Weed species diversity on arable land of the dryland areas of central Tanzania: impacts of continuous application of traditional tillage practices

This paper presents findings from a study that assessed influence of continuous application of a particular traditional tillage practice on weed species richness, diversity and composition and identifies weed species with positive benefits to the communities in semi-arid areas of Mpwapwa district, central Tanzania. In this area farmers apply three different traditional tillage practices which are no-till (NT), shallow tillage (ST) and Ridging System (RT). A total of 36 farm fields were surveyed in 2006/2007 cropping season where 63 weed species from 26 families were identified. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences between practices (p < 0.05), with NT practice having highest weed species richness and diversity. Among the five more prevalent weed species appearing, Bidens lineariloba was observed to exist in all the three practices. Community representatives during focus group discussions indicated 9 weed species out of 63 identified to have beneficial uses. These species are Cleome hirta, Amaranthus graecizans, Bidens lineoriloba, Bidens pilosa, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Launaea cornuta, Heteropogon contortus, Tragus berteronianus and Trichodesma zeylanicum. Their main uses include leaf-vegetable, medicines, fodder and materials for thatching. From this study NT has highest weed species richness and diversity which therefore suggests that much more time is needed for weeding in this practice compared to other practice which was the farmers’ concern. It was also noted that although weed species have negative effects in crop production and production costs, they still play a vital role in food security and for the health of different people in marginal areas as well as for the complete ecosystem including micro and macrofauna.     

Flexural isostatic response of the Alps to increased Quaternary erosion recorded by foreland basin remnants,SE France

We test the hypothesis that flexural isostatic compensation of the mass removed by enhanced Quaternary erosion is responsible for uplift of the Western European Alps and their forelands. We use two well‐preserved and well‐dated (1.8 Ma) abandonment surfaces of foreland basin remnants in SE France (the Chambaran and Valensole plateaux) as passive benchmarks for tilting of the foreland. Estimating their initial slope from morphometric scaling relationships, we determine bulk post‐depositional tilting of 0.5–0.8% for these surfaces. The calculated isostatic response of the Alpine lithosphere to erosional unloading, using the method recently proposed by Champagnac et al. [Geology 35 (2007) 195–198] , yields a predicted tilting of 0.3–0.4% in the considered areas, explaining approximately half of the determined post‐depositional tilting. Such long‐term deformation being insensitive to cyclic loading/unloading because of glaciations, we suspect the other half to be related to as yet undetermined long‐wavelength and long‐lived tectonic process(es).     

Disturbances in an infinite slab due to torsional forces applied on a cylindrical cavity

Summary The paper deals with the disturbances in an infinite slab of finite thickness, the medium being homogeneous, isotropic and perfectly elastic.     

Note on the propagation of waves from a spherical cavity in an infinite solid

Summary The present note, as its title implies, is concerned with the investigation of disturbances in an infinite elastic medium containing an initial magnetic field in the axial direction. The equations ofMaxwell, those of elasticity have been effectively made use of to solve the problem.     

Benthic mineralization rates at two locations in the southern North Sea

Benthic oxygen uptake, sulphate reduction and benthic bacterial production were measured at two contrasting locations in the southern North Sea: the shallow and turbulent Broad Fourteens area in the Southern Bight, and the deeper Oyster Grounds, a deposition area, where thermohaline stratification occurs during summer. Oxygen uptake and sulphate reduction showed a clear seasonal pattern in the Broad Fourteens area, indicating a supply of carbon to the benthic system that is closely related to the standing stock of carbon in the water column. This close benthic-pelagic coupling is probably due to the influence of the tide in this part of the North Sea, which keeps the water column permanently mixed. At the Oyster Grounds, no seasonal pattern was observed. Peaks in oxygen uptake and sulphate reduction were found in winter. Irregularly occurring events, such as storms and fishery-related activities, are likely to affect the benthic mineralization patterns in this area. Annual benthic carbon mineralization rates estimated from oxygen uptake rates were 44 gC·m⁻² at the Broad Fourteens, and 131 gC·m⁻² at the Oyster Grounds, of which 26 and 28%, respectively, could be attributed to sulphate reduction (assuming an annual sulphide reoxidation rate of 100%). Although sulphate reduction rates in the southern North Sea are higher than previously suggested, aerobic respiration is the most important pathway for benthic carbon mineralization at the stations visited. Production rates of benthic bacterial carbon measured with labelled leucine were much higher than carbon mineralization rates based on oxygen uptake or sulphate reduction. This may either imply a very high bacterial carbon conversion efficiency, or point to shortcomings in the accuracy of the techniques. A critical evaluation of the techniques is recommended.     

On the origin of glauconitic and chamositic granules

Glauconitic minerals range from green smectite to 10Å glauconite, occur mainly in peloids (most of which were fecal pellets), and apparently were produced largely by neoformation replacing several kinds of substrate. Chamositic minerals, berthierine and chamosite, occur in Recent and ancient peloids, but mostly in ancient ooids, and they developed by alteration of a precursor Al-rich clay mineral. Ooid sheaths were built by rolling of cores on ue sea floor. Glauconitic greensands and chamositic oolitic ironstones are condensed sequences deposited as sandwaves during long periods of reduced influx of sediment. Some are associated with hardgrounds.     

Voracious planktonic hydroids: unexpected predatory impact on a coastal marine ecosystem

Hydroids are typically attached, benthic cnidarians that feed on a variety of small prey. During sampling on Georges Bank in spring 1994, we found huge numbers of hydroids suspended in the plankton. They fed on young stages of copepods that are an important prey for fish, as well as on young fish themselves. Two independent methods were used to estimate feeding rates of the hydroids; both indicate that the hydroids are capable of consuming from 50% to over 100% of the daily production of young copepods. These results suggest that hydroids can have a profound effect on the population dynamics of zooplankton and young fish on Georges Bank.     

An aromatase inhibitor and tamoxifen decrease plasma levels of o,p'-DDT and its metabolites in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

The objective of this study was to determine if tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor (4-hydroxyandrostenedione; 4-OHA) affected plasma concentrations of o,p' -DDT and its metabolites, o,p'-DDD and o,p'-DDE, in mature tilapia. Male and female tilapia were injected 6 times intraperitoneally with o,p'-DDT (40 mg/kg) alone or in combination with 4-OHA (2 mg/kg) over a 12 day period. An additional group of male fish was injected with tamoxifen (5 mg/kg) plus o,p'-DDT. At the end of the treatment period, plasma samples were extracted and analyzed by GC/ECD. Females injected only with o,p'-DDT had significantly higher levels of o,p'-DDT compared with males. Interestingly, females and males treated concomitantly with o,p'-DDT and 4-OHA or tamoxifen had significantly lower concentrations of plasma o,p'-DDT (about 50%) compared with fish treated with only o,p'-DDT. These initial results suggest that an interaction between endocrine-active compounds occurs in vivo in tilapia and may involve alterations in metabolism of o,p'-DDT.     

Temporal variability in phytodetritus and megabenthic activity at the seabed in the deep Northeast Atlantic

We report a ten-year study of the abundance and activity of megabenthos on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, northeast Atlantic, together with observations on the occurrence of phytodetritus at the deep-sea floor (4850 m). Using the Southampton Oceanography Centre time-lapse camera system, ‘Bathysnap’, we have recorded a radical change in the abundance and activity of megabenthos between the two periods of study (1991–1994 and 1997–2000). In 1991–1994, the larger megabenthos occurred at an abundance of c. 71.6/ha and were dominated by large holothurians. In addition, there were very substantial populations of smaller megabenthic ophiuroids (c. 4979/ha). Together, the total megabenthos are estimated to track over some 17 cm²/m²/d (exploiting 100% of the surface of the seabed in c. 2.5 years). In 1997–2000, the larger megabenthos increased to an abundance of c. 204/ha and were joined by exceptional numbers of a small holothurian species (Amperima rosea, 6457/ha) and ophiuroids (principally Ophiocten hastatum, 53,539/ha). The total megabenthos population was tracking at an estimnated rate of c. 247 cm²/m²/d (exploiting 100% of seabed in just 6 weeks). Coincident with these increases in the abundance and activity of the megabenthos, there were apparently no mass depositions of aggregated phytodetritus to the seabed in the summers of 1997–1999. Mass occurrences of phytodetritus had been noted during the summer months of the three years previously studied (1991, 1993 and 1994), with covering between 50 and 96% of the sediment surface. There is a statistically significant (p<0.02) negative correlation between maximum extent of this seabed cover of phytodetritus and seabed tracking by megabenthos. Additional studies [Lampitt et al., Progr. Ocean. 50 (2001)], indicate that there were no substantial changes in surface ocean primary productivity, in export flux, or in the composition of the flux that might otherwise account for the apparent absence of observable concentrations of phytodetritus during the summers of 1997–1999. We postulate that the marked increase in megabenthic tracking activity resulted in the removal (via consumption, disaggregation, burial etc.) of the bulk of the incoming phytodetrital flux during these years. A simple conceptual model, based on the apparent phytodetrital fluxes observed in 1991 and 1993, suggests that the megabenthos tracking rates estimated for 1997–1999 are sufficient to account for near-total removal of this flux. However, we are not able to estimate other processes removing phytodetritus (i.e. other elements of the benthos) that may also have increased between 1991–1994 and 1997–1999. Other independent studies [e.g. Ginger et al., Progr. Ocean. 50 (2001)] of flux constituents support the possibility that just a few species of megabenthos (e.g. A. rosea, and O. hastatum) could well have consumed a major proportion of the incoming flux and so substantially modified the composition of the organic matter available to other components of the benthos.     

The dissociation constants of carbonic acid in seawater at salinities 5 to 45 and temperatures 0 to 45°C

The pK₁^* and pK₂^* for the dissociation of carbonic acid in seawater have been determined from 0 to 45°C and S = 5 to 45. The values of pK₁^* have been determined from emf measurements for the cell:

Pt](1 − X)H2 + XCO2|NaHCO3, CO2 in synthetic seawater|AgC1; Ag

where X is the mole fraction of CO₂ in the gas. The values of pK₂^* have been determined from emf measurements on the cell:

Pt, H2(g, 1 atm)|Na2CO3, NaHCO3 in synthethic seawater|AgC1; Ag

The results have been fitted to the equations:

lnK^*₁ = 2.83655 − 2307.1266/T − 1.5529413 lnT + (−0.20760841 − 4.0484/T)S^0.5 + 0.08468345S − 0.00654208S¹

InK^*₂ = −9.226508 − 3351.6106/T− 0.2005743 lnT + (−0.106901773 − 23.9722/T)S^0.5 + 0.1130822S − 0.00846934S^1.5

where T is the temperature in K, S is the salinity, and the standard deviations of the fits are σ = 0.0048 in lnK₁^* and σ = 0.0070 in lnK₂^*.Our new results are in good agreement at S = 35 (±0.002 in pK₁^*and ±0.005 in pK₂^*) from 0 to 45°C with the earlier results of Goyet and Poisson (1989). Since our measurements are more precise than the earlier measurements due to the use of the Pt, H₂|AgCl, Ag electrode system, we feel that our equations should be used to calculate the components of the carbonate system in seawater.