On the use of the nephelometer in estuarine waters

A study of the problems encountered in nephelometric determinations of suspended sediment loads in the Chesapeake Bay estuary has led to development of a technique which uses nephelometer readings as a guide for sampling at vertical profiles in an estuary. This permits optimum sampling for concentration profiles and allows one to use nephelometer/load ratios to characterize particles.     

小流域综合管理信息系统集成研究

本文介绍的小流域管理与决策支持信息系统 ,是以小流域综合治理与科学决策为目标 ,以地块为基本操作单元的土壤侵蚀模型、生产潜力模型、成本效益模型与GIS的集成系统。该系统具有数据管理、查询、更新、处理、模型分析和输出等多种功能。分析模型与GIS集成的基本单元是地块 (landunit) ,在地块上实现模型参数的提取与传递、模型计算及显示与分析。在分析各种集成方式的基础上 ,选取了动态连接库及其扩展方式 ,实现了土壤侵蚀模型、生产潜力模型、成本效益模型、规划模块与GIS的紧密集成 ,以统一的图形用户界面 ,服务于水土保持的现代化管理和小流域综合治理     

Development of symbiosis-specific genes as biomarkers for the early detection of cnidarian-algal symbiosis breakdown

Coral bleaching, i.e. the loss of dinoflagellate symbionts from cnidarian hosts, is occurring globally at increasing rates, scales, and severity. The significance of these bleaching events to the health of coral reef ecosystems is extreme, as bleached corals exhibit high mortality, reduced fecundity and productivity and increased susceptibility to disease. This decreased coral fitness leads to reef degradation and ultimately to the breakdown of the coral reef ecosystem. To date there has been little work describing the application of biomarkers to assess coral health. The most commonly applied biomarker is, in fact, the bleaching event itself. We are interested in developing early warning biomarkers that can detect coral stress before bleaching occurs. Recently, several genes that are likely to function in regulating interactions between cnidarians and their symbionts have been characterized, using the temperate sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima as a model species. One "symbiosis gene" identified from the host genome, sym32, is expressed as a function of anemone symbiotic-state, where sym32 expression is higher in symbiotic cf. aposymbiotic (symbiont-free) anemones. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR suggested that the level of sym32 expression was correlated with the abundance of algae in the host. Furthermore, laboratory exposures of anemones to low levels of cadmium (0, 20, 100 microg(-1) CdCl2; 14 days), which caused no change in algal cell numbers, resulted in a down-regulation of sym32 compared to controls, indicating that sym32 expression may serve as a new sensitive early warning biomarker of cnidarian-algal symbiosis breakdown.     

Frequency and duration of historical droughts from the 16th to the 19th centuries in the Mexican Maya lands, Yucatan Peninsula

Using unprecedented catalogues of past severe drought data for the Yucatan Peninsula between 1502 and 1900 coming from historical written documentation, we identified five conspicuous time lapses with no droughts between 1577–1647, 1662–1724, 1728–1764, 1774–1799 and 1855–1880, as well as time epochs with most frequent droughts between 1800 and 1850. Moreover, the most prominent periodicity of the historical drought time series was that of ∼40 years. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index for the Yucatan Peninsula for the period 1921–1987 we found prominent negative phases between ∼1942–1946 and 1949–1952, 1923–1924, 1928–1929, 1935–1936, 1962–1963, 1971–1972 and 1986–1987. Two prominent periodicities clearly appear at ∼5 and 10 years. Most modern and historical severe droughts lasted 1 year, and share a quasi-decadal frequency. Also, in the first 66 years of the twentieth century the frequency of occurrence of severe drought has been lower compared with the nineteenth century. Some of the major effects and impacts of the most severe droughts in the Yucatan region are examined. We also studied the relation between historical and modern droughts and several large scale climate phenomena represented by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). Our results indicate that historical droughts and the cold phase of the AMO coincide, while the influence of the SOI is less clear. The strongest coherence between historical droughts and AMO occurred at periodicities of ∼40 years. For modern droughts the coherence of a drought indicator (the Palmer Drought Severity Index) is similar with AMO and SOI, although it seems more sustained with the AMO. They are strongest at ∼10 years and very clearly with the AMO cold phase. Concerning the solar activity proxies and historical droughts, the coherence with a record of beryllium isotope Be¹⁰, which is a good proxy of cosmic rays, is higher than with Total Solar Irradiance. We notice that the strongest coherence between historical droughts and Be¹⁰ occurs at periods ∼60–64 years. When studying modern droughts and solar activity, frequencies of ∼8 years appear, and the coherences are similar for both sunspots and cosmic rays. Comparing natural terrestrial and solar phenomena, we found that the most sustained and strongest modulation of historical drought occurrence is at ∼60–64 years and is between the historical drought series and the solar proxy Be¹⁰. For modern droughts we notice that the coherence is similar among AMO, SOI and the solar indices. We can conclude that the sea surface temperatures (AMO) and solar activity leave their signal in terms of severe droughts in the Maya lands, however in the long term, the influence of the SOI on this type of phenomenon is less clear.     

Seasonal and Spatial Variations in Fish and Macroinvertebrate Communities of Oyster and Adjacent Habitats in a Mississippi Estuary

In Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (Grand Bay NERR), Mississippi, we used quantitative drop sampling in three common shallow estuarine habitats—low profile oyster reef (oyster), vegetated marsh edge (VME), and nonvegetated bottom (NVB)—to address the dearth in research comparing nekton utilization of oyster relative to adjacent habitats. The three habitats were sampled at two distinct marsh complexes within Grand Bay NERR. We collected a total of 633 individual fishes representing 41 taxa in 22 families. The most diverse fish family was Gobiidae (seven species) followed by Blennidae and Poeciliidae (three species each). We collected a total of 2,734 invertebrates representing 24 taxa in 11 families. The most diverse invertebrate family was Xanthidae (six species) followed by Palaemonidae (five species). We used ordination techniques to examine variation in species relative abundance among habitats, seasons, and sampling areas, and to identify environmental gradients correlated with species relative abundances. Our resulted indicated that oyster provided a similarly complex and important function as the adjacent VME. We documented three basic trends related to the importance of oyster and VME habitats: 1) Oyster and VME provide habitat for significantly more species relative to NVB, 2) Oyster and VME provide habitat for rare species, and 3) Several species collected across multiple habitats occurred at higher abundances in oyster or VME habitat. We also found that salinity, temperature, and depth were associated with seasonal and spatial shifts in nekton communities. Lastly, we found that the relative location of the two marsh complexes we studied within the context of the whole estuary may also explain some of the temporal and spatial differences in communities. We conclude that oyster habitat supported a temporally diverse and spatially distinct nekton community and deserves further attention in research and estuarine conservation efforts.     

The Hubble constant from galaxy lenses: impacts of triaxiality and model degeneracies

The Hubble constant can be constrained using the time delays between multiple images of gravitationally lensed sources. In some notable cases, typical lensing analyses assuming isothermal galaxy density profiles produce low values for the Hubble constant, inconsistent with the result of the HST Key Project  (72 ± 8 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹)  . Possible systematics in the values of the Hubble constant derived from galaxy lensing systems can result from a number of factors, for example, neglect of environmental effects, assumption of isothermality, or contamination by line-of-sight structures. One additional potentially important factor is the triaxial structure of the lensing galaxy halo; most lens models account for halo shape simply by perturbing the projected spherical lensing potential, an approximation that is often necessary but that is inadequate at the levels of triaxiality predicted in the cold dark matter paradigm. To quantify the potential error introduced by this assumption in estimates of the Hubble parameter, we strongly lens a distant galaxy through a sample of triaxial softened isothermal haloes and use an Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the lensing halo profile and the Hubble parameter from the resulting multiple image systems. We explore the major degeneracies between the Hubble parameter and several parameters of the lensing model, finding that without a way to accurately break these degeneracies accurate estimates of the Hubble parameter are not possible. Crucially, we find that triaxiality does not significantly bias estimates of the Hubble constant, and offer an analytic explanation for this behaviour in the case of isothermal profiles. Neglected triaxial halo shape cannot contribute to the low Hubble constant values derived in a number of galaxy lens systems.     

Photosynthesis and Growth of Temperate and Sub-Tropical Estuarine Phytoplankton in a Scenario of Nutrient Enrichment under Solar Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure

We compared the responses of two estuarine phytoplankton communities, one from a temperate (Chubut River estuary (CH), Argentina) and one from a sub-tropical site (Babitonga Bay (BB), Brazil), in a scenario of nutrient enrichment under solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. Seawater samples were exposed in microcosms to two nutrients, ambient vs. enriched, and two radiation conditions, with and without UVR, and exposed to solar radiation for 4 days. We evaluated the short- (PSII photochemistry, during 90 min light and 90 min dark cycles, before and after the , whereas in BB, nutrient effects prevailed. Such differences were related to the previous light history of the cells and to the ambient nutrient status. After acclimation, an overall improvement of the photosynthetic performance was observed at both sites, either by reducing the relative inhibition or by increasing the recovery of the effective photochemical quantum yield. Interactive effects of UVR and nutrients on growth at CH were antagonistic, while at BB, no differences were observed between the interactive and the sum of effects. Part of the differences in the mid-term observed responses can be attributed to taxonomic changes, with the CH community dominated by diatoms throughout the experiment, but with a shift from a diatom to a flagellate-dominated community in BB. Temperature differences between both sites might have favored higher growth rates and flagellates dominance in BB under the nutrient enriched conditions.     

Nekton Use of Flooded Salt Marsh and an Assessment of Intertidal Creek Pools as Low-Tide Refuges

Patterns of nekton occurrence on the salt marsh surface at high tide and in an adjacent intertidal creek pool at low tide were used to investigate movements of nekton in an intertidal basin. Paired collections were made in North Inlet estuary, SC on 67 dates over 9 years. Comparisons of high- and low-tide total abundance indicated that what remained in the creek pool at low tide was representative of the nekton on the flooded marsh. Of the 64 taxa collected, the same 8 species ranked in the top 10 in both the high- and low-tide collections. Abundances of most resident species were positively correlated with the area of marsh flooded, but mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), the most abundant resident, was not. Abundances of young-of-the-year transient species were not related to the extent of tidal flooding. Some transient species used the flooded marsh but did not occupy the pool at low tide, and others found in the pool did not use the marsh. Differences in abundance, biomass, and length between the marsh and pool collections indicated differences in the tendency of species and life stages to retreat downstream of the pool to the subtidal channel. Proportionately more of the nekton that were present on the flooded marsh left the intertidal basin when large changes in temperature and salinity occurred between high and low tides. More transients left the basin following higher tides, but more residents did not. The results demonstrate a wide range of taxonomic and ontogenetic patterns among nekton using intertidal salt marsh basins and the underappreciated importance of intertidal creek pools as alternative low-tide refuges.     

Species identification and decay assessment of Late Pleistocene fragmentary vertebrate remains from Pin Hole Cave (Creswell Crags,UK) using collagen fingerprinting

Ancient bone remains are widely utilized when investigating vertebrate biodiversity of past animal populations but are often so highly fragmented that the majority of specimens cannot be identified to any meaningful taxonomic level. Recently, high‐throughput methods for objective species identification using collagen peptide mass fingerprinting have been created to overcome this with the added indication that they could also offer a means of relative ageing through decay measurement. Here we explore both species identification and decay measurements for the Pin Hole Cave ‘microfaunal’ assemblage, the site that has been designated as a representative for Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 in Britain in terms of its suite of mammalian fauna. We explore the technique's potential to corroborate the faunal diversity established previously by macroscopic studies and evaluate the decay measurements across the species boundary. The results support that the analysis of fragmentary remains by collagen fingerprinting can yield a more diverse set of fauna, and offer additional information relating to taphonomy, than the analysis of morphologically intact bones on their own. However, although useful for identifying likely contaminations of an assemblage, there was an unexpected decrease in the decay measurements observed for some megafauna compared with much younger microfauna, indicating that other factors need to be carefully monitored before it could be used as a relative ageing technique in Quaternary deposits.