Importance of kelp-derived organic carbon to the scallop <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlamys farreri</Emphasis> in an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture system

Bivalves and seaweeds are important cleaners that are widely used in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems. A beneficial relationship between seaweed and bivalve in the seaweed-based IMTA system has been confirmed, but the trophic importance of seaweed-derived particulate organic materials to the co-cultured bivalve is still unclear. We evaluated the trophic importance of the kelp Saccharina japonica to the co-cultured scallop Chlamys farreri in a typical IMTA farm in Sungo Bay (Weihai, North China). The dynamics of detritus carbon in the water were monitored during the culturing period. The proportion of kelp-derived organic matter in the diet of the co-cultured scallop was assessed via the stable carbon isotope method. Results showed that the detritus carbon in the water ranged from 75.52 to 265.19 μg/L, which was 25.6% to 73.8% of total particulate organic carbon (TPOC) during the study period. The amount of detritus carbon and its proportion in the TPOC changed throughout the culture cycle of the kelp. Stable carbon isotope analysis showed that the cultured scallop obtained 14.1% to 42.8% of its tissue carbon from the kelp, and that the percentages were closely correlated with the proportion of detritus carbon in the water (F =0.993, P= 0.003). Evaluation showed that for 17 000 tons (wet weight) of annual scallop production, the kelp contributed about 139.3 tons of carbon (535.8 tons of dry mass). This confirms that cultured kelp plays a similar trophic role in IMTA systems as it does in a natural kelp bed. It is a major contributor to the detritus pool and supplies a vital food source to filter-feeding scallops in the IMTA system, especially during winter and early spring when phytoplankton are scarce.     

Analysis of phenotypic and genetic parameters for growthrelated traits in the half smooth tongue sole, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cynoglossus semilaevis</Emphasis>

Phenotypic and genetic parameters for growth-related traits in the half-smooth tongue sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis, were estimated in 22 full-sib families produced by normal and neo-male breeding stocks. As phenotypic males with female genotypes, neo-males are harmful in C. semilaevis aquaculture because they reduce overall production. The present study evaluated the difference in the growth-related traits: total length (TL), body weight (BW) and square root of body weight (SQ_BW) at the age of 570 days between normal and neo-male offspring (neo-males used as male parents). The difference in the proportion of females between normal and neo-male offspring was also assessed. Based on the linear mixed model, restricted maximum likelihood (REML) and best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) were used to estimate various (co)variance components and estimated breeding values (EBVs) of growth-related traits. As a result, all the mean values of the three studied traits were significantly larger in normal offspring than in neo-male offspring. Additionally, the female proportion was significantly larger in normal offspring than in neo-male offspring. Heritability was 0.128±0.066 2 for TL, 0.128±0.065 5 for BW and 0.132±0.062 9 for SQ_BW, all of which were low level heritabilities. The correlation coefficients of EBVs and phenotypic values of the target traits were 0.516 for TL, 0.524 for BW and 0.506 for SQ_BW, all of which were highly significant (P <0.01). Genetic correlations among TL, BW and SQ_BW were positive high (0.921–0.969) and higher than those of phenotype (0.711–0.748), both of which had low standard errors (0.063–0.123 for genotype, and 0.010–0.018 for phenotype). Compared with normal offspring, neo-male offspring have lower breeding values for each studied trait through EBVs comparison. Therefore, neo-male offspring should not be used as broodstock in a C. semilaevis breeding programs.     

Pharmacokinetics and acetylation of sulfamethoxazole in turbot <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scophthalmus maximus</Emphasis> after intravascular administration

The pharmacokinetic profiles and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) acetylation process in turbot reared at 18°C were investigated. Either SMX (parent drug) or its acetylized metabolite, N₄-acetylsulfamethoxazole (AcSMX), was administered intravascularly to turbot at a dosage of 50 mg/kg BW. Serum concentrations of the parent drug and its metabolite were both measured by HPLC, and the changes in concentration over time were analyzed in two- and non-compartment models because SMX treatment produced multiple peaks. The results demonstrated that the elimination half-life of the parent drugs, SMX and AcSMX, were 159.2 and 5.9 h, respectively. The apparent volume of distribution was 0.2 and 0.8 L/kg, and the clearance was 0.038 and 0.222 L/(h·kg), for SMX and AcSMX, respectively. SMX acetylation in turbot was 2.8%, and the deacetylation of AcSMX was 0.2%. These findings may be useful in optimizing SMX dosage regimens in turbot aquaculture.     

新疆哈密地区早泥盆世珊瑚动物群及其地质意义

新疆哈密地区下泥盆统发育,南部图拉尔根地区下泥盆统为大南湖组,北部三道白杨沟地区为卓木巴斯套组。在大南湖组中共发现四射珊瑚2属5种,床板珊瑚7属12种,并建立四射珊瑚组合Syringaxon moriense和床板珊瑚组合Pseudofavosites giganteus;在卓木巴斯套组共发现四射珊瑚5属7种,床板珊瑚2属2种,并建立四射珊瑚组合Orthopaterophyllum junggarense和床板珊瑚组合Pachyfavosites junggarensis。通过珊瑚在地层中的分布及组合的时代对比,确定前者的时代为早泥盆世埃姆斯期早期,后者的时代为埃姆斯期中晚期。通过与国内外典型的早泥盆世埃姆斯期珊瑚动物群的对比,认为哈密地区的珊瑚动物具有典型的早泥盆世温带动物群特征,在生物古地理区系上属于北方大区准噶尔-兴安省。     

Geoscience Frontiers 2017 Annual Convention

正The 2017 Geoscience Frontiers Annual Convention was held in Beijing,China during October 19-21,2017 hosted by China University of Geosciences,Beijing(Fig.1).This convention assembled earth scientists from seven countries,including Australia(Dr.Christopher Spencer and Dr.Stijn Glorie),Korea(Dr.S.Kwon),India(Dr.Shaji Erath),Japan(Dr.Toshiaki Tsunogae and Dr.Masaki Yoshida),Russia(Dr.Inna Safonova),UK(Dr.Nick Roberts),China,and also     

Characterizing groundwater/surface-water interactions in the interior of Jianghan Plain,central China

Hydrogeology Journal - Quantifying groundwater/surface-water interactions is essential for managing water resources and revealing contaminant fate. There has been little concern on the exchange...     

Numerical analysis of effect of baffle configuration on impact force exerted from rock avalanches

In mountainous areas, channelized rock avalanches swarm downslope leading to large impact forces on building structures in residential areas. Arrays of rock avalanche baffles are usually installed in front of rigid barriers to attenuate the flow energy of rock avalanches. However, previous studies have not sufficiently addressed the mechanisms of interaction between the rock avalanches and baffles. In addition, empirical design approaches such as debris flow (Tang et al., Quat Int 250:63–73, 2012), rockfall (Spang and Rautenstrauch, 1237–1243, 1988), snow avalanches (Favier et al., 14:3–15, 2012), and rock avalanches (Manzella and Labiouse, Landslides 10:23–36, 2013), which are applied in natural geo-disasters mitigation cannot met construction requirements. This study presents details of numerical modeling using the discrete element method (DEM) to investigate the effect of the configuration of baffles (number and spacing of baffle columns and rows) on the impact force that rock avalanches exert on baffles. The numerical modeling is firstly conducted to provide insights into the flow interaction between rock avalanches and an array of baffles. Then, a modeling analysis is made to investigate the change pattern of the impact force with respect to baffle configurations. The results demonstrate that three crucial influencing factors (baffle row numbers, baffle column spacing, and baffle row spacing) have close relationship with energy dissipation of baffles. Interestingly, it is found that capacity of energy dissipation of baffles increases with increasing baffle row numbers and baffle row spacing, while it decreases with increasing baffle column spacing. The results obtained from this study are useful for facilitating design of baffles against rock avalanches.     

Cyclic degradation and non-coaxiality of soft clay subjected to pure rotation of principal stress directions

Foundation soils are often under non-proportional cyclic loadings. The deformation behaviour and the mechanism of non-coaxiality under continuous pure principal stress rotation for clays are not clearly investigated up to now. In order to study the effect of pure principal stress rotation, a series of cyclic undrained tests on Shanghai soft clay subjected to cyclic rotation of principal stress directions keeping the deviatoric stress constant under the pure rotation condition were conducted using hollow cylinder apparatus. Based on this, the evolutions of excess pore pressure and strains during cyclic loading were investigated, together with the effects of the intermediate principal stress parameter and the deviatoric stress level on stress–strain stiffness and non-coaxiality. The result can provide an experimental basis for constitutive modelling of clays describing the behaviour under non-proportional loadings.     

Soil column infiltration tests on biomediated capillary barrier systems for mitigating rainfall-induced landslides

Rainfall-induced landslide is a common geohazard in tropical and humid regions. Capillary barrier system (CBS) is a popular and widely studied mitigating measure for rainfall-induced landslides. However, several previous studies have shown that the performance of the conventional CBS under intense rainfalls has not been particularly convincing. This paper aims to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of a newly proposed system, known as “biomediated capillary barrier system” (B-CBS) in minimizing water infiltration into soil. A one-dimensional soil column was used to investigate the infiltration characteristics of the proposed system. The results showed that the B-CBS of biomediated residual soil overlying original residual soil (Test IV) could effectively control the infiltration into soil by taking advantage of the less-permeable biomediated soil cover. The B-CBS of biomediated residual soil overlying gravelly sand (Test V) and the three-layered B-CBS of fine sand overlying gravelly sand and biomediated residual soil (Test VI) showed the best performance in terms of minimizing the water infiltration. A suction of about 5 kPa still remained in the soil column after 60 min of infiltration from the ponded water on the soil surface.     

Mechanical behavior and micro-structure of cement kiln dust-stabilized expensive soil

In this study, the effects of cement kiln dust (CKD) on the swelling properties, strength properties, and microstructures of CKD-stabilized expansive soil were investigated. Samples were prepared and stabilized with different CKD content ratios, ranging from 0 to 18% by dry mass. The results obtained show that the maximum swelling pressures decrease exponentially with increases in CKD content. Both the cohesion and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) increase at ratios below 10% CKD and then decrease slightly, above that ratio. CKD can also improve the strength of saturated, expansive soil. There is no visible change of UCS for soil without CKD when cured, while the UCS of a sample with 10% CKD content after curing for 90 days is higher than that after curing for only 1 day. This indicates that CKD can improve the long-term strength of expansive soil. Finally, microstructure analysis reveals that the addition of CKD reduces the montmorillonite content of expansive soil and decreases its swelling properties. The addition of CKD also changes the pore volume distribution, both the size and amount of macro-pores and micro-pores decrease with increase in CKD content. For saturated samples, the size of macro-pores is obviously reduced, while that of micro-pores is slightly increased for both treated and untreated soils. Hydration and saturation processes make the soil structure become dispersive which results in a lower strength, and adding CKD can restrain this process. The suggested optimal CKD content is between 10 and 14% and with a curing time of more than 27 days.