Tropical Marine Fungi*

Abstract. Marine Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes and Deuteromycetes were collected in tropical and subtropical regions (Australia, Belize, Fiji, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Mexico, New Zealand, Palau, Thailand), and the known range of distribution for these fungi was extended. Exclusively tropical are 27 taxa, 9 are probably restricted to the tropics also, and 11 are cosmopolitan. Distribution maps are given for 5 taxa. New species (4), varieties (3), and combinations (2) of Ascomycetes are proposed, and keys to the taxa of Halosarpheia and Lulworthia are presented. Most of the species are decomposers of mangrove parts or of detritus in sandy beaches. Nine new host plants were found. Marine Ascomycetes were discovered for the first time living in shells of foraminifera.     

Bathymetry of Molloy Deep: Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland

The sea floor of Fram Strait, the over 2500 m deep passage between the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, is part of a complex transform zone between the Knipovich mid-oceanic ridge of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge of the Arctic Ocean. Because linear magnetic anomalies formed by sea-floor spreading have not been found, the precise location of the boundary between the Eurasian and the North American plate is unknown in this region. Systematic surveying of Fram Strait with SEABEAM and high resolution seismic profiling began in 1984 and continued in 1985 and 1987, providing detailed morphology of the Fram Strait sea floor and permitting better definition of its morphotectonics. The 1984 survey presented in this paper provided a complete set of bathymetric data from the southernmost section of the Svalbard Transform, including the Molloy Fracture Zone, connecting the Knipovich Ridge to the Molloy Ridge; and the Molloy Deep, a nodal basin formed at the intersection of the Molloy Transform Fault and the Molloy Ridge. This nodal basin has a revised maximum depth of 5607 m water depth at 79°8.5N and 2°47E.     

Circulation and Brackish Water Dispersal in a Coastal Lagoon of Southwest Taiwan

Modest observations and numerical experiments were conducted to investigate circulation and brackish water dispersal in a coastal lagoon southwest of Taiwan. The Chi-Ku Lagoon, partially shielded from the sea by a string of sandbar barriers with two entrances among them, receives modest and episodic runoff from Chi-Ku Stream. Flood and ebb tidal streams entering and leaving the two entrances are found to converge and diverge in a flow stagnation area inside the lagoon. Under weak wind conditions, brackish water is preferentially retained in the flow stagnation area. Besides the observations, scenario runs using a three-dimensional numerical model also indicate strong modulation by monsoon winds. Both summer southwest monsoon and winter northeast monsoon reduce brackish water retention; the latter is found to be more effective. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Quaternary evolution of the Gulf of İzmit (NW Turkey): a sedimentary basin under control of the North Anatolian Fault Zone

The Quaternary evolution of the Gulf of İzmit, situated on the tectonically active North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), was investigated using seismic reflection, paleontologic, and sediment textural data. On the basis of seismic stratigraphic and sedimentologic-paleontologic interpretations, four depositional units were distinguished within the Plio-Quaternary sequence of the Gulf of İzmit. According to these data, Plio-Quaternary deposits supplied from the northern terrestrial area started to accumulate during a progradational phase, in a south-facing half-graben. A coarse-grained sedimentary unit prograding into the gulf from the south since 200 ka b.p. indicates a dramatic variation in the evolution of the gulf, with the initiation of a new strike-slip fault of the NAFZ and a corresponding uplift of the Armutlu Peninsula in the south of the gulf. During the evolution of this fault from a wide shear zone consisting of right-stepped strike-slip faults and pull-apart basins to a localized principal fault zone, sediments were deposited under the influence of northerly prograding terrestrial and shallow-marine conditions due to relative sea-level fluctuations in the Marmara Sea. During this period, the Gulf of İzmit was invaded mainly by Mediterranean and partly by Black Sea waters. In the latest glacial period, shallow areas in the gulf became subaerially exposed, whereas the central and western sub-basins of the gulf turned into lakes. The present evolution of the Gulf of İzmit is controlled by the after effects of the new rupture of the NAFZ and the estuarine nature of the gulf environment.     

Hunnebotn: a seawater basin transformed by natural and anthropogenic processes

The lake Hunnebotn (A=1 km², z_max=11 m) has become separated from the sea by isostasis, but a 1.5-m-deep channel is held open by periodic dredging. Water exchange is minor due to the small tidal range (21 cm) and the length of the channel (1.8 km), but there may be an inflow of seawater at spring tides. The terrestrial watershed runoff may be fertilized by sewage and agricultural runoff despite some measures taken to prevent this. Historical and new records of biological communities indicate variations in sensitivity to different phases of the isolation and eutrophication process. The native oyster was most sensitive and disappeared first. Later, the eelgrass disappeared possibly due to overgrowth by epiphytic algae, and finally there was a massive littoral–sublittoral invasion of green algae. The lake should not be left in this condition, for aesthetic reasons and because marine inlets and eutrophic brackish water may serve as refugia for spore populations of toxic microalgae. Improving surface water quality will require better control of anthropogenic sources, but bursts and leaks of nutrients from the anoxic monimolimnion cannot be controlled.