The feeding habits of Austrolethops wardi, a gobiid fish inhabiting burrows of the thalassinidean shrimp Neaxius acanthus

The feeding habit of Austrolethops wardi (Gobiidae) in the seagrass beds of Barrang Lompo and Bone Batang Island in the Spermonde Archipelago, South West Sulawesi, Indonesia, was investigated through gut content analysis. The feeding preferences of this species are very similar on both islands: A. wardi, a burrow associate of Neaxius acanthus, was found to feed almost exclusively on seagrass (which was found in 100% of the investigated stomachs and made up >94% of food items). However, seagrass epiphytes (<5% of food items) and animal food (<1% of food items) occurred in the guts as well, the latter predominantly in terms of copepods and to a lesser degree in other small invertebrates. These results indicate that animal food is of little importance for A. wardi. Some specimens even contained no parts of animal food.     

Stone cover and slope factors influencing hillside surface runoff and infiltration: laboratory investigation

In this study, laboratory rainfall simulation in an extensive area was used to study the infiltration, and interception and storage from surface runoff in points with different stone cover percentages (0, 10, 20 and 30%) and slopes (5°, 10° and 20°). The experimental results of this study showed that the interrelationships among the slope, stone cover percentage, groundwater level, surface runoff amount, and interception and storage of the ponds were varied and irregular. No systematic patterns were detected for the change in the groundwater level, surface runoff amount, and interception and storage of the ponds with different stone cover percentages at different slopes and no threshold values were apparent. For a 5° slope, if the stone cover percentage was increased, the amount of surface runoff was reduced, the infiltration and the groundwater level experienced no significant change, and the interception and storage of the ponds increased. For a 10° slope, if the stone cover percentage was increased, the amount of surface runoff increased, the infiltration decreased, the groundwater level experienced no significant change or decreased slightly at certain points, and the interception and storage of the ponds increased. For a 20° slope, if the stone cover percentage was increased, the amount of runoff increased, the infiltration decreased, the groundwater level experienced no significant change or decreased slightly at certain points, and the interception and storage of the ponds increased. With or without stone cover, when the hydraulic conductivity of the top material is close to that of fine sand or laterite, an increase in the slope gradient decreased the amount of surface runoff and increased the storage amount of the ponds. As for the stone distribution, an interlaced style showed better performance in the interception and storage of ponds than that of a regular style. There was no significant change in the groundwater level. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mortality risk of a future heat event across a subtropical city: implications for community planning and health policy

Natural Hazards - In this study, we applied the Weather Research and Forecasting model to project 2050 urban and rural temperature. We applied a time-stratified analysis to compare it with...