Links Between Bottom-Water Anoxia,the Polychaete <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nereis diversicolor</Emphasis>, and the Growth of Green-Algal Mats

Sediment–water incubations were used to study effects of episodic anoxia on filamentous Ulva sp. Treatments included undisturbed sediment with (AnoxSed) and without (NatSed) exposure to 5 days of anoxia, and cores with only the top 0.5 cm of sediment (SurfSed; no macrofauna, restricted pore-water nutrient pool). All three treatments contained Ulva propagules. An Ulva mat developed in the SurfSed, and after the anoxic period in the AnoxSed cores. No growth was observed in the NatSed treatment. In the AnoxSed, Ulva was progressively removed upon reoxygenation through grazing by Nereis. The results suggest that episodic anoxia stimulates the growth of macroalgal mats not only by increasing the availability of nutrients from the sediment, but also by reducing macrofaunal grazing pressure. Infauna (grazing and bioturbation), benthic microalgae (nutrient competition and retention), and pore-water nutrients appear key components in a biogeochemical network with complex feedbacks controlling the growth of green-algal mats in shallow-water systems.     

Possibilities of land use change analysis in a mountainous rural area: a methodological approach

Decreasing population density is a current trend in the European Union, and causes a lower environmental impact on the landscape. However, besides the desirable effect on the regeneration processes of semi-natural forest ecosystems, the lack of traditional management techniques can also lead to detrimental ecological processes. In this study we investigated the land use pattern changes in a micro-region (in North-Eastern Hungary) between 1952 and 2005, based on vectorised land use data from archive aerial photos. We also evaluated the methodology of comparisons using GIS methods, fuzzy sets and landscape metrics. We found that both GIS methods and statistical analysis of landscape metrics resulted in more or less the same findings. Differences were not as relevant as was expected considering the general tendencies of the past 60 years in Hungary. The change in the annual rate of forest recovery was 0.12%; settlements extended their area by an annual rate of 3.04%, while grasslands and arable lands had a net loss in their area within the studied period (0.60% and 0.89%, respectively). The kappa index showed a smaller similarity (~60%) between these dates but the fuzzy kappa and the aggregation index, taking into account both spatial and thematic errors, gave a more reliable result (~70–80% similarity). Landscape metrics on patch and class level ensured the possibility of a detailed analysis. We arrived at a similar outcome but were able to verify all the calculations through statistical tests. With this approach we were able to reveal significant (p < 0.05) changes; however, effect sizes did not show large magnitudes. Comparing the methods of revealing landscape change, the approach of landscape metrics was the most effective approach, as it was independent of spatial errors and ensuring a multiple way of interpretation.     

Amplitude Response of a LCR Gravimeter with Feedback at Periods of Microseisms and Earthquake Waves

The amplitude response of a LCR gravimeter with the SRW-E feedback was determined on a vertical vibrating platform. The ink-pen recorder was connected parallel with the digital voltmeter input to obtain an analog response of the gravimeter to the harmonic motion of the base with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 10 m and periods excited in an interval of 4 - 10 s as by the ground motion of meteorological microseisms, and in the interval 10 -100 s as by surface waves of distant strong earthquakes. In the first interval, an unexpected maximum of the amplitude response was observed with the double amplitude of apparent 6,5 Gal (6.5 × 10 _–8 m/s ² ) at a period of 4.8 s, and a baseline shift with the amplitude of–64Gal was observed at the same period. The value of this direct component cannot be separated from the effect of the Earth's gravity field. In the second interval, the amplitude response of the gravimeter displayed one expected maximum at a period of 40 s with the double amplitude of 8.1Gal. At the usual level of microseisms with a peak-to-peak amplitude of up to 2 m the fluctuation of the gravimeter on the direct baseline shifted by –4.9 Gal was estimated at 1 Gal. With typical Rayleigh surface waves with periods of 20 s and double amplitudes of up to 100 m, the fluctuation reached 67 Gal.     

Numerical modelling of time-harmonic seismic wave fields in simple structures by the Gaussian beam method. Part II

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The effect of nested grid sampling on the parameter estimation of a spatial Gompertz diffusion

This paper evaluates the effects of using data observed on regular nested grids on the parameter estimates of a two-parameter Gompertz diffusion model. This new spatial diffusion process represents a technically more complex stage of Gompertz modeling. Firstly, the diffusion model is introduced through an appropriate transformation of a two-parameter Gaussian diffusion process. Probabilistic characteristics of this model, such as the transition densities and the trend functions, are obtained. Secondly, statistical estimation is considered using data obtained on a regular or irregular grid; the explicit expression of the likelihood equations and the parameter estimators are given for regular grids. Finally, a simulation experiment illustrates the results of this paper.     

Quantifying land use/land cover spatio-temporal landscape pattern dynamics from Hyperion using SVMs classifier and FRAGSTATS®

This study aims to quantify the landscape spatio-temporal dynamics including Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes occurred in a typical Mediterranean ecosystem of high ecological and cultural significance in central Greece covering a period of 9 years (2001–2009). Herein, we examined the synergistic operation among Hyperion hyperspectral satellite imagery with Support Vector Machines, the FRAGSTATS^® landscape spatial analysis programme and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for this purpose. The change analysis showed that notable changes reported in the experimental region during the studied period, particularly for certain LULC classes. The analysis of accuracy indices suggested that all the three classification techniques are performing satisfactorily with overall accuracy of 86.62, 91.67 and 89.26% in years 2001, 2004 and 2009, respectively. Results evidenced the requirement for taking measures to conserve this forest-dominated natural ecosystem from human-induced pressures and/or natural hazards occurred in the area. To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind, demonstrating the Hyperion capability in quantifying LULC changes with landscape metrics using FRAGSTATS^® programme and PCA for understanding the land surface fragmentation characteristics and their changes. The suggested approach is robust and flexible enough to be expanded further to other regions. Findings of this research can be of special importance in the context of the launch of spaceborne hyperspectral sensors that are already planned to be placed in orbit as the NASA’s HyspIRI sensor and EnMAP.