Evaluation of food competition and resource partitioning of recruiting fish with permanent residents in a seagrass habitat

ABSTRACT

Recruiting King George whiting Sillaginodes punctatus were studied to assess the potential for food competition with permanent resident fish species in a nursery habitat. Marine migrant post larval S. punctatus (<60?mm TL) consumed primarily harpacticoid copepods and had high (>0.6) diet overlap with permanent resident fish species Favonigobius leteralis and Stigmatopora nigra. Food electivity index indicated that S. punctatus juveniles preferred harpacticoid copepods and amphipods, while juvenile Heteroclinus adelaide and Gymnapistes marmoratus migrating to the nursery habitat targeted larger prey such as amphipods. Preference for larger prey by H. adelaide and G. marmoratus species coupled with differences in prey composition in the stomach was due to mouth size and feeding habits, resulting in different food preferences to S. punctatus. The whiting showed an ontogenetic shift in diet with early settlers (>60?mm TL) consuming less copepods and more amphipods, while previous year recruits (>120?mm TL) consumed polychaete worms. This study indicates that competition for food resources between the new recruiting S. punctatus juveniles and permanent resident juveniles is reduced through differences in temporal and spatial feeding behaviours, mouth morphology, and ontogenetic shift in prey consumption.     

Adsorption of diethyl and dibutyl phthalates onto activated carbon produced from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Albizia julibrissin pods:</Emphasis> kinetics and isotherms

The adsorption behavior study of diethyl and dibutyl phthalates was investigated onto a new activated carbon prepared from an abundant biomass “Albizia julibrissin pods,” treated chemically by H₃PO₄. A series of experiments were conducted in a batch system to estimate the effect of operating conditions such as the adsorbent nature, the dose of adsorbent, the contact time, the initial concentration and the temperature on the adsorption efficiency. The optimum operating conditions were found to be 0.1 and 0.05 g of adsorbent for diethyl and dibutyl phthalates, respectively, at 30 min equilibrium time, 150 mg g^?1 and 293 K. The adsorption isotherms for both phthalates were fit at different temperatures using the nonlinear regression of Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin–Radushkevich and Redlich–Peterson. The pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order by nonlinear regression and intraparticle diffusion models were used to describe the adsorption kinetic. The results show that the intraparticle diffusion model is not the limiting step governing the adsorption mechanism. The structural and textural characteristics of adsorbent surface were investigated. FTIR analysis of unloaded and phthalates-loaded adsorbent revealed that the aliphatic groups attached to phthalate esters are involved in adsorption mechanism.     

Effects of climate change on the intensity and frequency of heavy snowfall events in the Pyrenees

The intensity and frequency of heavy snowfall events in the Pyrenees were simulated using data from the HIRHAM regional climate model for a control period (1960?C1990) and two greenhouse emission scenarios (SRES B2 and A2) for the end of the twenty-first century (2070?C2100). Comparisons between future and control simulations enabled a quantification of the expected change in the intensity and frequency of these events at elevations of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500?m a.s.l. The projected changes in heavy snowfall depended largely on the elevation and the greenhouse gas emission scenario considered. At 1,000?m a.s.l., a marked decrease in the frequency and intensity of heavy snowfall events was projected with the B2 and A2 scenarios. At 1,500?m a.s.l., a decrease in the frequency and intensity is only expected under the higher greenhouse gas emission scenario (A2). Above 2,000?m a.s.l., no change or heavier snowfalls are expected under both emission scenarios. Large spatial variability in the impacts of climate change on heavy snowfall events was found across the study area.     

Groundwater Resources and Their Role in Water Supply to Crimea

The processes of formation and distribution of the resources of fresh groundwater and surface water in the territory of Crimea Peninsula are considered. Water availability in the natural–historic and administrative regions of the republic is characterized. The proportions between different categories of groundwater resources are shown with their role in water supply to Crimea taken into account. The presentday development of groundwater resources is analyzed and the possible increase in water consumption meeting geoecological requirements is substantiated.     

Winter daily precipitation variability over Cumbria, Northwest England

Daily precipitation totals at 55 sites were used to investigate geographic variability in winter (DJF) rainfall over Cumbria, NW England, over an 11-year period. Winter is the wettest season (>800?mm in the mountainous Lake District), with rainfall mechanisms closely linked to North Atlantic forcing. The Lamb weather type catalogue was used to identify rainfall distributions under different wind directions. Precipitation magnitude over Cumbria is much more sensitive to a change in wind direction than the geographic pattern in rainfall, with southwesterly (easterly) winds producing the highest (lowest) spatially averaged daily rainfall totals of 8.2?mm (0.6?mm). S-mode principal components analysis was used to identify the main patterns of precipitation variability. Three principal components (PCs) were retained as being statistically significant (cumulative explained variance for unrotated PCs?=?84.3%), with a correlated PC structure (direct oblimin rotation) best describing the spatial variance in rainfall. PC 1 has a very high index of strength (variance measure?=?40.9), indicating that there is one dominant rainfall pattern. PC 1 shows a gradient between wetter conditions in southwest Cumbria and over the central Lake District and drier conditions in NE Cumbria, and is usually caused by active zonal west to southwest flows. Almost of equal importance to PC 1 is PC 3 (variance measure?=?39.3), which has a more uniform rainfall distribution than PC 1 and is usually caused by fronts stalling over the region. PC 2, which shows an east to west decline in rainfall totals, is much less important than PCs 1 and 3 (variance measure?=?18.6). PC 2??s rainfall pattern can be caused by easterly flows with high pressure over Scandinavia and low pressure over the Continent, or by strong southwesterly flows, with depressions often centred over Scotland. Finally, cluster analysis was carried out to identify precipitation regions for all days and for each wind direction. Clusters were found to be largely stable to changes in wind direction, with stations in the central Lake District often clustered together, thus highlighting the importance of orographic enhancement of rainfall in this region.     

THE CENTROGRAPHIC METHOD OF STUDYING SPATIAL STRUCTURE

The authors focus on modern applications of the centrographic method of geographic research and mapping—both in terms of how centrography may aid in the cartographic representation of certain distributions and in terms of how cartographic devices (e.g., centrograms) may be used in the more effective identification of centers. A brief history of the method's development in Russia and the USSR is followed by examples of the use of centrograms in simultaneously comparing shifts (a) of distinct but related phenomena and (b) of the same phenomenon but at different scale levels. A variety of centrograms are presented and analyzed. Translated by Jay K. Mitchell, PlanEcon, Inc., Washington, DC 20005 from: Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, seriya geograficheskaya, 1990, No. 2, pp. 92–105.