Influence of Venezuelan crude oil on lobster larvae

Emulsions of crude oil are lethal to larvae of the American Iobster at concentrations of 100 ppm and appear to have sublethal effects at concentrations down to 1 ppm.     

Nematode/copepod ratios for monitoring pollution: A rebuttal

The nematode/copepod ratio recently proposed by Raffaelli & Mason is not a valid tool for assessing pollution. We found many discrepancies in the original paper and felt obliged to point them out. There was no quantitative assessment of contagion; and seasonal variation was great, two factors which could alter the ratio. We partitioned the original data into Raffaelli & Mason's and others and found that the ratio was not significantly correlated with grainsize when using the literature values. There are several exceptions to their statement that nematodes dominate in organically enriched sites and that there are not copepods in deep water samples. We do not believe that reducing the very complex meiofaunal community structure to a single ratio is appropriate and are concerned that those not familiar with the meiofaunal literature will try to use this ratio method as a panacea for assessing pollution before its validity is fully known.     

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.     

Post‐glacial biota from the inner part of southwest Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Seventeen vibrocores from the inner part of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf off northwestern Australia penetrate a range of marine and marginal‐marine sediments deposited in the post‐glacial transgression and highstand. Ranging from gravelly sand to fine silt, these sediments contain a diverse fossil biota dominated by molluscs and bryozoans, but also including ostracods and foraminifers. Minor components include solitary corals, echinoids, soft coral and sponge spicules, wood debris and bone fragments. The biota can be divided into five major marine or marginal‐marine environments (intertidal, lagoonal, estuarine, strandline and shelf) and one terrestrial (riverine) environment. The intertidal environment contains four sub‐assemblages (mangroves, salt marsh, mud flat and sand flat) and the shelf environment six sub‐assemblages (hard substrate inner shelf, sandy substrate inner shelf, muddy substrate inner shelf, epiphytic, inshore and oceanic). The most useful organisms for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction are bryozoans for differentiating various shallow‐marine substrates, and foraminifers and ostracods for defining water depths, euryhaline, freshwater and oceanic influences. Palynomorphs were the only microfossils capable of providing control on terrestrial environments. The scarcity of marine plankton and the dominance of terrestrial palynomorphs in these marine sediments provides a salutary warning of the dangers of relying on plant microfossils alone when no independent environmental data are available to test the interpretation. The mollusc and bryozoan biota in the inner part of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf superficially resembles the bryomol assemblage of cool‐water shelves. This biotic assemblage is the result of turbidity rather than water temperature. The turbidity suppresses the photosynthetic, zooxanthellate and hermatypic organisms allowing molluscs, bryozoans and other apparently cool‐water biotic elements to dominate.