Benthic communities as influenced by nuclear testing and radioactive waste disposal off Novaya Zemlya in the Russian Arctic

On the material of sampling, accomplished in: (i) Chernaya Inlet of the Barents Sea (one of the flats of Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site), (ii) in the Open Kara Sea and (iii) on the shoal off Novaya Zemlya from Stepovogo Fjord to Abrosimov Fjord (sites of radioactive waste disposal with activity 90% from total for the Kara Sea), characteristics of macro-, meio- and microbenthic bottom communities on the areas of potential radioactive danger are presented. Significant changes in macro- and meiobenthic communities are not revealed. In Chernaya Inlet, where three nuclear explosions were held in 1955–1961, disturbances in microbenthic protozoa communities are found. These disturbances expressed in the infusoria elimination from the fauna of the inlet deep-water sites and in morphological abnormality of this group individuals in population, inhabiting low depth of the inlet top. The assumed origin of revealed disturbances is high concentration (by 3–4 orders of magnitude above the background) of plutonium in bottom sediments of the inlet. Similar responses of the microbenthic flagellates are not detected.     

水体浊度对风速、风向及其时间累积效应的响应——以太湖贡湖湾为例

水体浊度是影响水下光场及营养盐循环的关键要素之一,其变化过程与水生生态环境演变关系密切.基于2015-2016年7个时段于太湖贡湖湾内外的金墅和上山村两站点的水体浊度及东山气象站的逐时风场数据,利用分位统计等方法,探讨了风速、风向及时间累积效应对水体浊度的影响.结果表明：在以风场驱动为主要动力来源的大型浅水湖泊中,春、秋两季水体浊度的变化频率高于夏、冬两季,且春季变率更为突出;冬季风场和水体浊度的变率均较夏季明显.风场（包括风速、风向及其累积时间）是影响水体浊度变化的关键因素.其中风速是主要决定性因子;风向对水体浊度有较明显的影响,其通过对风速效应的修正进而影响水体浊度,该修正作用可用三角函数表征;水体浊度变化同时还受前期风场累积的影响,其前期时间累积效应的有效时段为2~10 h.该研究给出了风速、风向及风场累积效应的耦合对水体浊度的影响模型,有助于弄清风场对水体浊度变化的影响机制.     

A bioindicator system for water quality on inshore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef

Responses of bioindicator candidates for water quality were quantified in two studies on inshore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). In Study 1, 33 of the 38 investigated candidate indicators (including coral physiology, benthos composition, coral recruitment, macrobioeroder densities and FORAM index) showed significant relationships with a composite index of 13 water quality variables. These relationships were confirmed in Study 2 along four other water quality gradients (turbidity and chlorophyll). Changes in water quality led to multi-faceted shifts from phototrophic to heterotrophic benthic communities, and from diverse coral dominated communities to low-diversity communities dominated by macroalgae. Turbidity was the best predictor of biota; hence turbidity measurements remain essential to directly monitor water quality on the GBR, potentially complemented by our final calibrated 12 bioindicators. In combination, this bioindicator system may be used to assess changes in water quality, especially where direct water quality data are unavailable.     

Impact of anthropogenic activities on the sediment microbial communities of Baiyangdian shallow lake

Microorganisms are recognized as sensors of external disturbance in freshwater ecosystems.In this study,sediment samples from regions with strong human activity interference(four sites),moderate human activity interference(five sites) and minor human activity interference(five sites) in Baiyangdian Lake were collected;and their physiological and chemical properties and heavy metals contents were analyzed.The structures of bacterial and fungal communities were tested using 16 S ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid(rRNA) and Internal Transcribed Spacer 2(ITS2) high-throughput sequencing technologies.The results indicated that Proteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial phylum.Ascomycota,Basidiomycota and Ciliophora were the dominant phyla of fungi.Obvious differences of microbial genera among the three regions we re obse rved,especially fungal genera.With intensified disturbance by human activities,the Simpson and Shannon indices of bacteria significantly decreased.The fungal communities were clustered into three groups in accordance with the different human disturbance levels.The bacterial communities of sediment samples under moderate and minor human disturbance appeared similar,but different from those under strong human disturbance.Redundancy analysis indicated that zinc,total phosphorus,copper,and lead were the dominant factors that influenced the bacterial community.Nitrifiers and sulfate-reducing bacteria were influenced by pH,nitrate(NO3),and total nitrogen.The fungal community was significantly affected by total phosphorus.This study reveals that sediment microbial community structures among different regions of a shallow lake are mainly impacted by human activities.     

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.     

南海北部陆坡深水区的海底原位热流测量

海底热流数据是开展海洋地球动力学研究和油气资源评价的基础数据.南海北部陆坡深水区蕴含有丰富的油气和水合物资源,而该区热流站位很少.为了解陆坡深水区水合物有利区块的地热特征,利用剑鱼1型海底原位热流探针,在南海西沙海域和神狐海域成功获得了16个站位的热流值.测量结果表明,西沙海槽与白云凹陷都具有较高的热流值,西沙海槽区除1个站位结果不可信外,另2个站位所测海底表层地温梯度分别为105.3 和99.9℃·km^-1,原位热流分别为89±1和87±1 mW·m^-2;白云凹陷中部区域13个站位测得表层地温梯度变化于58.5~100.7 ℃·km^-1,热流值除4个站位低于70 mW·m^-2外,其余都变化于75±2~101±4 mW·m^-2范围,比前人在白云凹陷东部获得的热流高.分析认为,西沙海槽和白云凹陷区域的高地热特征与陆坡深水区的高热背景、晚期断裂发育、底辟、岩浆侵入和热流体活动等有关.     

The role of winter phenology in shaping the ecology of freshwater fish and their sensitivities to climate change

Thermal preference and performance provide the physiological frame within which fish species seek strategies to cope with the challenges raised by the low temperatures and low levels of oxygen and food that characterize winter. There are two common coping strategies: active utilization of winter conditions or simple toleration of winter conditions. The former is typical of winter specialist species with low preferred temperatures, and the latter is typical of species with higher preferred temperatures. Reproductive strategies are embodied in the phenology of spawning: the approach of winter conditions cues reproductive activity in many coldwater fish species, while the departure of winter conditions cues reproduction in many cool and warmwater fish species. This cuing system promotes temporal partitioning of the food resources available to young-of-year fish and thus supports high diversity in freshwater fish communities. If the zoogeographic distribution of a species covers a broad range of winter conditions, local populations may exhibit differences in their winter survival strategies that reflect adaptation to local conditions. Extreme winter specialists are found in shallow eutrophic lakes where long periods of ice cover cause winter oxygen levels to drop to levels that are lethal to many fish. The fish communities of these lakes are simple and composed of species that exhibit specialized adaptations for extended tolerance of very low temperatures and oxygen levels. Zoogeographic boundaries for some species may be positioned at points on the landscape where the severity of winter overwhelms the species’ repertoire of winter survival strategies. Freshwater fish communities are vulnerable to many of the shifts in environmental conditions expected with climate change. Temperate and northern communities are particularly vulnerable since the repertoires of physiological and behavioural strategies that characterize many of their members have been shaped by the adverse environmental conditions (e.g. cool short summers, long cold winters) that climate change is expected to mitigate. The responses of these strategies to the rapid relaxation of the adversities that shaped them will play a significant role in the overall responses of these fish populations and their communities to climate change.     

Connections between hydrodynamics, benthic landscape and associated fauna in the Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean

Linking the abiotic and biotic traits of ecosystems is a critical step towards understanding their structure and functioning. Here we attempt to determine the connections between the hydrodynamics, benthic landscape and the associated fish communities on the coastal continental shelf off the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean). Specifically we investigate the role the hydrodynamics play in shaping the benthic landscape, and whether the hydrodynamics affect the composition and structure of demersal fish communities. A realistic numerical model was used to establish the hydrodynamic characteristics of the area. The study area showed high hydrodynamic variability on a medium spatial scale (tens of km) in terms of mean water velocity (ū). Principal component analysis was used to determine the main gradients of macro-epibenthic variability. Redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to model the effect of the hydrodynamics on macro-epibenthic species. RDA was also used to model the effect of the hydrodynamics and macro-epibenthos on the abundance of the associated fish fauna, and on its biomass at a community level using biomass spectra classes. The results showed that the hydrodynamics had a significant influence on the distribution of both macro-epibenthic species and the associated fish species. The latter was also influenced by the macro-epibenthos. Fish size appeared to be a key attribute for the distribution of species across gradients of ū and macro-epibenthic change. Our findings can be applied in ecosystem-based fisheries management, as they show that it is necessary to take into account both the biotic and abiotic traits of the habitats when the habitat use and requirements of the associated species are defined.     

太湖草/藻型湖区沉积物-水界面环境特征差异

在太湖草、藻型湖区进行冬、夏两季多点采样,分别对采样点的水环境特征、泥面以上5 cm上覆水中营养盐以及沉积物的含水量、中值粒径、有机碳、氮、磷、金属元素和溶解氧进行测定.结果表明:夏季藻型湖区表层水体pH高于中、底层,冬季草型湖区各层水体pH高于藻型;草型湖区水体浊度夏季低于藻型,冬季反之;藻型湖区上覆水中的硝态氮和磷酸根浓度显著高于草型;草型湖区沉积物中含水量冬季显著高于夏季;草型湖区沉积物中总有机碳显著高于藻型;Fe、Zn、Ca、Pb、Na和K等元素在草、藻型湖区间差异显著;沉积物中溶解氧表现为冬季深于夏季,藻型深于草型的规律.     

The Gladstone (Australia) oil spill - impacts on intertidal areas: baseline and six months post-spill

In January 2006, 25 tonnes of heavy fuel oil spilled into the Port of Gladstone in Queensland, Australia, from the breached hull of a bulk carrier ship. While approximately 18 tonnes of the oil was recovered, a certain amount of oil was deposited in the intertidal areas of Port Curtis leaving a highly visible, viscous residue. The objectives of this research were to assess the short-term (one month post-spill) and medium-term (six months post-spill) impacts on the intertidal habitat.Sediment polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metal concentrations, mangrove communities and intertidal macroinvertebrates were assessed at oil impacted sites, adjacent sites which were not visibly impacted and reference sites which were located outside the recorded distribution of the oil spill.At one month post-spill, highest PAH concentrations were found at the impacted sites, with concentrations of some PAHs exceeding Australian and New Zealand sediment quality guidelines (SQG) [ANZECC/ARMCANZ, 2000. Sediment Quality Guidelines. Australia and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand]. However, by six months post-spill PAH concentrations had significantly decreased. PAH concentrations tended to be higher in the back (upper) intertidal zone than at the front of the mangrove stand, and sediment cores indicated that PAH contaminants had remained in the top 4 cm of the sediment. These results indicate that the overall decreased PAH concentrations are likely to be due to evaporation, photoxidation and tidal flushing of the residual oil in these impacted sites.During the initial survey, the impact site contained very few or no crabholes in the high intertidal area, indicating a low crab density in comparison to reference sites. However, at six months post-spill mangrove crab communities appeared to be fully recovered with crabhole densities in impact sites similar to reference sites.While little immediate impact was evident on mangrove parameters, significantly higher seedling mortality and defoliation was apparent at six months post-spill, particularly in the upper intertidal zone. Intertidal macrobenthic communities did not appear to be impacted, either immediately or at six months post-spill. Monitoring of these oil impacted intertidal areas will continue to examine the long-term impacts/recovery from the oil spill.     

The influence of turbidity on juvenile marine fish in the estuaries of Natal, South africa

Results from field studies in Natal estuaries show that the distribution of juvenile marine fish is influenced by turbidity. Laboratory studies on turbidity preference, with other variables excluded, showed good correlation with the field data for eight of ten species tested. The importance of turbidity and other factors to juvenile fish is discussed in relation to the role which estuaries play as nursery areas for juveniles of numerous marine species.     

Understanding factors structuring zooplankton and macroinvertebrate assemblages in ephemeral pans

Ephemeral aquatic ecosystems have a global distribution being most abundant in semi-arid and arid regions. Due to anthropogenic impacts threatening these environments, there is a need to understand various factors and processes structuring animal communities in these habitats. Macroinvertebrate and zooplankton assemblages were studied in different ephemeral (i.e. flood plain, large endorheic and small endorheic) pans in the south-eastern Lowveld of Zimbabwe in the wet season. Ten Cladoceran species, Calanoids and Cyclopoids taxa and thirty-three macroinvertebrate taxa were identified over the entire hydroperiod. Predator macroinvertebrates were the dominant taxa especially in endorheic pans. The pan categories differed significantly in both zooplankton and macroinvertebrates composition and richness, with zooplankton and macroinvertebrate taxa richness being high in flood plain pans. Conductivity, fish presence, hydroperiod, maximum depth, turbidity and vegetation cover played a major role in shaping both zooplankton and macroinvertebrate communities. The macroinvertebrate community assemblage reveals that small endorheic and flood plain pans represent extremes ends of the environmental gradient in the region while large endorheic pans represent an intermediate end.     

Trophic functioning of macrobenthic fauna in a tropical acidified Bornean estuary (Southeast Asia)

The trophic structure of a community is used to infer ecosystem functioning(e.g. energy transfer and nutrient cycling). Here the trophic structure of the benthic infaunal and epifaunal communities in the Brunei Estuary are characterized, and their distribution along an estuarine pH gradient is analyzed using univariate and multivariate techniques. This analysis revealed that surface deposit feeders(e.g., polychaetes) were numerically dominant within the infaunal communities whereas in the epifaunal communities filter feeders(e.g., bivalves) were highly abundant. Species richness for almost all trophic groups increased toward the lower estuary, except for omnivores in the epifaunal communities, which decreased markedly. Both Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) and Analysis of Similarities(ANOSIM) detected significant differences in the density of respective trophic groups among stations. Within infaunal communities, both Biological and Environmental procedure(BIO-ENV) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis(CCA) showed that trophic shifts were associated with environmental gradients. Surface-deposit feeders and omnivores were the most abundant macrobenthos of the upper estuary characterized by low salinity, low pH, and a higher percentage of mud particles. The proportion of filter feeders and carnivores increased with salinity/pH and sand. A more uniform distribution of trophic structure was found in the lower estuary, with high salinity and pH over sandy habitat. In contrast, within epifaunal trophic groups,the percentage of surface deposit feeders and omnivores declined, but filter feeders remarkably increased toward the sea. The proportion of carnivores remained similar at all stations. Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling(nMDS) ordination for epifaunal trophic groups clearly demarcated higher salinity/pH stations from lower salinity/pH stations, suggesting different trophic compositions along the estuarine pH gradient.     

Seasonal and vertical distributional patterns of siphonophores and medusae in the Chiloé Interior Sea,Chile

The horizontal and vertical distribution of jellyfish was assessed in the Chiloé Inland sea, in the northern area of the Chilean Patagonia. A total of 41 species of cnidarians (8 siphonophores, 31 hydromedusae, 2 scyphomedusae) were collected. Eleven jellyfish species were recorded for the first time in the area. Species richness was higher in spring than in winter (37 vs. 25 species, respectively). Species such as Muggiaea atlantica, Solmundella bitentaculata, and Clytia simplex were extremely abundant in spring. The total abundance (408,157 ind 1000 m^?3) was 18 times higher in spring than in winter (22,406 ind 1000 m^?3).The horizontal distribution of the most abundant species (four in winter, five in spring) showed decreasing abundances in the north–south direction in winter and spring. Peak abundances occurred in the northern microbasins (Reloncaví Fjord, Reloncaví and Ancud gulfs), where the water column stability, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance were higher, compared with the southern microbasins (Corcovado Gulf, Boca del Guafo). During the spring higher jellyfish abundance season, the vertical distribution of the dominant species (except M. atlantica) showed peak values at mid-depth (30–50 m) and in the deepest sampled layer (50–200 m). This vertical distribution pattern reduced seaward transport in the shallowest layer through estuarine circulation and also limited mortality by predation in the more illuminated shallow layers. Thus, jellyfish were able to remain in the interior waters during the season of maximum biological production.     

Terrigenous transportation to the Okinawa Trough and the influence of typhoons on suspended sediment concentration

The source and transport mechanisms of land-derived Okinawa Trough sediments were studied using the field data of temperature, salinity and turbidity in the East China Seas. The results suggest that there are two primary sediments sources from the Chinese Mainland to the Okinawa Trough: one is the Old Huanghe River submarine delta, and the other is the Changjiang River sediments, which are distributed at the Changjiang River estuary and the off-coast of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. It is difficult for the Huanghe River suspended sediments to arrive in the Okinawa Trough via the new estuary. Although the Taiwan warm current blocks the seaward terrigenous transportation to a certain extent, part of the coastal suspended sediments are transported to the outer shelf. Suspended particulate matter is unable to get through the barrier of the Kuroshio Current under normal conditions. However, episodic events, such as winter storms, internal-tidal waves and turbidity flows, are capable of transporting suspended particulate matter into the Okinawa Trough. The super typhoon “Ewiniar” induced strong waves and influenced the thermocline depth and suspended sediment concentration of the East China Seas. The typhoon-induced waves pushed the thermocline depth down to around 40 m and caused the resuspension of large volumes of sediments in its path. In the other East China Seas regions, the typhoon-induced swells deepened the thermocline depth by about 5 m and increased suspended sediment concentrations. The typhoon effect on suspended sediment concentration of the East China Seas disappeared within 2 weeks.     

Seasonal variations of the distribution of river water quality

The probability distributions of different values of water quality indices have been shown theoretically to follow a two-parameter lognormal law with season-dependent parameters. The obtained distribution law was checked against data of many-year water quality monitoring in the Moskva R. (at Rublevo Settl.). The distributions of several hydrochemical and microbiological indices have been studied. The seasonal dependence of parameters have been shown to cause the splitting of water quality index distributions predominantly into two lognormal branches, one corresponding to low-water seasons and the other corresponding to floods. Exceptions are water turbidity and color index: the former splits into three lognormal branches (corresponding to periods of winter low-water period, summer period with moderate rains, floods, and high rain floods), while the color index has only one branch, embracing all seasons.     

Relative importance of multiple environmental variables in structuring benthic macroinfaunal assemblages in chronically metal-polluted salt marshes

In this study, we assessed importance of sediment-associated trace metals in structuring benthic macroinfaunal assemblages along multiple environmental gradients in chronically polluted salt marshes of the Arthur Kill - AK (New York, USA). More than 90% of benthic macroinfaunal communities at the northern AK sites consisted of a considerably large number of only a few polychaete and oligochaete species. Approximately 70% of among-site variances in abundance and biomass of benthic macroinfaunal communities was strongly associated with a few environmental variables; only sediment-associated mercury consistently contributed to a significant proportion of the explained variances in species composition along natural environmental gradients (e.g., salinity). Although sediment-associated copper, lead, and zinc were substantially elevated at some of the AK sites, their ecological impacts on benthic macroinfaunal communities appeared to be negligible. These findings suggest that cumulative metal-specific impacts may have played an important role in structuring benthic macroinfaunal communities in chronically polluted AK ecosystems.     

Atmospheric turbidity at athens observatory

Summary In this study, values of the Ångström turbidity coefficient () determined from Solar radiation observations at the National Observatory of Athens over the period 1955–1972 are analysed. Mean daily turbidity lies between 0.020–0.100. Turbidity is higher in summer than in winter. The main factor determining the turbidity is the air mass type. The scavenging by rainfall probably has a considerable effect in determining this distribution. There is some evidence of a trend of increasing turbidity during the period.     

Seasonal and diurnal variability of pressure fluctuation in the infrasound frequency range observed in the Czech microbarograph network

Infrasound environments in the Czech microbarograph network were studied. Reference Fourier amplitude spectra were calculated from data measured at three microbarograph sites of the network in May 2011-April 2012; directional analysis of infrasound arrivals in the frequency band 0.15-0.4 Hz was performed for the microbarograph array at Panská Ves in May 2014-April 2015. Diurnal, seasonal and site-to-site variability of the reference spectra was evaluated. Site-to-site variability is influenced by the location of the respective sensors in the open air and inside the observatory buildings and by local noise phenomena like wind turbines. Diurnal variability is well developed in summer with maximum ambient noise levels during the daytime and minima at night. Seasonal variability is observed at night with maxima in winter and minima in summer. Wind and wind eddies seem to be an important source of ambient noise in measurements in the Czech microbarograph network. A distinct spectral peak occurs near 0.2 Hz with amplitudes by about one order of magnitude higher in winter than in summer. Its seasonal variability is related to seasonal propagation of microbaroms from the source region in the Northern Atlantic.