Limited Consequences of Seagrass Decline on Benthic Macrofauna and Associated Biotic Indicators

Marine phanerogams are ecosystem engineers, as their presence induces major environmental changes that impact on the benthic fauna. Consequently, modifications to the structure of benthic communities would be expected to be associated with seagrass decline. Since 2005, Zostera noltii seagrass beds in Arcachon Bay (France), the largest in Europe, have undergone a severe decline. Twelve stations distributed throughout the lagoon were sampled in 2002, and all were found to be densely planted at that time. Subsequently, the same stations were revisited in 2010 and seagrass cover had drastically decreased by that time. Based on benthic macrofauna, multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis identified four groups. Years were separated. In 2002, two groups were distinct in relation to the water body, since in 2010 separation between the two other groups was related to seagrass occurrence. When looking at community structure and dominant species there were moderate differences within and between years, independent of seagrass decline. Seagrass loss did not drastically modify the species composition as they were preserved in the remaining seagrass patches. However, there was a drop in macrofauna abundance in unvegetated muddy compared with abundance in the remaining seagrass areas. Epifauna was particularly affected by seagrass decline. Among biotic indicators based on macrofauna, multivariate indicator MISS (Macrobenthic Index in Sheltered Systems) was in agreement with the similarity of macrofauna structure among groups, while other tested indicators performed badly in relation to seagrass occurrence. However, no index detected seagrass loss, highlighting the necessity of maintaining a separate survey on seagrass cover.     

Geochemistry of soils derived from black shales in the Ganziping mine area, western Hunan, China

The geochemistry of major and trace elements (including heavy metals and rare earth elements) of the fresh and weathered black shales, and the soils derived from black shales in the Ganziping mine area in western Hunan province (China) were studied using the following techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that the black-shale soils are significantly enriched with Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃, and depleted of mobile elements CaO, Na₂O and K₂O. The soils are also highly enriched with heavy metals U, V, Ni, Ba, Cu, Zn and Pb, that may cause potential heavy-metal contamination of the soils. Composition of the soils is homogeneous compared to the weathered black shales, for which the concentrations of major elements except CaO and Na₂O, and trace elements except heavy metals (U, V, Ni, Ba, Cu, Zn and Pb) as well as the mobile Sr, show lower variations than in the weathered black shales. Ratios of Zr/Hf, Ta/Nb, Y/Ho, Nd/Sm, and Ti/(Ti + Zr), of the soils are also less variable, with values constantly similar to that of the fresh and weathered black shales correspondingly. Thus, components of the soils are believed to be contributed from the parent black shales through weathering and pedogenesis. It is concluded that the soils were formed by at least two stages of geochemical processes: the early stage of chemical differentiation and the later stage of chemical homogenization. The chemical differentiation that was taken during black-shale weathering might have caused the depletion of CaO and Na₂O, and the enrichment of Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃; while the chemical homogenization that was taken during pedogenesis led to the depletion of SiO₂ and K₂O, and to the further enrichment of Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃. The heavy-metal enrichment (contamination) of the soils was then genetically related to the enrichment of Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃ in the soils.     

The Influence of Weathering on the Engineering Properties of Dunites

Weathering processes cause important changes in the engineering properties of rocks. In this study, dunites in the Bursa region in western Turkey were investigated and the changes in engineering properties due to weathering were evaluated. The studies were initiated with field observations including measurement of the characteristics of discontinuities such as spacing, aperture, fill material, roughness, and Schmidt hammer rebound value. Subsequently, laboratory studies were conducted in two stages. The first stage comprised mineralogical, petrographic, and chemical analyses. The second stage included physicomechanical tests to determine specific gravity, unit weights, water absorption, effective porosity, uniaxial compressive strength, P-wave velocity, and slake-durability index. According to these evaluations, the changes in engineering properties were determined to be mostly related to serpentinization at every stage of weathering. The most suitable parameters for characterizing the degree of weathering of the studied dunites are loss-on-ignition values, specific gravity, unit weight, water absorption, and effective porosity.     

综合处理办法在城市复杂地段桥桩施工中的应用

在北京市德内大街桥桩施工过程中,不仅遇到交通拥堵．场地狭小．地上地下障碍物等多种不利条件．而且在拟施工的桩位处遇到大量原有河道的加固材料,物品种类之多、数量之大、埋深之厚,实属罕见,施工条件极差、施工难度极高,施工单位最终通过采取多种办法、措施解决了这些难题,圆满的完成了桥桩施工任务。本人认为在旧城复杂地段施工时,综合处理措施具有很大发展空间,值得深入研究发展,在旧城改造的类似工程中具有一定借鉴作用。     

Spatio-temporal patterns of hydrological processes and their responses to human activities in the Poyang Lake basin,China

Abstract

Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China, and plays a major role in flood mitigation, restoration and conservation of the ecological environment in the middle Yangtze River basin. Sediment load and streamflow variations in Poyang Lake basin are important for the scouring and deposition changes of this lake. However, these hydrological processes are heavily influenced by human activities, such as construction of water reservoirs, and land-use/land cover changes. By thorough analysis of long series of sediment and streamflow obtained from five major hydrological stations, we systematically investigated the spatial and temporal patterns of these hydrological processes and the hydrological responses to human activities using the Mann-Kendall trend test, the double cumulative mass curve and the linear regression method. The results show: (1) no significant change in streamflow followed by an increasing tendency after the 1990s that turns to be decreasing about 2000; and (2) a sharp increase of sediment load during the late 1960s and 1970s triggered by extensive deforestation (during the “Cultural Revolution” in China) followed by a tendency to decrease after the early 1980s. Construction of water reservoirs has greatly reduced the sediment load of the Poyang Lake basin, and this is particularly the case in the Ganjiang River, where the sediment load changes may be attributed to the trapping effects of the Wan'an Reservoir, the largest water reservoir within the Poyang Lake basin. There is no evidence to corroborate the influence of water reservoirs on the streamflow variations. It seems that the streamflow variations are subject mainly to precipitation changes, but this requires further analysis. The current study may be of scientific and practical benefit in the conservation and restoration of Poyang Lake, as a kind of wetland, and also in flood mitigation in the middle Yangtze River basin that is under the influence of human activities.

Citation Zhang, Q., Sun, P., Jiang, T. & Chen, X.-H. (2011) Spatio-temporal patterns of hydrological processes and their hydrological responses to human activities in the Poyang Lake basin, China. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(2), 305–318.     

Distribution and sequential extraction of some heavy metals in urban soils of Guiyang City,China

Sixty-two soil samples collected from different functional zones of Guiyang were analyzed for total concentrations and sequential extraction of Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd by ICP spectrometry. The average total concentrations ofCr, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd in the soils of Guiyang were 92.9, 51.6, 44.1,139.3 and 0.28 mg/kg, respectively. The soils have been polluted by Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd to some extent in comparison with the background values of Guiyang. Significant differences were recognized in the concentrations of Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd in different functional zones. As for the sequential extraction, Cr, Cu and Zn were present mainly in the residual fraction, and Pb was present mainly in the oxidizable fraction. The reducible fraction of Cd accounts for 47.5%, and the residual fraction is lowest. The mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals follow the order of Cd〉Pb〉Cu〉Cr〉Zn.     

后乌克兰危机背景下的北极国际合作:以“复合相互依赖”为视角

对于后危机时期对立国家间在特定领域的合作关系的延续,“复合相互依赖”模式提供了有力的理论解释力。正如乌克兰危机陷入僵局后,西方国家对俄罗斯采取经济制裁,与俄罗斯的政治和军事关系也全面破裂;然而,俄罗斯与西方国家的合作关系却并未完全中断,至少在北极地区的搜救、渔业、航运、北极理事会等功能性领域的合作依然继续,使得北极国际合作呈现出断裂性和连续性的动态组合。现阶段的北极地区关系反映了一个事先存在的“复合相互依赖”状态,通过联系战略、议程设置和国际机制等政治进程,避免国家间关系的全面破裂并抑制危机的外溢,同时为冲突各方保有在有限领域的沟通渠道,推动信任关系的重塑。     

Coupling mobile phone and social media data: a new approach to understanding urban functions and diurnal patterns

Understanding urban functions and their relationships with human activities has great implications for smart and sustainable urban development. In this study, we present a novel approach to uncovering urban functions by aggregating human activities inferred from mobile phone positioning and social media data. First, the homes and workplaces (of travelers) are estimated from mobile phone positioning data to annotate the activities conducted at these locations. The remaining activities (such as shopping, schooling, transportation, recreation and entertainment) are labeled using a hidden Markov model with social knowledge learned from social media check-in data over a lengthy period. By aggregating identified human activities, hourly urban functions are inferred, and the diurnal dynamics of those functions are revealed. An empirical analysis was conducted for the case of Shenzhen, China. The results indicate that the proposed approach can capture citywide dynamics of both human activities and urban functions. It also suggests that although many urban areas have been officially labeled with a single land-use type, they may provide different functions over time depending on the types and range of human activities. The study demonstrates that combining different data on human activities could yield an improved understanding of urban functions, which would benefit short-term urban decision-making and long-term urban policy making.