Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning

The declining health of marine ecosystems around the world is evidence that current piecemeal governance is inadequate to successfully support healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems and sustain human uses of the ocean. One proposed solution to this problem is ecosystem-based marine spatial planning (MSP), which is a process that informs the spatial distribution of activities in the ocean so that existing and emerging uses can be maintained, use conflicts reduced, and ecosystem health and services protected and sustained for future generations. Because a key goal of ecosystem-based MSP is to maintain the delivery of ecosystem services that humans want and need, it must be based on ecological principles that articulate the scientifically recognized attributes of healthy, functioning ecosystems. These principles should be incorporated into a decision-making framework with clearly defined targets for these ecological attributes. This paper identifies ecological principles for MSP based on a synthesis of previously suggested and/or operationalized principles, along with recommendations generated by a group of twenty ecologists and marine scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives on MSP. The proposed four main ecological principles to guide MSP—maintaining or restoring: native species diversity, habitat diversity and heterogeneity, key species, and connectivity—and two additional guidelines, the need to account for context and uncertainty, must be explicitly taken into account in the planning process. When applied in concert with social, economic, and governance principles, these ecological principles can inform the designation and siting of ocean uses and the management of activities in the ocean to maintain or restore healthy ecosystems, allow delivery of marine ecosystem services, and ensure sustainable economic and social benefits.     

Benthic habitat quality change as measured by macroinfauna community in a tidal flat on the west coast of Korea

Yellow Sea tidal flats are internationally recognised for their contribution to biological diversity and yet are under enormous pressure from reclamation, pollution and overexploitation. The benthic macroinfauna community is the dominant community on these tidal flats and a reliable indicator of benthic environmental changes. We surveyed the current benthic macroinfauna community of the Ganghwa Southern Tidal Flat, the largest remaining Korean mud flat in the Yellow Sea, in order to examine changes in the environmental situation of this benthic ecosystem. The results show a significant decline in species diversity from the last survey made in 2003, and a shift in species composition with appearances of polychaetes indicative of pollution and physical disturbances and other opportunistic species becoming dominant in both density and biomass. The benthic community shift observed during the two study periods may be associated with increased nutrient pollution as well as increased physical disturbances in this area. However, we recognise the limitations of the data both in frequency and scope but believe the significant changes to the composition of the benthic fauna are sufficient to warrant concern. Observations are required to examine the extent to which these human activities induce benthic community shift in this tidal flat.     

Dynamic propagation criteria for catastrophic failure in planar landslides

Quantitative assessment of the risk of submarine landslides is an essential part of the design process for offshore oil and gas developments in deep water, beyond the continental shelf. Landslides may be triggered by a reduction in shear strength of subsea sediments over a given zone, caused for example by seismic activity. Simple criteria are then needed to identify critical conditions whereby the zone of weakness could grow catastrophically to cause a landslide. A number of such criteria have been developed over the last decade, based either on ideas drawn from fracture mechanics, or considering the equilibrium of the initial weakened zone and adjacent process zones of gradually softening material. Accounting for the history of the weak zone initiation is critical for derivation of reliable propagation criteria, in particular considering dynamic effects arising from accumulating kinetic energy of the failing material, which will allow the failure to propagate from a smaller initial zone of weakened sediments. Criteria are developed here for planar conditions, taking full account of such dynamic effects, which are shown to be capable of reducing the critical length of the softened zone by 20% or more compared with criteria based on static conditions. A numerical approach is used to solve the governing dynamic equations for the sliding material, the results from which justify assumptions that allow analytical criteria to be developed for the case where the initial softening occurs instantaneously. The effect of more gradual softening is also explored. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The multiple chronological techniques applied to the Lake Suigetsu SG06 sediment core,central Japan

The varved sediment of Lake Suigetsu (central Japan) provides a valuable opportunity to obtain high‐resolution, multi‐proxy palaeoenvironmental data across the last glacial/interglacial cycle. In order to maximize the potential of this archive, a well‐constrained chronology is required. This paper outlines the multiple geochronological techniques being applied – namely varve counting, radiocarbon dating, tephrochronology (including argon–argon dating) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) – and the approaches by which these techniques are being integrated to form a single, coherent, robust chronology. Importantly, we also describe here the linkage of the floating Lake Suigetsu (SG06) varve chronology and the absolute (IntCal09 tree‐ring) time scale, as derived using radiocarbon data from the uppermost (non‐varved) portion of the core. This tie‐point, defined as a distinct (flood) marker horizon in SG06 (event layer B‐07–08 at 1397.4 cm composite depth), is thus derived to be 11 255 to 11 222 IntCal09 cal. years BP (68.2% probability range).     

Hydrologic simulation of clay‐settling areas in the phosphate mining district,Florida

Clay‐settling areas (CSAs) are one of the most conspicuous and development‐limiting landforms remaining after phosphate mining. Many questions are asked by the mining and regulatory communities with regard to the correct modelling (predictive) methods and assumptions that should be used to yield viable hydrologic post‐reclamation landforms within CSAs. Questions as to the correct methodology to use in modelling/predicting long‐term CSA hydrologic performance have historically been difficult to answer because the data and analysis to support popular hypotheses did not exist. The goal of this paper was to substantially improve the data, analysis and predictive methodology necessary to return CSAs to viable hydrologic units, and moreover, to develop better understanding of the hydrology of CSAs and their ability to support wetlands. The study site is located at the Fort Meade Mine in Polk County, Florida. In this paper, continuous model simulation and calibration of study site were conducted for the hydrologic model, Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN, which was generally selected on the basis of its popularity in predicting the hydrologic behaviour of CSAs. The objective of this study was to simulate streamflow discharges and stage to estimate runoff response from these areas on the basis of the observed rainfall within the CSA. A set of global hydrologic parameters was selected and tested during the calibration by the parameter estimation software PEST. A comparison of the simulated and observed flow data indicates that the model calibration adequately reproduces the hydrologic response of the CSAs. The estimated parameters can be used as references for future application of the model. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Virtual water ‘flows’ of the Nile Basin, 1998–2004: A first approximation and implications for water security

This paper interprets an initial approximation of the ‘trade’ in virtual water of Nile Basin states in terms of national water security. The virtual water content (on the basis of weight) of select recorded crop and livestock trade between 1998 and 2004 is provided, and analysed for each state separately, for the Southern Nile and Eastern Nile states as groups, and for the basin states as a whole. To the extent that the datasets allow, the distinction between rainfed and irrigated production is maintained. During the period under study, Nile Basin states ‘exported’ about 14,000 Mm³ of primarily rainfed-derived virtual water outside of the basin annually and ‘imported’ roughly 41,000 Mm³/y. The ‘imports’ are considered to have played a key role in filling the freshwater deficits of Egypt and Sudan, and represent a third of the flow of the Nile River itself. Analysis of food trade within the basin shows that the equivalent of small rivers of water used to raise coffee and tea ‘flow’ from the highlands around Lake Victoria to Egypt and Sudan. Because the bulk of these ‘flows’ derive from rainfed agriculture, the virtual water ‘traded’ annually between the Nile Basin states is not considered to represent a significant demand on the water resources of the basin, nor to significantly remedy the freshwater deficits of the arid basin states. The importance of soil water and rainfed farming is in improving water security is highlighted. The limitations and merits of the inter-state basin-wide approach are also discussed. By highlighting the magnitude of water leaving and entering states in its virtual form, the approach obliges policy-makers to think beyond the basin and reconsider the concept of water security within broader political, environmental, social and economic forces.     

Perceptions and responses to climate policy risks among California farmers

This paper considers how farmers perceive and respond to climate change policy risks, and suggests that understanding these risk responses is as important as understanding responses to biophysical climate change impacts. Based on a survey of 162 farmers in California, we test three hypotheses regarding climate policy risk: (1) that perceived climate change risks will have a direct impact on farmer's responses to climate policy risks, (2) that previous climate change experiences will influence farmer's climate change perceptions and climate policy risk responses, and (3) that past experiences with environmental policies will more strongly affect a farmer's climate change beliefs, risks, and climate policy risk responses. Using a structural equation model we find support for all three hypotheses and furthermore show that farmers’ negative past policy experiences do not make them less likely to respond to climate policy risks through participation in a government incentive program. We discuss how future research and climate policies can be structured to garner greater agricultural participation. This work highlights that understanding climate policy risk responses and other social, economic and policy perspectives is a vital component of understanding climate change beliefs, risks and behaviors and should be more thoroughly considered in future work.     

A comparison of the diets of Gulf killifish,Fundulus grandis Baird and Girard,entering and leaving a Mississippi brackish marsh

We examined the diets of Gulf killifish,Fundulus grandis Baird and Girard, collected monthly from March through July 1988 with unbaited minnow traps during two sampling periods: (1) on flood tides before they reached the marsh surface, and (2) on ebb tides as they left the marsh. Thirty-five prey taxa, plant parts, and detritus were identified from the stomach contents of 110 Gulf killifish (mean SL = 55 mm, range = 30?82 mm). Fiddler crabs,Uca longisignalis Salmon and Atsaides; amphipods, mostlyCorophium louisianum Shoemaker; tanaidaceans,Hargeria rapax (Harger); and hydrobiids,Littoridinops palustris Thompson, were their most important prey. Killifish diets differed both quantitatively and qualitatively relative to the habitat in which they were feeding. Fiddler crabs and polychaetes were consumed more frequently and in greater numbers in the intertidal zone, whereas more amphipods were eaten by killifish feeding in subtidal and low intertidal areas. Gulf killifish consumed a greater volume of food when they had access to the marsh surface than when they were confined to subtidal areas.     

Acidic deposition impacts mediated by sulfur cycling in a coastal plain forest ecosystem

Deposition in the New Jersey Pinelands was very acidic (pH=4.17) and contained high levels of SO₂ ⁻² based on bulk deposition measurementsfrom July 1984–July 1986. Streamwater over the same interval in undisturbed watersheds was less acidic (pH =4.52) and had proportionately less SO₄ ⁻². A preliminary alkalinity budget for undisturbed watersheds suggested that SO₄ ⁻² retention within Pinelands watersheds accounted for a large portion of the total alkalinity generated and thereby lessened the impact of acidic deposition on surface waters. The only process capable of explaining the retention of SO₄ ⁻² was microbial sulfate reduction in the extensive wetlands surrounding Pinelands streams which occurred at high rates.