On the diet of Nile tilapia in two eutrophic tropical lakes containing toxin producing cyanobacteria

Due to the production of toxins, cyanobacteria may adversely affect economically important fish such as Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus in tropical lakes. We studied the diet composition and factors affecting the diet of Nile tilapia in two tropical lakes where cyanotoxins were present. Particle-bound microcystins were present in all analysed water samples, ranging in concentration from 0.00012 to 1.11 and from 0.006 to 0.254 μg L⁻¹ in Murchison Bay in Lake Victoria and Lake Mburo, respectively. Detritus and phytoplankton were the main dietary components of the Nile tilapia, with phytoplankton contributing to over 30% by volume of stomach contents. The cyanobacteria Microcystis spp., which are also the most likely source of microcystins in the lakes, accounted for more than 80% of ingested phytoplankton. Microcystis spp. were also the most abundant cyanobacteria in both lakes (>60%). We found no significant relationship between the contribution of phytoplankton in Nile tilapia diet and the concentration of microcystins in the water but we found a close association between water transparency and the contribution of insects to Nile tilapia diets in Murchison Bay. Our results further show that none of the other measured environmental variables was a good predictor of diet items in Nile tilapia. Adult Nile tilapia in our study lakes, rely heavily on filter feeding, particularly under conditions of low water transparency, trapping detritus and phytoplankton cells especially colonies. They can ingest more mobile prey like insects and insect larvae when the water transparency and visibility increases.     

A FEniCS-based programming framework for modeling turbulent flow by the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations

Finding an appropriate turbulence model for a given flow case usually calls for extensive experimentation with both models and numerical solution methods. This work presents the design and implementation of a flexible, programmable software framework for assisting with numerical experiments in computational turbulence. The framework targets Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes models, discretized by finite element methods. The novel implementation makes use of Python and the FEniCS package, the combination of which leads to compact and reusable code, where model- and solver-specific code resemble closely the mathematical formulation of equations and algorithms. The presented ideas and programming techniques are also applicable to other fields that involve systems of nonlinear partial differential equations. We demonstrate the framework in two applications and investigate the impact of various linearizations on the convergence properties of nonlinear solvers for a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes model.     

The potential of natural ecosystem self-purifying measures for controlling nutrient inputs

Most ecosystems have a certain assimilative capacity regarding plant nutrient or biodegradable organic matter. Knowledge of the metabolizing processes of different ecosystems enable the use of natural systems for pollution abatement from agricultural, domestic and industrial sources. Such ecologically engineered natural systems are often very cost efficient. At the Centre for Soil and Environmental Research (JORDFORSK) studies of degradation processes and the fate of plant nutrients in small streams, ponds, wetlands, vegetative filter strips and soil are being conducted in order to gain experience with and develop self purifying methods. Preliminary results show that denitrification in streams remove only a minor part of the annual nitrogen (N) transport (1–15%), but that this process can remove a considerable part of the N transport during summer. Constructed ponds and wetlands in streams draining agricultural areas showed 10–56% retention of soil particles, 23–40% of phosphorous (P) and 5–13% of N. Narrow ponds had a higher efficiency than wide ponds per unit surface area. Short-term experiments with vegetative strips treating agricultural runoff show a sediment removal of over 95%, a P removal from 80–90% and N removal between 60 and 75%. A multistage subsurface constructed wetland treating domestic waste-water removed an average of 97% P, 91% BOD, 80% of suspended solids, 55% N and 99.9% E. coli over the first 18 months of operation. Preliminary results from a multistage plant with constructed ponds and wetlands treating landfill leachate show high treatment efficiency for the same parameters. A rapid infiltration plant in northern Norway showed an average removal of 99% P, 90% COD and 73% N after 4 years of operation. These results show that self purifying measures offer potential for design of pollution abatement systems for agricultural as well as domestic purposes in the Norwegian climate.     

Variability in temperature and geometry of the Norwegian Current over the past 600 yr; stable isotope and grain size evidence from the Norwegian margin

Core P1‐003MC was retrieved from 851 m water depth on the southern Norwegian continental margin, close to the boundary between the Norwegian Current (NC) and the underlying cold Norwegian Sea Deep Water. The core chronology was established by using ²¹⁰Pb measurements and ¹⁴C dates, suggesting a sampling resolution of between 2 and 9 yr. Sea‐surface temperature (SST) variations in the NC are reconstructed from stable oxygen isotope measurements in two planktonic Foraminifera species, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (d.) and Globigerina bulloides. The high temporal resolution of the SST proxy records allows direct comparison with instrumental ocean temperature measurements from Ocean Weather Ship (OWS) Mike in the Norwegian Sea and an air temperature record from the coastal island Ona, western Norway. The comparison of the instrumental and the proxy SST data suggests that N. pachyderma (d.) calcify during summer, whereas G. bulloides calcify during spring. The δ¹⁸O records of both species suggest that the past 70 yr have been the warmest throughout the past 600 yr. The spring and summer proxy temperature data suggest differences in the duration of the cold period of the Little Ice Age. The spring temperature was 1–3°C colder throughout most of the period between ca. AD 1400 and 1700, and the summer temperature was 1–2°C colder throughout most of the period between ca. AD 1400 and 1920. Fluctuations in the depth of the lower boundary of the NC have been investigated by examining grain size data and benthic foraminiferal assemblages. The data show that the transition depth of the lower boundary of the NC was deeper between ca. AD 1400 and 1650 than after ca. AD 1750 until present. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Last glacial ice‐rafted debris off southwestern Europe: the role of the British–Irish Ice Sheet

Ice‐rafted debris (IRD) seeded into the ocean from Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is found in ocean cores along the southwestern European margin through the last glacial period. It is known that the origin of this IRD, especially off Iberia, can vary between North America and western Europe during short‐lived episodes of greatly enhanced iceberg flux, known as Heinrich events, although in most Heinrich events the IRD has a North American source. During the longer times of much lower IRD fluxes between Heinrich events, use of an intermediate complexity climate model, coupled to an iceberg dynamic and thermodynamic model, shows that background levels of IRD most likely originate from western Europe, particularly the British–Irish Ice Sheet. Combining modelling with palaeoceanographic evidence supports reconstructions of a short‐lived, but substantial, Celtic and Irish Sea Ice Stream around 23 ka. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non‐synchronous deposition of North Atlantic Ash Zone II in Greenland ice cores,and North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea sediments: an example of complex glacial‐stage tephra transport

Tephra provides regional chronostratigraphical marker horizons that can link different climate archives with highly needed accuracy and precision. The results presented in this work exemplify, however, that the intermittent storage of tephra in ice sheets and during its subsequent iceberg transport, especially during glacial stages, constitutes a potential source of serious error for the application of tephrochronology to Nordic Seas and North Atlantic sediment archives. The peak shard concentration of the rhyolitic component of the North Atlantic Ash Zone II (NAAZ‐II) tephra complex, often used to correlate marine and ice core records in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, is shown to lag the eruption event by ca. 100–400 years in some North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea cores. While still allowing for a correlation of archives on millennial timescales, this time delay in deposition is a major obstacle when addressing the lead–lag relationship on short timescales (years to centuries). A precise and accurate determination of lead–lag relationships between archives recording different parts of the climate system is crucial in order to test hypotheses about the processes leading to abrupt climate change and to evaluate results from climate models. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow regimes and long-term water exchange of the Himmerfjärden estuary

A numerical model of processes determining the water exchange encountered in Baltic coastal archipelagos is calibrated and validated against salinity and temperature field data spanning two decades with approximately bi-weekly resolution assessed in the Himmerfjärden estuary. This area is resolved into 17 basins interconnected by 38 individual straits of varying geometrical properties using GIS-based methods. All formulations of the strait exchange flows are free from parameters that need calibration and permit computations of the flow through a strait contraction with or without a coincident sill under a flow classification scheme, of which the first one (a) consists of two groups of multiple layers including aspirated layers from levels beneath the sill crest. The other regimes are as follows. (b) Pure barotropic flow; (c) rotationally controlled flow and (d) plug-flow, which serves as resort solution for flow situations that cannot be solved with (a) and also for computation of the barotropic part of the total flow. For long canals where friction effects act to reduce the flow, a fifth exchange regime is used. The vertical mixing formulation is based on energy balances between supplied wind energy and its work against buoyancy forces. The values of semi-empirical parameters involved in the mixing scheme have been established by calibration against measured data of the first decade period. A statistical evaluation is performed comparing the model results with the measurements of the second decade.     

A simple approach to adjust tidal forcing in fjord models

To model currents in a fjord accurate tidal forcing is of extreme importance. Due to complex topography with narrow and shallow straits, the tides in the innermost parts of a fjord are both shifted in phase and altered in amplitude compared to the tides in the open water outside the fjord. Commonly, coastal tide information extracted from global or regional models is used on the boundary of the fjord model. Since tides vary over short distances in shallower waters close to the coast, the global and regional tidal forcings are usually too coarse to achieve sufficiently accurate tides in fjords. We present a straightforward method to remedy this problem by simply adjusting the tides to fit the observed tides at the entrance of the fjord. To evaluate the method, we present results from the Oslofjord, Norway. A model for the fjord is first run using raw tidal forcing on its open boundary. By comparing modelled and observed time series of water level at a tidal gauge station close to the open boundary of the model, a factor for the amplitude and a shift in phase are computed. The amplitude factor and the phase shift are then applied to produce adjusted tidal forcing at the open boundary. Next, we rerun the fjord model using the adjusted tidal forcing. The results from the two runs are then compared to independent observations inside the fjord in terms of amplitude and phases of the various tidal components, the total tidal water level, and the depth integrated tidal currents. The results show improvements in the modelled tides in both the outer, and more importantly, the inner parts of the fjord.     

Sedimentary and structural control on pockmark development—evidence from the Nyegga pockmark field, NW European margin

The Nyegga region, located at water depths of about 600–800 m on the NW European continental margin, contains more than 200 pockmarks. Recently collected TOPAS seismic profiles and EM1002 bathymetric records now provide high-resolution information on their seabed and shallow sub-seabed geological setting. The identified pockmarks are up to 15 m deep, between 30 m and 600 m across and reach a maximum area of ca. 315,000 m². The pockmarks are sediment-empty features. They do not have any preferred direction of orientation and show large variations in their shape. The pockmarks are restricted to a <16.2 cal. ka old sediment unit. This unit comprises sandy mud and is characterised by sedimentation rates of ca. 1 mm/year. The pockmarks are localised over a thick late Plio-Pleistocene prograding sediment package and a polygonal faulted Miocene-Oligocene ooze-rich unit. The late Plio-Plistocene deposits host bottom simulating reflectors, indicative of gas hydrate-bearing sediments. Inspection of the newly collected high-resolution dataset, combined with previously analysed sediment cores and 2D multichannel seismic profiles, reveals that the Nyegga pockmark field does not show any strong relationship between seabed features, sub-seabed structures and the sedimentary setting. This suggests a more complex evolution history of the Nyegga pockmark field then previously thought.     

The accuracy of drainage network delineation as a function of environmental factors: A case study in Central and Northern Sweden

Drainage networks delineated from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), are the basis for the modelling of geomorphological and hydrological processes, biogeochemical cycling, and water resources management. Besides providing effective models of water flows, automatically extracted drainage networks based on topography can diverge from reality to varying degrees. The variability of such disagreement within catchments has rarely been examined as a function of the heterogeneity of land cover, soil type, and slope in the catchment of interest. This research gap might not only substantially limit our knowledge of the uncertainty of hydrological prediction, but can also cause problems for users attempting to use the data at a local scale. Using 1:100000 scale land cover maps, Quaternary deposits maps, and 2 m resolution DEMs, it is found that the accuracy of delineated drainage networks tends to be lower in areas with denser vegetation, lower hydraulic conductivity, and higher erodibility. The findings of this study could serve as a guide for the more thoughtful usage of delineated drainage networks in environmental planning, and in the uncertainty analysis of hydrological and biochemical predictions. Therefore, this study makes a first attempt at filling the knowledge gap described above.