Hidden in plain sight: How finding a lake in the Brazilian Pantanal improves understanding of wetland hydrogeomorphology

Wetlands are permanently or seasonally flooded areas which support countless species of plants and animals. The Pantanal, in central-west Brazil is one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the world covering an area of ~150 000 km². The relationships between geomorphology, hydrology, sedimentation, and vegetation cover are critical for understanding how the landscape constrains the dynamics of wetlands. We provide a detailed study of the geomorphology and surface hydrology of the Negro River Interfan System (NRIS), in the southern Pantanal, by applying multiple approaches (i.e. remote sensing analysis, geomorphological zonation and hydrosedimentological surveys). A multitemporal analysis of Landsat imagery produced an inundation frequency map (2000–2011 period) that revealed a permanently flooded area in the central portion of the NRIS. A hidden fluvial lake was previously undetected due to the accumulation of floating mats and floating meadows of macrophytes. The Negro and Aquidauana feeder rivers exhibit remarkable differences in channel planform, water discharge, and sediment load. The Negro River presents a distributary pattern with marginal levees with decreasing elevation as it progrades into the lake and remains as a subaqueous landform conditioning the water flow downstream. The lake outflow to the Paraguay River occurs mainly by sheet flow during flood seasons and through small tributary channels during dry months. The lake's geometry is outlined by east–northeast and west–northwest straight borders, suggesting that the area is tectonically controlled. A cloud-based worldwide water surface database (1984–2015) revealed frequent channel changes within the NRIS. Recent channel avulsions in the lower course of the Negro River are noteworthy mainly because the former river channel at the confluence with the Paraguay River is no longer connected with the Negro River channel. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tropical Cyclone Impacts on Coastal Regions: the Case of the Yucatán and the Baja California Peninsulas,Mexico

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are large-scale natural disturbances that generate strong winds and heavy rainfall, impacting coastal and inland environments. TCs also influence biogeochemical and hydrological cycles controlling aquatic primary productivity in tropical and subtropical coastal ecosystems. We assessed TC landfall activity and identified sites along the Mexican east and west coasts with high frequency in the period 1970–2010 and evaluated TCs with significant precipitation. Changes in chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations before and after storm impacts were estimated using remotely sensed ocean color. There were 1,065 named TCs with a wide diversity in tracks. Three states with the highest number of landfalls were identified: Baja California Sur and Sinaloa on the west coast and Quintana Roo on the east coast. While a relative increase in Chl-a values following TC landfalls in the Baja California and Yucatán Peninsula regions appeared to be strongly linked to TC strength, the intensity of precipitation, the spatial scales of the two peninsulas, and the relative movement of TCs appeared to have contributed to Chl-a variability. Satellite estimates of Chl-a in the nearshore coastal waters following TC passage were likely enhanced by coastal morphology and water discharge along with constituents such as suspended particulate, colored dissolved organic matter and nutrients from rivers, tributaries, and groundwater.     

Low densities of sea urchins influence the structure of algal assemblages in the western Mediterranean

Numerous studies of interactions between urchins and algae in temperate areas have shown an important structuring effect of sea urchin populations. These studies focused almost wholly on the effect of high urchin densities on laminarian forests. In contrast, algal communities below 5–6 m depth in the northwestern Mediterranean are characterised by low sea urchin densities (<5 ind m⁻²) and the absence of laminarian forests. No previous research has addressed sea urchin/algal interactions in this type of community. To determine the effect of the most abundant echinoid species, Paracentrotus lividus, on well-established algal communities in this area, we performed a removal–reintroduction experiment in rocky patches located between 13 and 16 m depth in the northwestern Mediterranean, where sea urchin densities ranged between 0.9 and 3.4 ind m⁻². After 6 months, the cover of non-crustose algae was significantly higher in the plots from which sea urchins had been removed than in control plots (84 vs 67% cover). These removal plots reverted to their original state upon reintroduction of sea urchins. The non-crustose algae consisted of turfing and frondose forms, with the former representing some 70% of the non-crustose algal cover. Change in the cover of turfing algae was responsible for the significant increase in algal development in the sea urchin removal plots. The response of frondose algae to the treatment varied between algal species. It is concluded that grazing by P. lividus exerts a significant effect on habitat structure, even in communities with low sea urchin densities, such as those found in vast areas of the Mediterranean sublittoral.     

Assessing the factors driving the changes in the spatio-temporal distribution of Hepatus pudibundus (Decapoda,Brachyura) over a 20-year interval in a region under the influence of El Niño (ENSO)

This study aimed to compare the spatio-temporal distribution of demographic groups of Hepatus pudibundus in the Ubatuba Bay, São Paulo, Brazil, over a 20-year interval. Two 1-year samplings were conducted: the 1st period (P1) ran from September 1995 to August 1996 and the 2nd period (P2) ran from September 2016 to August 2017. Samples were taken from five stations that differed in depth (5, 10, and 15 m) and location (exposed area and sheltered area), aboard a shrimp fishing boat. Over the 20-year period, the percentage of fine sediment increased in all stations. In total, we captured 865 H. pudibundus individuals in the P1 and 4,222 in the P2. The higher abundance seen in the P2 may have been caused by the effects of an intense ENSO event in Ubatuba, as well as co-occurring protective actions against fisheries activities in the region. The spatial distribution also changed after 20 years: In the P1, H. pudibundus were more concentrated in the 15 m station and exposed area, but they shifted to the sheltered area in the P2. This change may be related to the increase of fine sediments in this area, and to the fact that it is naturally protected from fisheries. According to the correspondence analysis, the abundance of males and juveniles was correlated with spring and winter, respectively. In the P1, females were more abundant in spring, whereas in the P2 they were more abundant in summer, which may be explained by a higher nutrient availability to the larvae in the summer of the P2. Our comparisons over the 20-year interval revealed that the spatio-temporal distribution of H. pudibundus has changed and that the population is well established in Ubatuba Bay.     

Using Mahalanobis Distance to Detect and Remove Outliers in Experimental Covariograms

Experimental variograms are crucial for most geostatistical studies. In kriging, for example, the variography has a direct influence on the interpolation weights. Despite the great importance of variogram estimators in predicting geostatistical features, they are commonly influenced by outliers in the dataset. The effect of some randomly spatially distributed outliers can mask the pattern of the experimental variogram and produce a destructuration effect, implying that the true data spatial continuity cannot be reproduced. In this paper, an algorithm to detect and remove the effect of outliers in experimental variograms using the Mahalanobis distance is proposed. An example of the algorithm’s application is presented, showing that the developed technique is able to satisfactorily detect and remove outliers from a variogram.

     

Metazoan parasite communities of Selar crumenophthalmus and Decapterus muroadsi (Pisces: Carangidae) from Mexican Pacific coasts

Metazoan parasites communities of marine fishes can include both adults and larval stages of several endoparasite groups that use fishes as intermediate or paratenic hosts. The richness and abundance of parasite species larvae that harbour a fish species can therefore be a good indicator of that species’ role as an intermediate host to endoparasite species.

The parasite communities of two small carangid fishes (Selar crumenophthalmus and Decapterus muroadsi) from Mexican Pacific coasts were quantified and analysed. Five hundred sixty-three carangids (S. crumenophthalmus, n?=?402; and D. muroadsi, n?=?161) were collected between April 2014 and April 2018 from three locations. Twenty-four metazoan parasite species were identified in both hosts: five species of Monogenea (adults), eight of Digenea (7 adults and 1 metacercaria), two of Cestoda (larvae), two of Nematoda (one adult and one larva), two of Acanthocephala (adults), and five of Copepoda. Larval helminths numerically dominated the endoparasite communities of both hosts, suggesting that these carangids are important intermediate hosts for several parasite species. Component parasite community richness and species composition differed between hosts, locations, and sampling years. Variations in host feeding behaviour, and body size were considered as important factors influencing these differences.     

Every single street? Rethinking full coverage across street‐level imagery platforms

Street‐level images taken by vehicles and pedestrians have found a role in various companies’ location‐based intelligence services. Some platforms collect their images using their own cars and drivers, while others rely on crowdsourcing; however, to what extent can we expect crowdsourced approaches to reach the imagery coverage levels obtained by paid drivers? Is capturing every single street a useful or obtainable goal? We use online coverage maps to compare Google Street View, Mapillary, and OpenStreetCam in 24 major world cities and 25 differently sized cities in Brazil. We find that Google has often taken an all‐or‐nothing approach to collecting coverage in world cities, whereas crowdsourced platforms have achieved a more even distribution of coverage across space. Extremely low‐ and high‐income neighborhoods are sometimes omitted due to visible and invisible barriers. Coverage patterns are influenced by how and why each company procures imagery, along with other social, economic, and geographic factors.     

An insight into shallow gas hydrates in the Dongsha area,South China Sea

Previous studies of gas hydrate in the Dongsha area mainly focused on the deep-seated gas hydrates that have a high energy potential, but cared little about the shallow gas hydrates occurrences. Shallow gas hydrates have been confirmed by drill cores at three sites(GMGS2 08, GMGS2 09 and GMGS2 16) during the GMGS2 cruise, which occur as veins, blocky nodules or massive layers, at 8–30 m below the seafloor. Gas chimneys and faults observed on the seismic sections are the two main fluid migration pathways. The deep-seated gas hydrate and the shallow hydrate-bearing sediments are two main seals for the migrating gas. The occurrences of shallow gas hydrates are mainly controlled by the migration of fluid along shallow faults and the presence of deep-seated gas hydrates.Active gas leakage is taking place at a relatively high-flux state through the vent structures identified on the geophysical data at the seafloor, although without resulting in gas plumes easily detectable by acoustic methods.The presence of strong reflections on the high-resolution seismic profiles and dim or chaotic layers in the subbottom profiles are most likely good indicators of shallow gas hydrates in the Dongsha area. Active cold seeps,indicated by either gas plume or seepage vent, can also be used as indicators for neighboring shallow gas hydrates and the gas hydrate system that is highly dynamic in the Dongsha area.