance, biomass, and species composition. These comparisons were made over both seasonal (January–December 1996) and annual (August–November 1995; August–December 1996) scales with pop net collections in a shallow (<2 m MLW) embayment within Great Bay in southern New Jersey, USA. In the complete year of sampling in 1996, more than 335,000 pelagic fish, representing 13 families (23 species), were collected during diel sampling with 12 species constituting over 99.9% of the total catch including Clupea harengus (84%), Menidia menidia (10%), and Anchoa mitchilli (4%). A detailed examination determined that nighttime species richness, total abundance and biomass may have been enhanced during some seasons by using artificial light. Diel variation in species composition was similar regardless of the use of the artificial light in all seasons but fall. Annual comparisons between 1995 and 1996 during late summer and fall found these results to be consistent. In general, these findings point out the importance of sampling during both day and night to understand the movement and abundance patterns of estuarine pelagic fishes and their ecological significance in temperate estuaries.     

Hydraulic control of grain-size distributions in a macrotidal estuary

The Avon River estuary of Nova Scotia was studied with the intention of analysing the relations between grain-size distributions and hydraulics. The Avon is macrotidal; tidal ranges up to 15·6 m generate tidal currents up to 1·7 m s^?1. Maximum current speed increases from the mouth (seaward end) to the head (shoreward end) of the estuary. Mean grain size decreases from the estuary mouth to the head. Thus, there is an inverse relationship between mean grain size and current speed. Consequently, textural parameters do not directly reflect hydraulic conditions. Graphical dissection of cumulative frequency curves into their component grain populations reveals a large coarse population at the estuary mouth that is absent at the head. There are several relationships between hydraulics and cumulative curves. Shields’ criterion predicts that all sediment in the system can be transported so that the large coarse population at the estuary mouth is not a lag. Local maximum shear velocity nearly equals the settling velocity of the grain size at the boundary of the coarse (C) and intermediate (A) grain populations. This has been previously interpreted to signifiy a transition from traction to intermittent suspension transport, and implies that the C population is a function of traction and that the A population is related to intermittent suspension (Middleton, 1976). Each grain population is transported at a different rate; suspended grains travel almost an order of magnitude faster than grains moved by traction according to Einstein's transport formula. Sediment transport paths in the estuary were determined from bedform migration directions and the computed net sediment transport per tidal cycle using Engelund and Hansen's formula. The areal distribution of the transport paths, combined with the differential transport rates of each grain population, produces hydraulic sorting. Hydraulic sorting causes coarse sediment to be excluded from the estuary head and creates the inverse relationship between current speed and mean grain size.     

THE HIGH RESOLUTION SEISMIC TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGE IN QINGHAI—TIBET PLATEAU AND ITS DYNAMIC IMPLICATIONS

THE HIGH RESOLUTION SEISMIC TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGE IN QINGHAI—TIBET PLATEAU AND ITS DYNAMIC IMPLICATIONSeasthenospherehadbe