Environmental consequence analyses of fish farm emissions related to different scales and exemplified by data from the Baltic--a review

The aim of this work is to review studies to evaluate how emissions from fish cage farms cause eutrophication effects in marine environments. The focus is on four different scales: (i) the conditions at the site of the farm, (ii) the local scale related to the coastal area where the farm is situated, (iii) the regional scale encompassing many coastal areas and (iv) the international scale including several regional coastal areas. The aim is to evaluate the role of nutrient emissions from fish farms in a general way, but all selected examples come from the Baltic Sea. An important part of this evaluation concerns the method to define the boundaries of a given coastal area. If this is done arbitrarily, one would obtain arbitrary results in the environmental consequence analysis. In this work, the boundary lines between the coast and the sea are drawn using GIS methods (geographical information systems) according to the topographical bottleneck method, which opens a way to determine many fundamental characteristics in the context of mass balance calculations. In mass balance modelling, the fluxes from the fish farm should be compared to other fluxes to, within and from coastal areas. Results collected in this study show that: (1) at the smallest scale (<1 ha), the "footprint" expressing the impact areas of fish cage farm often corresponds to the size of a "football field" (50-100 m) if the annual fish production is about 50 ton, (2) at the local scale (1 ha to 100 km2), there exists a simple load diagram (effect-load-sensitivity) to relate the environmental response and effects from a specific load from a fish cage farm. This makes it possible to obtain a first estimate of the maximum allowable fish production in a specific coastal area, (3) at the regional scale (100-10,000 km2), it is possible to create negative nutrient fluxes, i.e., use fish farming as a method to reduce the nutrient loading to the sea. The breaking point is to use more than about 1.1 g wet weight regionally caught wild fish per gram feed for the cultivated fish, and (4) at the international scale (>10,000 km2) related to the Baltic Proper, the contribution from fish farms to the overall nutrient fluxes are very small. We have also given two case-studies at the local scale where the impact of the fish farm emissions are greatest and the idea is to identify coastal areas unsuitable and suitable for fish cage farms and the reasons why. It should also be stressed that the results presented here are exemplified using emissions from fish farms, but that the underlying principles to evaluate the ecosystem effects of nutrient discharges from point source emissions are valid in a wider and more general perspective.     

Major human Hepatitis A virus genotype in Hong Kong marine waters and detection by real-time PCR

Marine waters from seven sites around Hong Kong with varying levels of sewage pollution were analyzed for Hepatitis A virus (HAV) by PCR cloning and DNA sequencing of the highly variable VP1/2A junction of the HAV genome. Phylogenetic analysis of 10 PCR clones from each of the HAV-positive marine sites indicated that human HAV genotype IB is the most widely distributed type in Hong Kong waters. A sensitive and quantitative TaqMan-based PCR method targeting the 5′-noncoding region (5′-NCR) of HAV was used to quantify HAV particles in marine water samples along with the total Escherichiacoli counts being enumerated on TBX medium for comparison. Our results showed that no correlation of any significance between HAV and E. coli counts was observed which underscores the inadequacy in using E. coli as a sanitary standard to predict the levels of HAV in marine waters.     

LONG TERM SEDIMENT YIELD AND MITIGATION IN A SMALL SOUTHERN PIEDMONT WATERSHED

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Survey on germination and species composition of dinoflagellates from ballast tanks and recent sediments in ports on the South Coast of Finland, North-Eastern Baltic Sea

Cyst beds in ships and ports in Finland have previously been unstudied. Therefore, sediments from ships' ballast water tanks and four Finnish ports were sampled for dinoflagellate cysts and other phytoplankton. Untreated sediments were incubated at 10 degrees C and 20 degrees C in the local 6 psu salinity for 1, 4 and 7 days, and vegetative cells were examined with light and scanning electron microscope. Sediments were inhabited by various dinoflagellates, diatoms, chlorophytes, cyanophytes and small flagellates. Germinated dinoflagellates were found in 90% of ballast tanks and in all ports. Gymnodiniales spp. and Heterocapsa rotundata formed a major proportion of the proliferating dinoflagellate cells. One species, Peridinium quinquecorne, not previously reported from the Baltic Sea, was identified with SEM. The study emphasises that ships are potential transport vehicles for dinoflagellate cysts even in the low salinity Finnish waters, and small-sized dinoflagellates should be focused upon in ballast water studies.     

A PETROGRAPHICAL STUDY OF THE CHINESE AGALMATOLITES

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION. The most popular Chinese agalmatolites are Shoushanshih (壽山石), Changhuashih (昌化石), Chingtienshih (青田石) and Kwanglushih (廣綠石). They are named after the names of places, as the name Shoushanshih is from     

Phylogenetic diversity of planktonic bacteria in the Chukchi Borderland region in summer

Planktonic bacteria are abundant in the Chukchi Borderland region. However, little is known about their diversity and the roles of various bacteria in the ocean. Seawater samples were collected from two stations K2S and K4S where sea ice was melting obviously. The analysis of water samples with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed that DMSP-degrading bacteria accounted for 13% of the total bacteria at the station K2S. No aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria were detected in both samples. The bacterial communities were characterized by two 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. Sequences fell into four major lineages of the domain Bacteria, including Proteobacteria (Alpha, Beta and Gamma subclasses), Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. No significant difference was found between the two clone libraries. SAR11 and Rhodobacteraceae clades of Alphaproteobacteria and Pseudoalteromonas of Gammapro-teobacteria constituted three dominant fractions in the clone libraries. A total of 191 heterotrophic bacterial strains were isolated and 76% showed extracellular proteolytic activity. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the isolates fell into Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The most common genus in both the bacterial isolates and protease-producing bacteria was Pseudoalteromonas. UniFrac data showed suggestive differences in bacterial communities between the Chukchi Borderland and the northern Bering Sea.     

Diagnosis of trace metal contamination in sediments: the example of Ensenada and El Sauzal, two harbors in Baja California, Mexico

Total metal concentrations in sediments from within Ensenada and El Sauzal Harbors are generally higher than at the mouths. Grain-size analyses suggested that this enrichment could be due to the presence of fine-grained sediments in the inner part of the harbors rather than to anthropogenic perturbations. The (Me/Al)(sample) ratios for Pb, Co, Ni and Fe were significantly higher for Ensenada Harbor relative to El Sauzal Harbor, whereas the ratios for Cd, Mn, Zn and Cu were statistically equivalent for both harbors. Calculated enrichment factors [EF(Me)=(Me/Al)(sample)/(Me/Al)(shale)] indicated that the metals showing slight enrichment were those associated with anthropogenic contamination (Pb, Zn), or probably related to primary productivity in the water column (Cd, Co). The levels of most of the metals were not greatly enriched, a consideration that is of the utmost importance when contamination issues are at stake.     

阿留申岛弧的非火山颤动

在阿留申岛弧观测到了一些非火山颤动。在数座火山上的大跨区的地震台网也监测到颤动状的事件,因此不可能与任何一座火山体有关。虽然目前还不能给这些颤动定位,但我们根据多个台网的反射时差和振幅给出了大概的位置。多数非火山颤动是在所推断的太平洋消减板块闭锁区或从蠕动到闭锁转换区记录到的。有一次非火山颤动事件是在拉特群岛和安德烈亚诺夫群岛附近地区地震活动和火山活动增强时期记录到的。类似的同步增加以往在阿留申群岛记录到过,并被假设是由慢滑动事件引起的大范围应力变化造成的。2008年7月12日奥克莫克火山喷发约1小时后在科罗文和大锡特金地震台网记录到显著的非火山颤动。非火山颤动并不是分散地出现在整个阿留申岛弧,而似乎是集中在几个地区。用2500km的消减带,我们有机会检查这些地区并将其与不产生非火山颤动地区加以比较,以便确定产生该颤动的作用因素。     

地理科学与农业发展中的若干综合问题

现在苏联地理学家参加的农业发展的研究工作有下列重要课题:从土地利用观点研究土地资源(分类、制图和土地的经济评价),农业现状的地域研究(类型、区划)和合理农业地域组织的论证(短期和长期预测)。从农业土地利用观点研究土地资源对环境地域综合体的研究,即土地类型学的发展,在过去是农业生产实践的需要,在将来也会继续保持其重要地位。