宁夏春、夏、秋季干旱与降水集中期及集中度的关系

应用宁夏气象台站1961-2010年逐候降水量序列资料, 计算了春、夏、秋季3个季降水的集中期、集中度和干旱Z指数, 运用趋势分析、相关分析、合成分析讨论了3季的集中期、集中度与旱涝程度的时空变化特征及其相互关系. 结果表明: 50 a来宁夏春夏秋干旱等级均呈加剧趋势, 秋季加剧更明显, 3季中中部干旱带加剧最严重, 南部山区次之, 北部最小. 春季集中期无明显变化趋势, 但集中度有上升趋势, 夏季集中期、集中度缓慢下降, 秋季集中期、集中度变化不明显;近10 a来3季集中度明显增大, 春夏两季集中期推迟. 春季降水集中度对干旱没有显著影响, 但首场透雨出现早晚对干旱影响显著, 透雨出现偏早, 干旱等级低, 反之亦然;夏季集中期对干旱影响不显著, 但集中度显著影响干旱, 集中度高, 雨涝发生概率越大, 集中度低, 干旱发生概率大;秋季集中期、集中度对干旱都有影响, 集中度高, 集中期早, 雨涝发生概率大, 反之干旱出现概率大.     

Habitat use,temporal abundance variability,and diet of blue crabs from a New Jersey estuarine system

In a long-term, spatially comprehensive beam trawl survey of the Navesink River-Sandy Hook Bay estuary, the blue crabCallinectes sapidus was one of the most abundant species. Seasonal changes in abundance were evident, with low abundances in summer followed by peak abundances in the fall, after juveniles recruited to the estuary. We saw no long-term trends in abundance during the 5 yr study. Location in the navesink River or Sandy Hook Bay explained most of the variance in abundance within any one survey. In diet analyses, we found evidence of cannibalism in all seasons, but in the size range of crabs caught in this study (10–180 mm), we did not find a relationship between cannibalism and juvenile crab abundance. Within surveys, crabs divided into 20 mm size categories showed no sizerelated differences in location within the estuary or among 7 habitat types examined (algae bed, amphipod bed, beach, channel, marsh edge, mid-depth, and sandbar). Channels and sandbars tended to exhibit lower crab abundance than other habitats. Shallow habitats with and without cover were equally preferred by juvenile blue crabs, implying that the presence of structure was not critical. Spatial models of crab abundance (<- 80 mm carapace width) to environmental data were fit from several seasons of intensive sampling in the Navesink River-Sandy Hook Bay estuary between summer 1996 and spring 1998. These models indicated that fine-grained sediments, tmmperature, depth, and salinity were good indicators of crab abundance in spring, summer, and fall. Using these spatial models and environmental data collected in subsequent seasons (summer 1998−fall 1999), we were able to predict blue crab abundance in the river as evidenced by significant correlations between predicted and observed abundances. For the size range of crabs examined here, physical conditions may be as important as structural habitat types or cannibalism in determining habitat use in northerly estuaries.     

Chemical variability in the Sacramento River and in Northern San Francisco Bay

Specific conductance and concentrations of alkalinity, dissolved silica, nitrate, and ammonium were measured daily in the Sacramento River flow to northern San Francisco Bay during the rainfall seasons of 1983 and 1984 (high flow) and during late summer and early fall of 1984 (low flow). Flow and concentrations of chemical species varied in response to storm events during high flow, but flow was more variable than concentrations of chemical species. Runoff from agriculturally developed areas appeared to increase specific conductance and concentrations of alkalinity during high flow. During low flow, inputs of agricultural tailwaters caused variations in concentrations of alkalinity and dissolved silica. Dilution of municipal waste by river flow caused variability in concentrations of ammonium during both high flow and low flow. Distributions of alkalinity, dissolved silica, nitrate, and ammonium were measured in northern San Francisco Bay during late summer and fall of 1984. Changes in distributions of alkalinity in the estuary were caused by variations in alkalinity in the Sacramento River. Changes in distributions of dissolved silica, nitrate, and ammonium appeared to be primarily related to variations in supply by the river and removal by phytoplankton. Effects of removal by phytoplankton were large for ammonium and dissolved silica, but appeared relatively small for nitrate.     

The Influence of Storms on Water Quality and Phytoplankton Dynamics in the Tidal James River

Due to the unpredictable nature of intense storms and logistical constraints of sampling during storms, little is known about their immediate and long-term impacts on water quality in adjacent aquatic ecosystems. By combining targeted experiments with routine monitoring, we evaluated immediate impacts of two successive storm events on water quality and phytoplankton community response in the tidal James River and compared these findings to a non-storm year. The James River is a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay and sampling was conducted before, during, and after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm (TS) Lee in 2011 and during the same time period (late summer/early fall) in 2012 when there were no storms. We collected and compiled data on nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations, phytoplankton abundance, nitrogen uptake, primary productivity rates, and surface salinity, temperature, and turbidity in the meso- and polyhaline segments of the James River. Hurricane Irene introduced significant amounts of freshwater over the entire James River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds, while rainfall from TS Lee fell primarily on the tidal fresh region of the James River and headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. Dinoflagellates dominated the algal community in the meso- and polyhaline segments prior to the storms in 2011, and a mixed diatom community emerged after the storms. In the mesohaline river segment, cyanobacteria abundance increased after TS Lee when salinities were depressed, likely due to washout from the oligohaline and tidal fresh regions of the river. In 2012, dinoflagellates dominated the community in both segments of the river during late summer but diatoms were also abundant and their biomass fluctuated throughout the summer and fall. Cyanobacteria were not present in either segment. Overall, we observed that the high-intensity rainfall from Hurricane Irene combined with high flushing in the headwaters as a result of TS Lee likely reduced primary productivity and altered community composition in the mesohaline segment but not the more estuarine-influenced polyhaline segment. Understanding the influence of high freshwater flow with a short residence time associated with storms is key to the planning and management of estuarine restoration as such disturbances are projected to increase as a result of climate change.     

Concentration trends and water-level fluctuations at underground storage tank sites

Concentration trends of monitor wells utilized in monitored natural attenuation at petroleum underground storage tank sites can be used to predict achievement of regulatory standards if the data approximate a first-order decline trend. However, declining concentration trends often display seasonal and other fluctuations that complicate trend interpretation. Seasonal correlations between concentration and water-level elevation, including in-phase and inverse relationships, constitute one of the most common types of variation. The in-phase fluctuations are most common for monitor wells located in or near the source area of the release. This relationship may be the result of increased contact with the smear zone in the source area during periods of high water table. Conversely, inverse trends of water-level elevation and concentration are most common in downgradient wells beyond the limit of the source area. In a year long study of short-term fluctuations in BTEX and other parameters in a downgradient monitor well, the data suggest that the winter/spring recharge event significantly controls the concentration trends of BTEX as well as inorganic compounds in the well. Recharge and associated water table rise began in late fall and were soon followed by a slug of inorganic ions strongly influenced by road salt application. This slug of recharge diluted the concentrations of petroleum compounds and alkalinity (bicarbonate). Electron acceptors including oxygen, nitrate, and sulfate, which is a component of road salt, are also contributed to the water table during recharge. Oxygen and nitrate were not detected in the monitor well samples and were most likely consumed quickly in biodegradation reactions at the top of the contaminant plume. Sulfate peaked during winter/spring recharge and then slowly declined during the summer and fall, along with redox potential. Alkalinity (bicarbonate) increased during this period, which may represent the coupled oxidation of organic carbon to CO₂ with sulfate as the electron acceptor. BTEX concentrations peaked in the fall probably due to the lack of diluting recharge. The slow changes in concentration over the summer and fall months, interpreted to be caused by biodegradation, contrast with the rapid changes associated with dilution during the recharge event.     

Incidence and trend of blocking action situations on the temperature and precipitation in Argentina

In southern South America and for the period 1960-2011, frequencies and trends of seasonal blocking situations (Bs) determined at 100, 70 and 40° W (B100, B70 and B40), respectively are estimated. The effect of such situations on temperature and precipitation is also analyzed. The distribution of occurrences of B100, B70 and B40 peaks in spring and has minimum values in summer; trends are positive in summer and fall and negative in winter and spring. To the north of approximately 38° S, B70 determines negative temperature anomalies (ΔT) over the entire country during the four seasons and B40 in spring and summer. Except for summer, rainfall is greater than normal when Bs occur at both longitudes. To the south of approximately 38° S, B100 give place to negative ΔT. The frequencies and amounts of precipitation are greater in spring. This area is limited to the northernmost northern (southernmost southern) area in fall (summer). According to the signs of the trends of the Bs and to the associated values of temperature and precipitation, the way in which they may have contributed to the change in both variables during 1960-2011 is inferred.     

Hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in a Mediterranean coastal aquifer, Mersin-Erdemli basin (Turkey)

In this study, hydrogeologic and hydrochemical information from the Mersin-Erdemli groundwater system were integrated and used to determine the main factors and mechanisms controlling the chemistry of groundwaters in the area and anthropogenic factors presently affecting them. The PHREEQC geochemical modeling demonstrated that relatively few phases are required to derive water chemistry in the area. In a broad sense, the reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the area fall into four categories: (1) silicate weathering reactions; (2) dissolution of salts; (3) precipitation of calcite, amorphous silica and kaolinite; (4) ion exchange. As determined by multivariate statistical analysis, anthropogenic factors show seasonality in the area where most contaminated waters related to fertilizer and fungicide applications that occur during early summer season.     

Effects of menhaden predation of plankton populations in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

The Atlantic menhaden,Brevoortia tyrannus, is an abundant plankton-feeding fish that undertakes extensive seasonal migrations, moving from overwintering locations offshore south of Cape Hatteras to the mid-Atlantic Bight and New England inshore waters during spring and summer. A bioenergetic model, based on field and laboratory studies, shows that when large numbers of menhaden enter Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, during spring and early summer, they significantly influence plankton populations through size-selective grazing and nutrient regeneration. A population biomass of 9.1×10⁶ kg of menhaden feeding for 12 h each day in the upper bay would result, in a substantial reduction of the instantaneous growth rate of the >20-μm phytoplankton. Instantaneous growth rates of zooplankton would be negative if the same population of menhaden was present, resulting in a reduction in the biomass of zooplankton. Given the ambient phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, menhaden could achieve the seasonal growth measured in Narragansett Bay during 1976 by feeding on average about 5 h d^?1. Daily nitrogen excretion rates of the 9.1×10⁶ kg menhaden population were 56.4% of the mean standing stock of ammonia-N in the upper bay. Because menhaden travel in schools their effects are likely to be intense but strongly localized, increasing spatial heterogeneity in the ecosystem. When the fish migrate southward in the fall they transfer between 3.3% and 6.2% of the nitrogen exported annually from the bay.     

Interannual variability in the structure of the Kuroshio front along the western boundary of the North Pacific Ocean associated with the 1982 ENSO event

The vertically averaged temperature (T_av) over the upper 200 m of ocean in the W boundary of the N Pacific is used to detect changes in the strenght and path of the Kuroshio Front along the W boundary from Luzon (18° N) to Honshu (34° N) during the period, 1979–1982. During this time period the Kuroshio Front experienced significant interannual changes associated, both with the disappearance of the Kuroshio Meander in late 1980 and with the development of the 1982 ENSO event in early 1982. When the Kuroshio Meander S of Honshu disappeared in the fall of 1980, lasting until the summer of 1981, the intensity of the Kuroshio Front increased, associated with warmer than normal temperatures all along the W boundary of the N Pacific from Luzon to Honshu. The amplitude of the Kuroshio Meander was also correlated with fluctuations in the path of the Kuroshio Front at the Tokara Strait (30° N) and the Bashi Strait (20° N), and with the amplitude of the East China Sea Meander. The East China Sea Meander occurs W of the Ryukyu Islands at 25° N, formed when the Kuroshio Current enters the East China Sea from the Philippine Sea NE of Taiwan Island. It had large amplitude in winter and smaller amplitude in spring and early summer, similar to that in the Kuroshio Meander when it was present during this period. It also had related interannual variability; i.e., when the Kuroshio Meander disappeared in fall of 1980, the East China Sea Meander was weak. These results and earlier ones dealing with the Kuroshio Front E of Japan (e.g., White and He) indicate that fluctuations in the amplitude of the Kuroshio Meander S of Honshu were associated with similar changes in the meandering character over the entire Kuroshio Current System during this four year period. During the 1982 ENSO event, the temperature in the region of the Kuroshio Front in the W boundary became colder than normal, while the Kuroshio Meander S of Honshu and the East China Sea Meander NE of Taiwan Island developed larger amplitudes. This is consistent with the results of White and He, who found during this same time period that the mesoscale meander pattern in the Kuroshio Extension intensifying during the 1982 ENSO period. During this time, the magnitude of the Kuroshio Front all along the W boundary and in the Kuroshio Extension region was weaker in comparison with the three years prior to the 1982 ENSO event.     

High-resolution study on the hydrochemical variations caused by the dilution of precipitation in the epikarst spring: an example spring of Landiantang at Nongla,Mashan, China

In addition to rainfall, high-resolution measurements of water level, pH, specific conductivity and temperature of Landiantang epikarst spring at Nongla, Mashan county in Guangxi Province, China were recorded in summer rainy season by using a data logger with time interval of fifteen minutes. Water from the spring issues along a karst conduit. During the rainstorms in summer, it was found that the pH and temperature of Landiantang spring increased while its specific conductivity decreased. As HCO₃ ⁻, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ are the dominant ions, linear relationships between concentrations of those ions and specific conductivity were developed. According to the ion concentrations from the linear relationships, the saturation indexes of calcite (SI_C), the saturation indexes of dolomite (SI_D) and CO₂ partial pressure (Log ) of the spring were calculated. Results indicated that the Log of the spring during the rainstorms was lower than that without rain, and its SI_C and SI_D was also lower. Combined with the characteristics of the epikarst zone, it was inferred that the above results were caused by the dilution of rainwater, because overland flow with high pH (due to neutralization of carbonate rock dusts in the air to rainwater) and low specific conductivity traveling through the conduit rapidly during rainstorms, showed greater influences on the hydrochemical variations of the epikarst spring.     

2017年金华地区大气降水的水汽输送特征

利用2017年1～12月当地降水资料和同期全球再分析资料,引入HYSPLIT和GrADS气象模型,定量分析金华地区大气降水的水汽输送特征。结果表明:(1)研究区逐月场降水的水汽来源、运移路径存在差异。逐月水汽变化过程与冬、夏季风具有密切的联系。其中,4～5月水汽输送呈现为冬、夏季风之间的转换特征;9～10月为夏、冬季风转型时期。(2)研究区水汽输送通道大致可分为四条:西太平洋、孟加拉湾-南海、欧亚大陆和局地水汽通道;另外,研究区不同高度层的水汽在冬、夏半年的水汽输送通道和贡献率不同。     

1981-2010年黑河流域中下游对流层大气比湿变化

利用黑河流域4个探空站不同等压面的大气温度及露点差序列,分析1981-2010年区域对流层大气比湿垂直廓线的气候特征、年均比湿和季节平均比湿的年际及年代际变化,以及季节对年均比湿年代际变化趋势的贡献.研究表明,水汽主要集中在对流层中低层,比湿极大值均出现在夏季,其平均比湿仅为全国平均比湿的0.4~0.77,200hPa等压面比湿与全国平均比湿接近,季节变化微弱.除夏季700hPa等压面比湿上升外,年均比湿与季节比湿呈下降趋势,且沿廓线向上年均比湿与季节平均比湿的相对下降速率逐渐增大.典型等压面700hPa、500hPa和200hPa年均比湿和季节平均比湿先增大后减小,以1980年代中期和2002年为界经历了"干-湿-干"过程,30年来比湿极大值出现在2002年,其变化幅度随高度的增加而减弱.冬季平均比湿距平变化最为平稳,夏季比湿波动最大.区域1990年代比湿整体增加,但2000年代则相反,且比湿减小幅度是1980年代比湿增幅的10倍,1990年代的5倍.1980年代年均比湿增大主要通过秋季来贡献;1990年代的年均比湿增大通过夏秋季贡献;2000年代比湿大幅下降仍以夏季贡献最大,秋季贡献统计上最明显.     

Cultivating alternative spaces – Zagreb’s community gardens in transition: From socialist to post-socialist perspective

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of community gardens in a (post)socialist setting during a time of key changes in their perception and management. Community gardens in Zagreb emerged in two specific economic and socio-cultural contexts and a diachronous approach to the study of urban gardens offers a unique insight into differences and similarities reflecting and contrasting those periods. Semi-structured interviews and non-participatory observation were employed. Results show that community gardens in Zagreb are multilayered places which satisfy diverse needs of the urban residents, including home grown food, socializing, recreation, contact with the nature, and supplementation for low pensions. They can also be seen as examples of heterotopias or alternative spaces during both examined periods. In the socialist period they were secluded, private, pseudo-rural places in a semi-authoritarian, communal, and (supposedly) urban and industrial society. In post-socialist Zagreb, characterized by an uncontrolled and unplanned spatial context reliant on neoliberal market-oriented principles, social insensitivity and exclusion, the new gardens are depicted as beacons of communal involvement, grassroots movements, and the ability of citizens to stand together and make their voices heard.     

Alternation of factors limiting phytoplankton production in the Cape Fear River Estuary

Phytoplankton nutrient limitation experiments were performed from 1994 to 1996 at three stations in the Cape Fear River Estuary, a riverine system originating in the North Carolina piedmont. Nutrient addition bioassays were conducted by spiking triplicate cubitainers with various nutrient combinations and determining algal response by analyzing chlorophyll a production and ¹⁴C uptake daily for 3 d. Ambient chlorophyll a, nutrient concentration, and associated physical data were collected throughout the estuary as well. At a turbid, nutrient-rich oligohaline station, significant responses to nutrient additions were rare, with light the likely principal factor limiting phytoplankton production. During summer at a mesohaline station, phytoplankton community displayed significant nitrogen (N) limitation, while both phosphorus (P) and N were occasionally limiting in spring with some N+P co-limitation. Light was apparently limiting during fall and winter when the water was turid and nutrient-rich, as well as during other months of heavy rainfall and runoff. A polyhaline station in the lower estuary had clearer water and displayed significant responses to nutrient additions during all enrichment experiments. At this site N limitation occurred in summer and fall, and P limitation (with strong N+P co-limitation) occurred in winter and spring. The data suggest there are two patterns controlling phytoplankton productivity in the Cape Fear system: 1) a longitudinal pattern of decreasing light limitation and increasing nutrient sensitivity along the salinity gradient, and 2) a seasonal alternation of N limitation, light limitation, and P limitation in the middle-to-lower estuary. Statistical analyses indicated upper watershed precipitation events led to increased flow, turbidity, light attenuation, and nutrient loading, and decreased chlorophyll a and nutrient limitation potential in the estuary. Periods of low rainfall and river flow led to reduced estuarine turbidity, higher chlorophyll a, lower ambient nutrients, and more pronounced nutrient limitation.     

Capybara (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris</Emphasis> rodentia: Hydrochaeridae): A mammalian seagrass herbivore

This note reports an unknown trophic interaction between a mammalian herbivore, the capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris), and the seagrassRuppia maritima (wigeongrass) and compares the feeding behavior of capybaras to other seagrass grazers. Observations were made in Spring 2002 in the Barra Grande, a small, shallow, moderately stratified, bar-built estuary at Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro State, southeast Brazil. The activities of the capybaras were investigated and grazing impacts were quantified in situ. The capybaras were observed feeding onR. maritima during the day and aquatic feeding alternated with periods of feeding on land.R. maritima was the only submerged aquatic vegetation to be consumed by the capybaras. The feeding activity of the capybaras on wige ongrass consisted of alternately diving down to theR. maritima then surfacing; the capybaras spent a significantly greater amount of time under water. In the area where the capybaras foraged 18.1% of the seagrass meadow showed recent grazing scars. Vegetation of recently and not recently grazed areas were compared. Grazing scars, which were slightly elongated, were not completely devoid ofR. maritima but presented reduced standing crop: canopy height, shoot density, and shoot, rhizome, and root biomass were reduced in grazed areas. The grazing patterns observed in capybaras resembled those previously reported in the sirenia, mammals that include two seagrass-eating species.     

Estimating mortality in natural assemblages of oysters

To evaluate methods for calculating mortality in bivalve molluscs, we analyzed historical data from dredge surveys of both planted and natural oyster (Crassostrea virginica) grounds in Delaware Bay to compare total box-count mortality estimates with those made by accumulating short-term mortality rates obtained from fresh boxes identified by shell condition and degree of fouling. Box-count and cumulative-mortality patterns and values agreed best on grounds with planted oysters, where a cohort with very few dead oysters was broadcast on previously cleaned bottom and was followed over time. This situation is analogous to an artificially created reef with oysters either deployed or naturally set on it. When deaths predominated in late summer and early autumn, the two estimates were similar throughout the following year; when mortality was greatest in spring or early summer, the estimates were similar only through autumn of the same year. Correspondence was much weaker on natural beds, where new individuals constantly recruited to the population and variable numbers of boxes were always present. Nevertheless, total box-count mortality estimates made during autumn stock surveys were significantly correlated with cumulative mortalities calculated for the preceding year. We also estimated disarticulation rates of artificially created boxes by deploying them at three seasons and eight sites in Delaware Bay. Disarticulation time depended on the length of exposure at summer temperatures, with the average time to 50% disarticulation for boxes deployed in spring and in summer being 225 and 345 days, respectively. Disarticulation rates increased with decreasing size, and increasing salinity and temperature. Finally, we compared total box-count and cumulative-mortality estimates with those made using the disarticulation data. Annual averages for the three methods were within 5 percentage points of each other. Our data indicate that total box-count mortality estimates from fall stock surveys can provide a reliable index to total mortality for the previous year, although it cannot describe the seasonal patterns obtainable using the cumulative-mortality method. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A02BY003 00003     

Connection between South Mediterranean climate and North African atmospheric circulation during the last 50,000 yr BP North Atlantic cold events

High-resolution clay mineralogical analyses were performed on sediment deposited during the last 50,000 yr in the Alboran sea (ODP Site 976). The clay mineral record is compared with pollen assemblages and with annual precipitation (Pann) and mean temperatures of the coldest month (MTCO) reconstructed with the modern analog technique (MAT). Enhanced contribution of palygorskite, a typical wind-blown clay mineral, characterizes the North Atlantic cold climatic events. Coeval development of the semi-arid vegetation (Artemisia rich) associated with a drastic fall of reconstructed precipitations and temperatures, suggest cold and arid continental conditions in the West Mediterranean area during North Atlantic cold events. The clay mineral association, especially the palygorskite content and the illite-to-kaolinite ratio, indicate western Morocco as one of the major source of the clay-size fraction during the North Atlantic cold events. The maximum abundance of Artemisia associated with the presence of Argania pollen both indicate Morocco as the main origin for pollen during these cold periods. The comparison of these pollen and clay mineral-specific features allows us to pinpoint western Morocco as the dominant source of wind-blown particles during North Atlantic cold events. These specific mineralogical composition and palynological assemblages reveal enhanced aridity over North Africa and intensification of winds favouring dust erosion and transport from North Africa toward the Alboran Sea during the North Atlantic cold events. According to atmospheric models, such a meridian transport (1) likely results from the development of strong and stable anticyclonic conditions over the tropical Atlantic and North Africa, similar to today's summer meteorological configuration and (2) implies a northward position of the westerly winds during North Atlantic cold events. Finally the synoptic situation over the West Mediterranean during the North Atlantic cold events is compared with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), suggesting that during the cold Atlantic events, weather regimes over Europe and North Africa may have been systematically shifted towards a positive NAO situation.     

Spatiotemporal variations in rainfall–topographic relationships in southwestern Saudi Arabia

Spatial variations in the relationship between topography and mean annual and seasonal rainfalls in southwestern Saudi Arabia are examined using Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance. The topographic factors include physiographic features (topography), altitude, slope, proximity to a ridge or crest of mountains, and proximity to the Red Sea. There is a statistically significant effect of topographic factors on the mean annual rainfall, but the results are more significant for the mean seasonal rainfall. The largest amount of mean rainfall in the study area occurs during spring, when rainfall displays a significant relationship with topographic factors, in which more orographic rainfall patterns are associated with higher altitude, greater proximity to a ridge and steeper slopes. Higher altitudes do not necessarily receive more rain; some low altitude locations (i.e., the southern part of the study area) receive more rain during summer and fall because they are located on the windward side of the Asir Mountains and are exposed to the moist air masses brought by the southwest monsoonal system in summer and by the northwest air flow from the Mediterranean and Red Sea in the fall in addition to local convective rainfall patterns. Rainfall in winter increases in the foothills of the Asir Mountains above the coastal plain of the Red Sea. The steep western slopes (windward side) receive more rainfall than the gentle eastern slopes (leeward side): this may be due to the Asir Mountains forcing moist air masses carried by the westerly and northwest winds to rise and cool before they descend and warm on the leeward side.     

Population structure and reproductive characteristics of the gulf pipefish,Syngnathus scovelli, in Mobile Bay, Alabama

The gulf pipefish,Syngnathus scovelli, is the dominant syngnathid found in coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and is the only species in this region known to occur in both freshwater and saltwater habitats. Relatively little is known about the population and reproductive cycles ofS. scovelli, particularly for those found in low salinity environments. The focus of the current study was to collect population structure and reproductive data forS. scovelli from a low salinity habitat, Meaher Park, located at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama. Sampling was conducted twice a month from January 2003 to January 2004. Environmental parameters, as well as population and reproductive parameters, were collected. Water temperature was the primary abiotic factor associated with both the appearance ofS. scovelli and their breeding cycle. Based on gonadosomatic (GSI) and brood pouch somatic indices (BPSI), females and males were reproductively active throughout the summer. Peaks in male GSI and BPSI were consistent with the subsequent appearance of a large number of juveniles in early fall. These event coincided with the higher temperatures seen during late summer and early fall. Sex ratios (male : female 1 : 1.64) and operational sex ratios (1 : 4.09) indicated that this was a female biased population. Although there was no difference in the average size of males and females in this population, the largest individuals collected were female. The female-biased sex ratio supports previous genetic analyses suggesting thatS. scovelli exhibits true sex-role reversal and that operational sex ratios are a reliable indicator of the intensity of mating competition and sex roles.