Source regions for recruitment of Calanus finmarchicus to Georges Bank: evidence from molecular population genetic analysis of mtDNA

Molecular population genetic analysis has provided evidence that the copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, of the Labrador Current, Gulf of St Lawrence, Scotian Shelf, Gulf of Maine, and Georges Bank constitute a single, interbreeding population. The DNA sequence of a 350 base pair portion of the mitochondrial large subunit (16S) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was determined for a total of 72 individuals collected in 1992, and 110 individuals collected in 1993 from these regions. There was significant heterogeneity in haplotype frequencies among the samples collected in 1992, but this heterogeneity did not resolve into regional patterns. The only regional differences seen were between pooled samples of the western N. Atlantic and those of the Norwegian Sea. There were no significant differences in haplotype frequencies among the samples collected in 1993, and fewer haplotypes were observed in these samples. Intraspecific molecular variation was typical of other marine species: there were 29 haplotypes among the 182 individuals sequenced. The frequency distribution of the haplotypes was highly skewed: 128 individuals shared one haplotype and 19 individuals were unique. There were 24 variable sites among the 350 bases sequenced; estimated nucleotide diversity was 0.0042. The genetic character of C. finmarchicus populations in the western N. Atlantic was stable over time in that three of the haplotypes (including the most abundant) occurred in both 1992 and 1993. However, haplotype frequencies differed significantly between the two years. The lack of regional structure in the 1992 samples and the genetic homogeneity of samples collected in 1993 across the domain from the Labrador Current to the Gulf of St Lawrence to Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine indicated that there is significant gene flow across this region. The persistent genetic pattern suggests that the Gulf of St Lawrence may be an important source region for recruitment of C. finmarchicus to Georges Bank. Determination of zooplankton dispersal patterns within high gene flow species will provide information that may not be determined by conventional oceanographic analyses.     

长江三峡工程对长江口外流场的影响

长江三峡枢纽工程是综合开发利用长江水利资源的一项举世瞩目的大工程，建成后将对我国社会主义建设带来巨大的经济效益。但是，也必须考虑到它对长江下游流域以至河口及其邻近海域的生态环境带来的影响。因此，必须在工程建设之前进行深入研究。 根据“三峡工程对长江河口区生态与环境的影响和对策”这一课题的要求，本文就三峡工程对长江口区流场的影响作一初步分析。     

清水沟流路期间黄河三角洲区潮波运动的模拟和预测

为了探讨黄河三角洲附近潮波运动的变化特征，乐肯堂等(1995)用二维数值模式模拟了1855-1984年该海区的潮汐和潮流的分布变化，并着重考察了M2和S2分潮的无潮点，以及规则全日潮区的位置变化。乐肯堂等(1995)的研究表明，黄河尾闾的摆动以及由此而造成的黄河三角洲之进退，是该海区潮波特征发生变化的主要外因。自从1976年黄河尾闾改道清水沟以来，该流路已稳定运行了20多年，由此造成了河口附近沙嘴不断向莱州湾内延伸，因而对该区的潮波分布特征产生了显著影响。从黄河三角洲区的经济可持续发展和海洋生态环境的可持续发展的目的出发来规划今后黄河尾闾的走向，就必须对以下两个问题进行深入研究：(1)清水沟流路是否还能长期稳定下去；(2)如果清水沟流路长期稳定不变，并且按照清水沟流路期间黄河三角洲向莱州湾推进的方式来推演10a后黄河三角洲的形势，那么到2010年该区的潮波运动将会发生什么变化。为此，在本文中我们仍然采用乐肯堂等(1995)已经过验证的数值模式和数值预的方法对上述问题作初步探讨。     

Isolation and characterisation of pristane metabolites formed in vivo by rainbow trout

Pristane (2,6,10,14 -tetramethylpentadecane) occurs ubiquitously in the marine environment. This hydrocarbon may be of biogenic or petrogenic origin.¹ Recently it has been shown that residual amounts of this branched alkane increased in marine organisms after an oil spill.^2,3 The lack of data on the fate of pristane in fish, added with the fact that this compound was considered by some authors as a non-metabolisable substance in vertebrates, including man,⁴ led us to investigate the capability of fish to metabolise pristane. In this study, urinary and fecal excretion, tissue distribution and metabolism of ³H-pristane were analysed in Salmo gairdneri R. after a single intragastric dose. In addition to unchanged hydrocarbon, various labelled compounds have been isolated and identified in liver, bile, faeces, urine and surrounding water, demonstrating that pristane was first oxidised to alcohols (pristanol and pristane-diol) and to acid (pristanic acid). The elimination of these compounds occurred in the form of conjugated products (primarily glucuronides) as well as free metabolites.     

Circulation

Low-frequency current and temperature variability on the southeast US continental shelf during summer conditions of weak wind forcing and vertical stratification was found to be similar in many aspects to previous findings for winter, when stronger wind forcing and vertical homogeneity prevails. Subtidal variability in the outer shelf is dominated by the weekly occurrence of Gulf Stream frontal eddies and meanders. These baroclinic events strongly affect the balance of momentum in the outer shelf, but not at mid-shelf. A negative alongshore sea level slope of order −10⁻⁷ is required to balance mean along-shelf momentum at the shelf edge, similar to oceanic estimates, and can contribute to the observed northward mean flow over the shelf.Low-frequency flow at mid-shelf and coastal sea level fluctuations appear to occur as a forced wave response to local alongshore wind stress events that are coherent over the shelf domain. Momentum balances indicate a trapped wave response similar to the arrested topographic wave found in the mid-Atlantic Bight (CSANADY, 1978). Density driven currents from river discharge do not appear to be significant at mid-shelf. Cold, subsurface intrusions of deeper, nutrient rich Gulf Stream waters can occasionally penetrate to mid- and inner-shelf regions north of Cape Canaveral, causing strong phytoplankton and zooplankton responses. These events were observed following the simultaneous occurrence of upwellings from northward winds and Gulf Stream frontal eddies at the shelf break during periods when the Stream was in an onshore position. Subsurface Gulf Stream intrusions to mid-shelf occur only during the summer, when the shelf is vertically stratified and cross-shelf density gradients do not present a barrier as in winter.     

Holocene sedimentation of a wave-dominated barrierisland shoreline: Cape Lookout, North Carolina

The sedimentary record of 130 km of microtidal (0.9 m tidal range) high wave energy (1.5 m average wave height) barrier island shoreline of the Cape Lookout cuspate foreland has been evaluated through examination of 3136 m of subsurface samples from closely spaced drill holes. Holocene sedimentation and coastal evolution has been a function of five major depositional processes: (1) eustatic sea-level rise and barrier-shoreline transgression; (2) lateral tidal inlet migration and reworking of barrier island deposits; (3) shoreface sedimentation and local barrier progradation; (4) storm washover deposition with infilling of shallow lagoons; and (5) flood-tidal delta sedimentation in back-barrier environments.

Twenty-five radiocarbon dates of subsurface peat and shell material from the Cape Lookout area are the basis for a late Holocene sea-level curve. From 9000 to 4000 B.P. eustatic sea level rose rapidly, resulting in landward migration of both barrier limbs of the cuspate foreland. A decline in the rate of sea-level rise since 4000 B.P. resulted in relative shoreline stabilization and deposition of contrasting coastal sedimentary sequences. The higher energy, storm-dominated northeast barrier limb (Core and Portsmouth Banks) has migrated landward producing a transgressive sequence of coarse-grained, horizontally bedded washover sands overlying burrowed to laminated back-barrier and lagoonal silty sands. Locally, ephemeral tidal inlets have reworked the transgressive barrier sequence depositing fining-upward spit platform and channel-fill sequences of cross-bedded, pebble gravel to fine sand and shell. Shoreface sedimentation along a portion of the lower energy, northwest barrier limb (Bogue Banks) has resulted in shoreline progradation and deposition of a coarsening-up sequence of burrowed to cross-bedded and laminated, fine-grained shoreface and foreshore sands. In contrast, the adjacent barrier island (Shackleford Banks) consists almost totally of inlet-fill sediments deposited by lateral tidal inlet migration. Holocene sediments in the shallow lagoons behind the barriers are 5–8 m thick fining-up sequences of interbedded burrowed, rooted and laminated flood-tidal delta, salt marsh, and washover sands, silts and clays.

While barrier island sequences are generally 10 m in thickness, inlet-fill sequences may be as much as 25 m thick and comprise an average of 35% of the Holocene sedimentary deposits. Tidal inlet-fill, back-barrier (including flood-tidal delta) and shoreface deposits are the most highly preservable facies in the wave-dominated barrier-shoreline setting. In the Cape Lookout cuspate foreland, these three facies account for over 80% of the sedimentary deposits preserved beneath the barriers. Foreshore, spit platform and overwash facies account for the remaining 20%.     

Abundance, distribution and patch formation of zooplankton

The goal of studies described here was to determine the responses of zooplankton taxa to phytoplankton patches which develop in and near intrusions of cold, nutrient-rich Gulf Stream water. To achieve this goal we determined the horizontal and vertical distributions of abundant mesozooplankton taxa on the south-eastern continental shelf of the USA between 29°30′ and 31°N. The study period was from June 23 to August 16, 1981. Highest concentrations of zooplankton usually occurred in and near patches of phytoplankton. Increased phytoplankton appeared to trigger the formation of patches of the calanoid copepod Temora turbinata and the cyclopoid copepods Oithona spp. and Oncaea spp. The patches of zooplankton had greater alongshore than cross-shelf dimensions. T. turbinata responded rapidly to increased concentrations of phytoplankton by reproducing and aggregating in and above intruded waters. Oithonidae which were often, but not always, abundant in phytoplankton patches eventually attained high concentrations over most of the middle and part of the inner shelf. Their concentration and that of Oncaeidae increased steadily. Oncaeidae were not abundant in recently upwelled waters, as was T. turbinata but reached high concentrations in older intrusions when the abundance of T. turbinata remained level or decreased slowly. Both cyclopoid taxa are thought to reproduce slowly (egg sacs) compared to T. turbinata. Another taxon, the doliolids, became abundant far more rapidly in intruded waters (by asexual reproduction) than did the other three taxa. Doliolids were the most opportunistic intrusion zooplankton form. They do not regularly occur in low abundance on the shelf, as do the three copepod taxa, but develop in pulses in regions where T. turbinata and Oncaea are not abundant. Of the four taxa studied the abundance of doliolids increased and decreased most rapidly, whereas Oithona and Oncaea increased slowly and did not decrease during the study period. T. turbinata and Oncaea were most abundant at 60% of all stations in the intruding water. Doliolids and Oithona on the other hand, were mostly in the thermocline and intrusion. Whereas phytoplankton patches, which developed in intrusions, were physically induced (PAFFENHÖFER and LEE, 1988), patches of zooplankton were biologically induced.