Mediterranean fin whales at risk from fatal ship strikes

This paper reviews and analyzes ship collision records for the relatively isolated population of fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea from 1972 to 2001. Out of 287 carcasses, 46 individuals (16.0%) were certainly killed by boats. The minimum mean annual fatal collision rate increased from 1 to 1.7 whales/year from the 1970s to the 1990s. Fatal strike events (82.2%) were reported in or adjacent to the Pelagos Sanctuary, characterized by high levels of traffic and whale concentrations. Among 383 photo-identified whales, 9 (2.4%) had marks that were attributed to a ship impact. The reported rates are unusually high for baleen whales. The high likelihood of unreported fatal strikes combined with other anthropogenic threats suggests an urgent need for a comprehensive, basin-wide conservation strategy, including ship strike mitigation requirements, like real-time monitoring of whale presence and distribution to re-locate ferry routes to areas of lower cetacean density, and reducing ship speed in high cetacean density areas.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000255

Geophysical studies point to a complex tectonic and geodynamic evolution of the Alboran Basin and Gulf of Cadiz.Tomographic images show strong seismic waves velocity contrasts in the upper mantle.The high velocity anomaly beneath the Alboran Sea recovered by a number of studies is now a well established feature.Several geodynamic reconstructions have been proposed also on the base of these images.We present and elaborate on results coming from a recent tomography study which concentrates on both the Alboran and the adjacent Atlantic region.These new results,while they confirm the existence of the fast anomaly below the Alboran region,also show interesting features of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system below the Atlantic.A high velocity body is imaged roughly below the Horseshoe Abyssal plain down to sub-lithospheric depths.This feature suggests either a possible initiation or relic subduction.Pronounced low velocity anomalies pervade the upper mantle below the Atlantic region and separate the lithospheres of the two regions.We also notice a strong change of the upper mantle velocity structure going from south to north across the Gorringe Bank.This variation in structure could be related to the different evolution in the opening of the central and northern Atlantic oceans.     

Is maturity index an efficient tool to assess the effects of the physical disturbance on the marine nematode assemblages?—A critical interpretation of disturbance-induced maturity successions in some study cases in Maldives

Maturity index(MI), based on nematode life strategies, has been proposed in 1990 to assess the possible variations of the terrestrial and freshwater nematode assemblages induced by anthropogenic activities. It was subsequently applied also to marine ecosystems and, even if comparatively not yet very popular, it offers a good method to assess the ecological quality in relation to a wide range of anthropogenic drivers. However, few data are available on its response to physical stress, a key factor especially in the coastal areas. In this study, marine nematode genera from two study cases carried out in Maldives are used to test both MI and life strategy traits(i.e., c-p classes) for detecting the effects of physical disturbance. The results confirm that nematodes are well adapted to physical stress showing a general high rate of recovery. C-p scaling and MI did not seem to be appropriate for revealing this disturbance type probably because there are no empirical evidences on the life strategy of several genera, and a possible differential response to various disturbance types may be hypothesized.     

南美地台中生代活化的火成岩记录(英文)

在冈瓦纳大陆裂解的同时及其后,出现了岩浆作用过程,它影响到远离安第斯山链的南美地台的大部分。这个岩浆作用过程构成了几种类型的记录:(1)拉斑玄武质侵入岩和喷出岩,如沉积盆地中的熔岩流、岩床、岩墙和基底中的岩墙。最大活动强度出现于中侏罗世至前阿普第阶早白垩世。在大陆的北部,出现局部的二叠—三叠纪拉斑玄武质岩墙。(2)碱性和过碱性镁铁质至长英质岩浆活动和共生的碳酸盐岩,它们出现于巴西Serra do Mar、巴拉那盆地周边以及在亚马孙地盾周边和玻利维亚,呈孤立的小面积出现,时代上大部分属后阿尔必阶。由于此期岩浆作用发生于南美和非洲移开之时,所以一直延续至中新世。少量的侵入岩是与侏罗纪—始自垩纪火山活动同时的。(3)在前寒武纪末期结束造山作用的地区以及在时代为中元古代的巴西克拉通区,已找到了几个金伯利岩体,少量的同位素资料指出其年龄属中生代。 地质构造影响了中新生代岩浆活动。玄武质熔岩流和岩床在克拉通内盆地中下沉较大的内部更常见,厚度也较大。许多前寒武纪断裂受到辉绿岩墙的影响,这些岩墙可以构成岩墙群。其它岩墙明显与古老断裂无关,但是它们位于大陆分离过程中遭受张应力的地区。巴拉那盆地周边的碱性岩浆作用通常受穹窿和断开的单褶的控制。相似的机制——也发现     

Do benthic biofilters contribute to sustainability and restoration of the benthic environment impacted by offshore cage finfish aquaculture?

Benthic biofilters were deployed under a cage fish farm and in two reference locations to assess the influence of the farm on the biofilters and the surroundings, as well as to verify the usefulness of this technology as a mitigation tool. The biofilters underneath the farm recruited a fouling community practically identical to that of the control biofilters, which included a variety of trophic strategies. The former showed a higher ¹⁵N enrichment, indicating that fouling beneath the farm was benefiting from the farm waste. The waste retention efficiency was low (0.02 g N m⁻² month⁻¹) beneath the farm. Benthic biofilters aggregated demersal wild fish around and within them. Pelagic wild fish also frequently used the biofilters beneath the farm, forming compact shoals around them. The increased complexity of the habitat below the fish farm enhanced biodiversity, but this improvement did not lead to the recovery of the sediments around the biofilters.     

Comet assay in phytoplankton as biomarker of genotoxic effects of environmental pollution

The alkaline comet assay was tested on different microalgae: the dinoflagellates, Karenia mikimotoi and Alexandrium minutum, and the diatom, Chaetoceros gracilis. The microalgae were exposed during their exponential growth to the model direct genotoxicant, hydrogen peroxide (1h, 5 and 100muM H2O2). Following H2O2 exposure, the comet assay was validated only for K. mikimotoi for which genotoxicity was observed from the lowest tested concentration of 5 microM with a concentration-dependent effect. C. gracilis was too small in size (4 microm) to be correctly analysed. For A. minutum, our lysis buffer was not strong enough to digest the cellulosic thecal plates. For K. mikimotoi, the comet assay was thus applied for the study of the genotoxic effects of different pesticides: epoxiconazole (as Opus formulation), chlorpyriphos-ethyl (as Dursban formulation) and endosulfan at 1, 10 and 100 microg of active substance/L for 24h. Exposure to epoxiconazole in formulation resulted in an increase in the extent of DNA strand breaks at the highest tested concentration icro/L. Endosulfan exposure resulted in DNA damage for K. mikimotoi nuclei. Genotoxicity was observed from 1 microg/L of endosulfan and was not concentration dependent.     

原始地核:离子探针为西格陵兰和恩德比地(南极洲)太古宙地区大约4000Ma地壳物质提供的证据

对古老岩区的典型花岗片麻岩中提取单—锆石颗粒内一些直径为15μm的点,用离子探针测量了~(207)pb/~(206)pb的比值表明,这些地方保存一个~(207)pb/~(206)pb比值范围。在含有较高铀含量的锆石内一般可测得~(207)pb/~(206)pb的最低比值,计算的~(207)pb/~(206)pb年龄,一般与反映它们形成后各岩层经受的比较主要地质事件可以对比。似乎可能的是,在年轻事件期间,由于遭受锆石粒高铀区放射性的破坏,使这些地带的放射性铅损失了。在含     

A hybrid artificial neural network-numerical model for ground water problems

Numerical models constitute the most advanced physical-based methods for modeling complex ground water systems. Spatial and/or temporal variability of aquifer parameters, boundary conditions, and initial conditions (for transient simulations) can be assigned across the numerical model domain. While this constitutes a powerful modeling advantage, it also presents the formidable challenge of overcoming parameter uncertainty, which, to date, has not been satisfactorily resolved, inevitably producing model prediction errors. In previous research, artificial neural networks (ANNs), developed with more accessible field data, have achieved excellent predictive accuracy over discrete stress periods at site-specific field locations in complex ground water systems. In an effort to combine the relative advantages of numerical models and ANNs, a new modeling paradigm is presented. The ANN models generate accurate predictions for a limited number of field locations. Appending them to a numerical model produces an overdetermined system of equations, which can be solved using a variety of mathematical techniques, potentially yielding more accurate numerical predictions. Mathematical theory and a simple two-dimensional example are presented to overview relevant mathematical and modeling issues. Two of the three methods for solving the overdetermined system achieved an overall improvement in numerical model accuracy for various levels of synthetic ANN errors using relatively few constrained head values (i.e., cells), which, while demonstrating promise, requires further research. This hybrid approach is not limited to ANN technology; it can be used with other approaches for improving numerical model predictions, such as regression or support vector machines (SVMs).