A geostatistical model for estimating edge effects and cumulative human disturbance in wetlands and coastal waters

ABSTRACT

The modification of landscapes for agriculture, residential housing, and other human uses has the potential to alter ecosystem function, reduce native biodiversity, and to diminish the capacity of natural systems to provide essential goods and services. Resultantly, methods aimed at quantifying disturbance intensity at the intersection of anthropogenic and natural lands are important to applied aspects of landscape planning and natural resource management, as well as theoretical facets of spatial ecology. Tools to appraise human disturbance in wetlands and coastal waters are especially needed because the topographic settings of surface waters make them particularly susceptible to pollutant accumulation, hydrologic alteration, and other influences from the surrounding landscape. Assuming a water resources focus, we developed a novel geostatistical method to quantify and visualize edge effects and cumulative human disturbance for all wetlands and coastal waters in the State of Florida (USA). Model validation revealed that estimated disturbance intensity was strongly correlated to species richness, levels of heavy metal contamination, and persistent organic pollutant concentration. The presented modeling framework offers a flexible means to assess human disturbance across spatial scales and could be readily applied to prioritize conservation land acquisition and to anticipate future impacts from the proposed development.     

Mud volcanoes of the Orinoco Delta, Eastern Venezuela

Mud volcanoes along the northwest margin of the Orinoco Delta are part of a regional belt of soft sediment deformation and diapirism that formed in response to rapid foredeep sedimentation and subsequent tectonic compression along the Caribbean–South American plate boundary. Field studies of five mud volcanoes show that such structures consist of a central mound covered by active and inactive vents. Inactive vents and mud flows are densely vegetated, whereas active vents are sparsely vegetated. Four out of the five mud volcanoes studied are currently active. Orinoco mud flows consist of mud and clayey silt matrix surrounding lithic clasts of varying composition. Preliminary analysis suggests that the mud volcano sediment is derived from underlying Miocene and Pliocene strata. Hydrocarbon seeps are associated with several of the active mud volcanoes.Orinoco mud volcanoes overlie the crest of a mud-diapir-cored anticline located along the axis of the Eastern Venezuelan Basin. Faulting along the flank of the Pedernales mud volcano suggests that fluidized sediment and hydrocarbons migrate to the surface along faults produced by tensional stresses along the crest of the anticline. Orinoco mud volcanoes highlight the proximity of this major delta to an active plate margin and the importance of tectonic influences on its development. Evaluation of the Orinoco Delta mud volcanoes and those elsewhere indicates that these features are important indicators of compressional tectonism along deformation fronts of plate margins.     

Disk precession and quasi-periodic brightness oscillations of V603 Aql in 2001–2002

We present the photometric observations of the old nova V603 Aql with the RTT 150 Russian-Turkish telescope during eleven nights of 2001–2002. We show that the star at this time was in a state with positive superhumps and its photometric period of \(0\mathop .\limits^d 144 - 0\mathop .\limits^d 145\) was longer than the orbital period. We found night-to-night variations in the mean brightness of the system that are consistent with disk precession periods of \(3\mathop .\limits^d 3\) and \(3\mathop .\limits^d 0\) in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Analysis of the results and their comparison with the results of other authors using current theoretical models for disk precession lead us to suggest that the change in the disk precession period was caused by a change in the accretion rate in the system. V603 Aql in a state with negative superhumps was found to be brighter than it is in a state with positive superhumps by \(0\mathop .\limits^m 2 - 0\mathop .\limits^m 3\). We hypothesize that the transition between these states could also be caused by a change in the accretion rate. Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) of the brightness with typical time scales of 9–70 min were detected on each observing night. These time scales were found to change from night to night. The detection of QPOs with a period of about 0.05 of the orbital period and its multiples on certain nights provides evidence for the model of QPO generation through accretion-rate modulation by ionization-front oscillations on the surface of the donor star near the inner Lagrangian point.     

Fluoride occurrence in publicly supplied drinking water in Estonia

A study was undertaken to examine the content and spatial distribution of fluoride in drinking water. Water samples (735) from public water systems covering all Estonian territory were analysed using SPADNS method. In order to specify the natural source of fluoride, the chemistry data from five aquifer systems utilised for water supply were included into the study. Fluoride concentrations in tap water, to a great extent, ranged from 0.01 to 6.95 mg/l. Drinking water in southern Estonia, where terrigenous Middle-Devonian aquifer system is exploited, has a fluoride concentration lower than recommended level (0.5 mg/l), thus promoting susceptibility to dental caries. The western part of the country is supplied by water with excess fluoride content (1.5–6.9 mg/l). Groundwater abstracted for drinking purposes originates from Ordovician and Silurian carbonate rocks. The content of fluoride in Silurian–Ordovician aquifer system is associated with the groundwater abstraction depth and the main controlling factors of dissolved fluoride are the pH value and the chemical type of water.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water,mussels (Brachidontes sp., Tagelus sp.) and fish (Odontesthes sp.) from Bahía Blanca Estuary,Argentina

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), one of the major groups of anthropogenic environmental pollutants, were firstly identified and measured in coastal waters, native mussels and fish of an industrialized South American estuary.     

Schooling behaviour and environmental forcing in relation to anchoveta distribution: An analysis across multiple spatial scales

The Peruvian anchovy or anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) supports the highest worldwide fishery landings and varies in space and time over many scales. Here we present the first comprehensive sub-mesocale study of anchoveta distribution in relation to the environment. During November 2004, we conducted a behavioural ecology survey off central Peru and used a series of observational and sampling tools including SST and CO₂ sensors, Niskin bottles, CTD probes, zooplankton sampling, stomach content analysis, echo-sounder, multibeam sonar, and bird observations. The sub-mesoscale survey areas were chosen from mesoscale acoustic surveys. A routine coast-wide (2000 km) acoustic survey performed just after the sub-mesoscale surveys, provided information at an even larger population scale. The availability of nearly concurrent sub-mesoscale, mesoscale and coast-wide information on anchoveta distribution allowed for a unique multi-scale synthesis. At the sub-mesoscale (100s m to km) physical processes (internal waves and frontogenesis) concentrated plankton into patches and determined anchoveta spatial distribution. At the mesoscale (10s km) location relative to the zone of active upwelling (and age of the upwelled water) and the depth of the oxycline had strong impacts on the anchoveta. Finally, over 100s km the size of the productive area, as defined by the upwelled cold coastal waters, was the determining factor. We propose a conceptual view of the relative importance of social behaviour and environmental (biotic and abiotic) processes on the spatial distribution of anchoveta. Our ecological space has two y-axis; one based on self-organization (social behaviour), and the other based on the environmental processes. At scales from the individual (10s cm), to the nucleus (m), social behaviour (e.g. the need to school) drives spatial organization. At scales larger than the school, environmental forces are the main driver of fish distribution. The conceptual ecosystem models presented in this paper may provide the final links needed to develop accurate forecasts of the spatial distribution of anchoveta over multiple scales.