Biogeography of the genusArtemia (Crustacea,Branchiopoda, Anostraca) in Spain

This is an updated study on the biogeographic distribution of the populations of the genusArtemia (Branchiopoda, Anostraca) in Spain, with special focus on populations inhabiting salt lagoons and inland salterns. The populations recorded (40) belong to the bisexual speciesA. tunisiana and to the asexual groupA. parthenogenetica (diploid and tetraploid strains). They usually appear in three different hypersaline ecosystems: solar salterns and lagoons filled with sea water, solar salterns and lagoons containing brines of diluted mineral salts, and lagoons filled with athalassic (endorheic) brines. The brines in salinas are chemically characterized by high Cl^– concentrations, especially in inland salinas, whose brine sources are geologically associated with evaporitic formations developed in the Triassic and Lower Liassic of eastern Spain. Brines in athalassic lagoons, geologically associated with Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods, show higher levels of sulfate (up to 40–50%) as well as Mg²⁺. From a geographical point of view, bisexual and diploid asexual populations are mainly found in coastal and inland salinas or lagoons below 40° N, while asexual tetraploid populations are found in inland salinas and athalassic lagoons above that latitude. These populations have been biologically characterized by the morphology of their adults through multivariate analysis.     

A record of late Holocene precipitation on the Central Tibetan Plateau inferred from varved lake sediments

Journal of Paleolimnology - Lake sediments on the Tibetan Plateau are important natural archives for studying past climate and environment changes. A precise sediment core chronology is a...     

Loss on ignition: a qualitative or quantitative method for organic matter and carbonate mineral content in sediments?

Since the publication of the paper of , loss on ignition (LOI) has been widely used as a method to estimate the amount of organic matter and carbonate mineral content (and indirectly of organic and inorganic carbon) in sediments. The relationships between LOI at 550 °C (LOI₅₅₀) and organic carbon (OC) content and between LOI at 950 °C (LOI₉₅₀) and inorganic carbon (IC) content are currently accepted as a standard. However, the comparison of 150 analyses of samples of diverse lithologies, collected from a single core, reveals that these relationships are affected by sediment composition (presence of clays, salts, and the variable content of organic carbon). This results in an incremental error on the estimation of carbon content from LOI values that invalidates the use of LOI values as a quantitative method for estimating carbon content. Conversely, the general trends of LOI₅₅₀ and LOI₉₅₀ show a good correlation with carbon content (both organic and inorganic) allowing use of LOI as a qualitative test for carbon content. Similarly, in our case, LOI at 105 °C (LOI₁₀₅) is a good qualitative proxy for the trends in gypsum content.     

Synergic effect of salinity and light-chilling on photosystem II photochemistry of the halophyte,Sarcocornia fruticosa

Laboratory experiments were conduced to assess the synergic effect of chilling and light on photosystem II photochemistry of the halophyte, Sarcocornia fruticosa, grown at different salinity concentrations (0, 170, 340, 510 and 1030 mM). Chlorophyll fluorescence was measured after chilling (at 5 °C in darkness) and light-chilling (at 5 °C and 700 μmol m^?2 s^?1) treatments, and after 24 h of recovery (at 20 °C and 75 μmol m^?2 s^?1). At 5 °C and 700 μmol m^?2 s^?1, plants grown with 0 and 170 mM NaCl showed the lowest F_v/F_m values, whereas quantum efficiency of PSII (Φ_PSII) was higher for plants grown at 170 and 340 mM NaCl, these results being consistent after two exposures to chilling treatments. Susceptibility to photoinhibition decreases when low temperature and high light are combined with high salinity. Therefore, populations of S. fruticosa that occur in arid environments with salinities c. 340 mM could show a higher tolerance to light-chilling.     

Sphaeronectes pughi sp. nov., a new species of sphaeronectid calycophoran siphonophore from the subantarctic zone

A new species of sphaeronectid calycophoran siphonophore, Sphaeronectes pughi sp. nov. is described from material collected in the subantarctic zone, south of Australia. An identification key for sphaeronectid nectophores is provided, with illustrations of the eleven recognized species.     

Socio-cultural dimensions of climate change: charting the terrain

We have reached a crucial turning point in debates around climate change. A well established scientific consensus regarding the physical causes, dynamics, and at least many likely implications of anthropogenic climate change has thus far failed to result in any substantial movement towards mitigation. For many, then, the most urgent questions regarding climate change are now socio-cultural ones, such as: how do people come to hold and act on certain beliefs regarding environmental conditions and processes; how do institutional forms and histories shape and constrain the views and options of various sorts of actors; and what are relationships among fossil fuels, climate change, and the historical geographies and future trajectories of capitalism? Far from being simpler than physical and life science questions, these social science questions introduce entirely new sorts of actors, dynamics, and methodological challenges into this already complex and dynamic domain. This special issue takes up these topics. In this essay, we chart some of the major contours of contemporary social science thinking regarding climate change and introduce the articles in the special issue. We begin by examining work, from political science and scholarship on the commons, that foregrounds questions of sovereignty, territoriality, and cooperation with respect to environmental governance. Then we examine work from neoclassical economics and radical political economy, which frame climate change in terms of externalities, or contradiction and crisis, respectively. Finally, we examine the rapidly proliferating work exploring how individuals think and feel about these issues, emphasizing concepts of risk, communication, and governmentality.     

A possible 5 km wide impact structure with associated 22 km wide exterior collapse terrain in the Alhabia–Tabernas Basin,southeastern Spain

The Tabernas–Alhabia Basin is a structural depression situated in the province of Almería, southeastern Spain. The basin is filled with Neogene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene sediments resting discordantly on a Paleozoic metamorphic basement. During the marine Tortonian sedimentation, a bed of breccia (Gordo megabed) was formed. It consists of rotated sedimentary megablocks commonly capped and/or surrounded by a polymict breccia composed mainly of up to dm-sized clasts of the crystalline (schist) basement. Previous work has suggested the bed to be a seismite corresponding to events induced by earthquakes. Here, we link the formation of the Gordo megabed with an ∼5 km wide, rimmed depression with exposed breccias on the northern flank of the Sierra de Gádor mountain. This semicircular structure, developed in mainly schists and dolostone of the basement, is delimited to the W, S, and E by an up to 350 m high escarpment with overturned stratigraphy. Toward the north, this crater-like structure opens toward the Gordo megabed of the Tabernas Basin. In the southern sector, the overturned strata transform outward for into a blocky allochthonous breccia with decreasing thickness and clast size. In the interior of the structure, there are occurrences of graded breccia and arenite superposed on a blocky, autochthonous breccia. Based on the presence of mineralogical shock metamorphic evidence, potential shatter cones, and a high Ir anomaly (∼500 ppb) as well as the position of the structure near the town of Alhama de Almería, we propose to call it the Alhama de Almería impact structure.     

Statistical analysis of the largest possible earthquake magnitudes on the Ecuadorian coast for selected return periods

ABSTRACT

In this work, we have studied the largest earthquake magnitudes on the Ecuadorian coast by using the principles of Extreme Value Analysis based on its two approaches: Block Maxima and Peaks-over-Threshold. First, before modelling the recorded earthquakes, the K-means clustering technique was applied to determine a classification according to the level of magnitude of the earthquakes. Then, models based on the Extreme Value theory of earthquake magnitudes were developed for each of the four clusters that were found, and finally, the best-fitted models were those known as Fréchet and Gumbel ones. The zone with the greatest earthquake magnitudes on the Ecuadorian coast is located between the north of the province of Manabí and the south of the province of Esmeraldas, with a return period of 50 years for an earthquake with magnitude greater than 7.7 M_W.     

Analysis of the complex solar particle event on April 29–30, 1973

Based on the data of the high-apogee satellite Prognoz-3, the April 29–30, 1973 solar particle event is analysed. The event's complex energetic particle, interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind plasma properties are discussed. The unusual behaviour of solar particles up to energies 100 MeV can well be explained in terms of the interaction with an interplanetary shock wave system passing the Earth. Assuming that the structure of the interplanetary shock wave system is similar to that considered first by Parker (1961) and Gold (1959) and reviewed later by Hundhausen (1972) and Dryer (1974, 1975), the main characteristics of the energetic particle fluxes, solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field can be understood.     

Influence of Probiotics on the Growth and Digestive Enzyme Activity of White Pacific Shrimp （Litopenaeus vannamel）

The influence of Bacillus probiotics on the digestive enzyme activity and the growth of Litopenaeus vannamei were de-termined in this study. The shrimp was treated with five percentages (1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0 and 7.5) of probiotics (Bacillus spp.) supple-mented to the feed and cultured for 45d. The growth measured as the weight gain at the end of culturing was significantly (P<0.05) higher in probiotic-treated shrimps than that of the control (without receiving probiotics). Activities of protease and amylase, two digestive enzymes of the midgut gland and the intestine were significantly (P<0.05) higher in probiotic-treated shrimp than in the control.