Effects of habitat complexity on cannibalism rates in European green crabs (Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758)

The habitat in which predator–prey interactions take place may have a profound influence on the outcome of those interactions. Cannibalism is an intriguing form of predation whereby foraging by predators may contribute to the regulation of their own populations.This is particularly interesting in the case of invasive species, like the widely distributed European green crab (Carcinus maenas). This study explores how habitat complexity influences cannibalism rates in green crab populations of Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada. Both laboratory and field experiments were conducted to measure feeding rates by individual adult green crabs on a standard number of smaller conspecifics. In the laboratory, experimental treatments mimicked unstructured to increasingly structured habitats: water, sandy bottom, oyster shells, mussel shells, oyster shells with sandy bottom and mussel shells with sandy bottom. In those trials, adult green crabs consumed several times more juveniles on unstructured habitats than on the most structured ones, with a gradual decrease in predation rates across increasingly complex habitats. Field inclusion experiments used the same approach and were conducted in sandy bottoms, sandy bottoms with a layer of oyster shells and sandy bottoms with a layer of mussel shells. These trials showed similar patterns of decreasing feeding rates across increasingly complex habitats, but differences among treatments were not significant. These results support the idea that complex habitats have the potential to mediate predator–prey interactions, including adult–juvenile cannibalism in green crabs.     

Spatial assessment of fishing effort around European marine reserves: implications for successful fisheries management

We examined the spatial dynamic of artisanal fishing fleets around five European marine protected areas (MPAs) to derive general implications for the evaluation of MPAs as fisheries management tools. The coastal MPAs studied were located off France, Malta and Spain and presented a variety of spatial designs and processes of establishment. We developed a standardized methodology to define factors influencing effort allocation and to produce fishing effort maps by merging GIS with geostatistical modelling techniques. Results revealed that in most cases the factors “distance to the no-take”, “water depth”, and “distance to the port” had a significant influence on effort allocation by the fishing fleets. Overall, we found local concentration of fishing effort around the MPA borders. Thus, neglecting the pattern of fishing effort distribution in evaluating MPA benefits, such as spillover of biomass, could hamper sound interpretation of MPAs as fisheries management tools.     

Carbonation and decarbonation of eclogites: the role of garnet

Carbonates are potentially significant hosts for primordial and subducted carbon in the Earth's mantle. In addition, the coexistence of carbonate with silicates and reduced carbon (diamond or graphite), allows constraints to be placed on the oxidation state of the mantle. Carbonate-silicate-vapor reactions control how carbonate + silicate assemblages may form from carbon-bearing vapor + silicate assemblages with increasing pressure. In olivine-bearing rocks such as peridotite, considered the dominant rock type in the upper mantle, the lowest-pressure carbonate-forming reactions involve olivine (±clinopyroxene) reacting with CO₂ (e.g., Wyllie et al. 1983). In eclogitic rocks, the essential mineral assemblage is omphacitic clinopyroxene + garnet, without olivine. Therefore, alternative carbonate-forming reactions must be sought. The carbonation of clinopyroxene via the reaction dolomite + 2 coesite = diopside + 2 CO₂ was studied experimentally by Luth (1995). The alternative possibility that garnet reacts with CO₂ is explored here by determining the location of the reaction 3 magnesite + kyanite + 2 coesite = pyrope + 3 CO₂ between 5 and 11 GPa in multi-anvil apparatus. At the temperatures ≥1200 °C, carbonation of eclogitic rocks with increasing pressure will proceed initially by reaction with clinopyroxene, because the pyrope-carbonation reaction lies at higher pressures for a given temperature than does the diopside-carbonation reaction. Diluting the pyrope component of garnet and the diopside component of clinopyroxene to levels appropriate for mantle eclogites does not change this conclusion. At lower temperatures, appropriate for “cold” slabs, it is possible that the converse situation will hold, with initial carbonation proceeding via reaction with garnet, but this possibility awaits experimental confirmation. Decarbonation of an eclogite under “normal mantle” geothermal conditions by a decrease in pressure, as in an ascending limb of a mantle convection cell, would be governed by the formation of clinopyroxene + CO₂. At higher pressure than this reaction, any CO₂ produced by the breakdown of magnesite reacting with kyanite and coesite would react with clinopyroxene to produce dolomite + coesite. Release of CO₂ from eclogite into mantle peridotite would form carbonate at sub-solidus conditions and produce a dolomitic carbonate melt if temperatures are above the peridotite-CO₂ solidus. Received: 4 May 1998 / Accepted: 23 December 1998     

Future changes in tropical cyclone genesis in fully dynamic ocean- and mixed layer ocean-coupled climate models: a low-resolution model study

The global and regional projected changes in tropical cyclone (TC) genesis due to increased CO₂ concentrations has been investigated through a large-scale TC genesis parameter (convective seasonal genesis parameter, ConvGP) in two perturbed physics ensembles. The ensembles are based on the third generation Hadley Centre atmosphere?Cocean general circulation model with the first ensemble using a coupled fully dynamic ocean (HadCM3) and the second coupled to a simplified mixed layer thermodynamic ocean (HadSM3) both consisting of 17 members. In each ensemble, parameters are identically perturbed to provide a wide range of climate sensitivity whilst retaining a credible present-day climate simulation. It is found, by comparing the ConvGP climatology from reanalysis data with the best track genesis, that it is possible to reproduce the observed genesis distribution. Future changes in the spatial ConvGP distribution are explored with respect to each tropical ocean basin. Whilst there is a similarity in the gross pattern of the ensemble-mean projected ConvGP change between HadCM3 and HadSM3, there is a non-trivial difference in the tropical Pacific Ocean, arising from different patterns of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature change. This indicates that ocean representation can be important for regional scale projections. The quantitative contribution of individual constituent parameters (i.e. vorticity parameter, shear parameter and convective potential) to the projected ConvGP change is estimated. It is found that all three large-scale parameters generally contribute constructively, but with different magnitude, in the regions where a large doubled CO₂ response is found.     

Alpine Ecosystems of Northwest Yunnan, China： an Initial Assessment for Conservation

Implementing conservation actions on-the-ground is not a straightforward process,especially when faced with high scientific uncertainty due to limited available information. This is especially acute in regions of the world that harbor many unique species that have not been well studied,such as the alpine zone of the Hengduan Mountains of Northwest Yunnan (NWY),a global biodiversity hotspot and site of The Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project. We conducted a quantitative,but rapid regional-level assessment of the alpine flora across NWY to provide a broad-based understanding of local and regional patterns of the alpine flora,the first large-scale analysis of alpine biodiversity patterns in this region. Multivariate analyses were used to classify the major plant community types and link community patterns to habitat variables. Our analysis indicated that most species had small distributions and/or small population sizes. Strong patterns emerged with higher diversity in the more northern mountains,but beta diversity was high,averaging only 10% among sites. The ordinations indicated that elevation and geographic location were the dominant environ-mental gradients underlying the differences in the species composition among communities. The high beta diversity across the alpine of these mountains implies that conservation strategies ultimately will require the protection of large numbers of species over a large geographical area. However,prioritiza-tion should be given to areas where potential payoffs are greatest. Sites with high species richness also have a greater number of endemic species,and,by focusing efforts on these sites,conservation investments would be maximized by protecting the greatest number of unique species.     

Sediment‐rich meltwater plumes and ice‐proximal fans at the margins of modern and ancient tidewater glaciers: Observations and modelling

Turbid meltwater plumes and ice‐proximal fans occur where subglacial streams reach the grounded marine margins of modern and ancient tidewater glaciers. However, the spacing and temporal stability of these subglacial channels is poorly understood. This has significant implications for understanding the geometry and distribution of Quaternary and ancient ice‐proximal fans that can form important aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Remote‐sensing and numerical‐modelling techniques are applied to the 200 km long marine margin of a Svalbard ice cap, Austfonna, to quantify turbid meltwater‐plume distribution and predict its temporal stability. Results are combined with observations from geophysical data close to the modern ice front to refine existing depositional models for ice‐proximal fans. Plumes are spaced ca 3 km apart and their distribution along the ice front is stable over decades. Numerical modelling also predicts the drainage pattern and meltwater discharge beneath the ice cap; modelled water‐routing patterns are in reasonable agreement with satellite‐mapped plume locations. However, glacial retreat of several kilometres over the past 40 years has limited build‐up of significant ice‐proximal fans. A single fan and moraine ridge is noted from marine‐geophysical surveys. Closer to the ice front there are smaller recessional moraines and polygonal sediment lobes but no identifiable fans. Schematic models of ice‐proximal deposits represent varying glacier‐terminus stability: (i) stable terminus where meltwater sedimentation produces an ice‐proximal fan; (ii) quasi‐stable terminus, where glacier readvance pushes or thrusts up ice‐proximal deposits into a morainal bank; and (iii) retreating terminus, with short still‐stands, allowing only small sediment lobes to build up at melt‐stream portals. These modern investigations are complemented with outcrop and subsurface observations and numerical modelling of an ancient, Ordovician glacial system. Thick turbidite successions and large fans in the Late Ordovician suggest either high‐magnitude events or sustained high discharge, consistent with a relatively mild palaeo‐glacial setting for the former North African ice sheet.     

U-Pb zircon dating of mafic dykes and its application to the Proterozoic geological history of the Vestfold Hills,East Antarctica

The Vestfold Hills, one of several Archaean cratonic blocks within the East Antarctic Shield, comprises a high-grade metamorphic basement complex intruded by at least nine generations of Early to Middle Proterozoic mafic dykes. Extensive U-Pb ion microprobe (SHRIMP) analyses of zircons, derived predominantly from late-stage felsic differentiates of the mafic dykes, provide precise crystallisation ages for several dyke generations. These new ages enable constraints to be placed on both the history of mafic magmatism in the Vestfold Hills and the timing of the various interspersed Proterozoic deformation events. In addition to demonstrating the utility of zircons derived from felsic late-stage differentiates for the dating of co-genetic mafic dykes, this study also places doubt on previous wholerock Rb-Sr dating of mafic dyke suites in this and other areas of East Antarctica. The ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb zircon ages of 2241±4 Ma and 2238±7 Ma for the Homogeneous and Mottled Norites, respectively, provide a younger emplacement age for associated group 2 High-Mg tholeiite dykes than the whole-rock Rb-Sr date (2424±72 Ma) originally interpreted as the age of all high-Mg intrusives in the Vestfold Hills. Zircon ages of 1754±16 Ma and 1832±72 Ma confirm the previously defined Rb-Sr age of the group 2 Fe-rich tholeiites. Two later dyke generations, the group 3 and 4 Fe-rich tholeiites, are distinguished on the basis of field orientations and cross-cutting relationships, and yield zircon emplacement ages of 1380±7 Ma and 1241±5 Ma which also define minimum ages for two suites of lamprophyre dykes. Xenocrystic zircons within both felsic segregations and mafic dykes yield zircon ages of 2478±5 Ma to 2740 Ma, indicating the presence of Archaean crustal source rocks of this antiquity beneath the Vestfold Hills.     

Dependence of radio emission in large Hα flares 1967–1970 upon the orientation of the local solar magnetic field

During 1967–1970, the greatness of 90 large flares (H importance 2) was influenced by the orientation of the large-scale ( 100 000 km) magnetic field structure over the flare site. Although the average X-ray and optical emissions are only slightly larger for flares with their overlying fields directed southward, as opposed to northward, the meter-wave-length prompt flux maxima are, on average, an order of magnitude greater for the flares with southward oriented magnetic fields. There is a comparable, but possibly smaller difference in the 10 cm- fluxes. We therefore conclude that, during this period, the orientation of the overlying magnetic field affects the amount of electromagnetic flare energy radiated promptly in the corona (10 cm- and m-), relative to that radiated in the chromosphere (X-ray and optical). We demonstrate that this statistical effect shows some variability in degree during the period, although the trend is consistent throughout.