The impacts of the 2004 hurricanes on hydrology, water quality, and seagrass in the Central Indian River Lagoon, Florida

Between August 14 and September 26, 2004, four tropical weather systems (Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne) affected the central Indian River Lagoon (IRL). The central IRL received a prodigious amount of rainfall for the 2 mo, between 72 and 83 cm, which is a once-in-50-yr rainfall event. High stream discharges were generated that, combined with wind-suspended sediments, significantly reduced salinities and water transparency. In September, salinities among central IRL segments dropped from 30 psu or more to ≤15 psu, color increased from a low of 10 pcu to ≥100 pcu, and turbidity increased from ≤3 NTU up to 14 NTU. Evidence of the hurricanes' physical effects on seagrasses (burial, no scour) was limited to just one of the more than 25 sites inspected. Within 2 to 3 mo following the hurricane period, most parameters related to water transparency returned to or showed improvement over their prehurricane (February–July 2004) levels. Unseasonably low salinities (<20 psu) and moderately high color (>20 pcu) were observed through spring 2005, largely attributable to a relatively long residence time and a wetter-than-average spring season in 2005. By the end of the study period (July 2006), the central IRL generally showed a continuation of two opposite seagrass trends—an increase in depthlimit coverage but a decline in coverage density—that began before 2004. Also, within a limited reach of the central IRL, there was a temporary shift in species composition in summer 2005 (Ruppia maritima increased asHalodule wrightü decreased). It is likely that the persistently low salinities (not color) in 2004–2005 affected the species composition and coverage density. This study reveals that seagrasses are resilient to the acute effects of hurricanes and underscores the need to reduce chronic, an thropogenic effects on seagrasses.     

Temporal and Spatial Variability of Freshwater Plumes in a Semienclosed Estuarine–Bay System

While the physical forcing mechanisms that govern the outflows of major rivers throughout the world are well documented in the literature, comparably less research has been done to examine the mechanisms that govern the contributions of small rivers and streams to coastal ocean systems. These rivers and streams provide a direct means for the transport of anthropogenic and terrigenous materials from watersheds to coastal oceans. This study describes the temporal and spatial variability of freshwater plumes from Kaneohe Stream, Hawaii, USA, after storm events in the Kaneohe Bay watershed. Freshwater plumes were examined using a combination of fixed moorings, synoptic shipboard surveys, and lagrangian surface drifters. Data sets were collected over the course of 19 months from August 2005 to March 2007 with particular attention paid to storms during the boreal winters. Stream discharge and duration were found to exert a primary control on plume persistence in the southern Kaneohe Bay system. Time series data show a strong coherence between wind forcing and surface currents, which, in combination with data derived from shipboard and aerial surveys, indicate that the spatial variability of freshwater plumes is primarily determined by atmospheric forcing.     

Care and Global Migration in the Nursing Profession: a north Indian perspective

ABSTRACT

Globalisation, supply–demand dynamics, uneven development, enhanced connectivity including the better flow of information, communication and the reduced cost of travel have encouraged the global integration of nursing labour markets. Developed regions of the world have attracted internationally educated nurses (IENs) because of growing healthcare needs. India, along with the Philippines, has become a key supplier of nurses in the global economy. Traditionally the supply of nurses was heavily regionalised in south India, especially Kerala, but of late Punjab, in north India, has played an increasing role in nurse training and migration as the profession has become more respected and more international. This paper uses survey and interview data to detail the recent interest in nursing as a channel for independent female international migration from Punjab, and to examine how migratory ambitions have developed over the last decade in parallel with the changing status of nursing as an internationally respected profession. We identify growing interest in international migration for nursing students and their increased intention to pursue employment opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. This research highlights how nursing and care migration are increasingly structured by international circuits of training and employment, and how such circuits alter migrant and occupational geographies on the ground in sending regions.     

Evaluation of image analysis methods used for quantification of particle angularity

Angularity is an important parameter in the characterization of particle morphology that is used to interpret the transport history of particles in sedimentary deposits. In the past, visual classification using silhouette charts was widely used to determine particle angularity, but this approach is subjective and time‐consuming. With advances in modern image analysis techniques and low‐cost software packages, it is possible to rapidly quantify particle angularity more objectively than using visual classification methods. This study re‐examines the performance of three existing image analysis methods and one new image analysis procedure, applied to six rock and sediment samples that were visually different in angularity. To facilitate comparison between the angularity results, measurements were reduced to rankings for each aggregate sample. These results show that the four image analysis methods rank the angularity of the samples differently, and that none rank the mean angularity index in the same order as the angularity ranking using visual classification. Therefore, further research is needed to develop an image analysis method that can quantify the angularity of sedimentary particles more precisely.     

The Knysna Basin, South Africa: geomorphology, landscape sensitivity and sustainability

The Knysna Basin, a southern Cape catchment, drains into the Knysna estuary. The landscape characteristics are the product of a long geomorphic evolution resulting in high sensitivity to change. Consideration of the geomorphology is followed by examples of impacts on the estuary and adjacent areas. The need for sustainability in the context of development is argued. The paper is a southern African contribution to the landscape sensitivity issue.     

Basanite glaciovolcanism at Llangorse mountain,northern British Columbia,Canada

The Llangorse volcanic field is located in northwest British Columbia, Canada, and comprises erosional remnants of Miocene to Holocene volcanic edifices, lava flows or dykes. The focus of this study is a single overthickened, 100-m-thick-valley-filling lava flow that is Middle-Pleistocene in age and located immediately south of Llangorse Mountain. The lava flow is basanitic in composition and contains mantle-derived peridotite xenoliths. The lava directly overlies a sequence of poorly sorted, crudely bedded volcaniclastic debris-flow sediments. The debris flow deposits contain a diverse suite of clast types, including angular clasts of basanite lava, blocks of peridotite coated by basanite, and rounded boulders of granodiorite. Many of the basanite clasts have been palagonitized. The presence and abundance of clasts of vesicular to scoriaceous, palagonitized basanite and peridotite suggest that the debris flows are syngenetic to the overlying lava flow and sampled the same volcanic vent during the early stages of eruption. They may represent lahars or outburst floods related to melting of a snow pack or ice cap during the eruption. The debris flows were water-saturated when deposited. The rapid subsequent emplacement of a thick basanite flow over the sediments heated pore fluids to at least 80–100°C causing in-situ palagonitization of glassy basanite clasts within the sediments. The over-thickened nature of the Llangorse Mountain lavas suggests ponding of the lava against a down-stream barrier. The distribution of similar-aged glaciovolcanic features in the cordillera suggests the possibility that the barrier was a lower-elevation, valley-wide ice-sheet.     

Organochlorine contaminants in endangered Hawaiian monk seals from four subpopulations in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

We analyzed blubber and blood samples for organochlorines (OCs) from 158 Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) at four of their six primary breeding colonies in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Levels of OCs in blubber were lower in adult females compared to juveniles or adult males, evidently owing to the transfer of these lipophilic compounds to pups by pregnant and lactating females. Concentrations of SigmaPCBs and p,p'-DDE in blubber generally increased with age until seals were sexually mature and then continued to increase with age in males after puberty. Average levels of PCBs and PCB toxic equivalents (TEQs) in blubber were significantly higher in adult male and juvenile seals at Midway Atoll than the same age class of seals at the other colonies. Unlike concentrations of OCs in blubber, circulating levels of OCs in blood did not vary consistently among age classes of seals or among breeding colonies. Though the concentrations of OCs measured in Hawaiian monk seals were generally equal to or lower than those reported for other pinniped species in the North Pacific Ocean, they were high enough in a few seals to potentially affect their health.     

Impacts of temperature and nutrients on coastal lagoon plant communities

We investigated the independent and interactive effects of nutrient loading and summer water temperature on phytoplankton, drift macroalgae, and eelgrass (Zostera marina) in a coastal lagoon mesocosm experiment conducted from May through August 1999. Temperature treatments consisted of controls that approximated the 9-yr mean daily temperatures for Ninigret and Point Judith Lagoons in Rhode Island (United States) and treatments approximately 4°C above and 4°C below the controls. Nutrient treatments consisted of the addition of 6 mmol N m⁻²d⁻¹ and 0.5 mmol P m⁻² d⁻¹ to mesocosms 4°C above and 4°C below the 9-yr daily mean. Nutrient enrichment produced marked phytoplankton blooms in both cool and warm treatments during early summer. These were replaced after midsummer by dramatic growths of macroalgal mats ofEnteromorpha flexuosa and, to a lesser degree,Cladophora sericea. No phytoplankton blooms were observed in the cool unenriched treatments, but blooms did develop in the mean temperature and warm mesocosms during the second half of the summer that were similar in intensity, though of shorter duration, than those observed earlier in the enriched systems. Macroalgal blooms did not occur in the unenriched mesocosms. Sustained warm water temperatures markedly decreased eelgrass density and belowground production and increased the time interval between the initiation of new leaves, particuarly when the biomass of macroalgae was high. The negative effect of elevated water temperature on eelgrass was significantly increased under conditions of elevated inorganic nutrient input. By the end of summer, virtually all of the measures of eelgrass health declined in rank order from cool, to mean, to cool enriched, to warm, to warm enriched treatments. It is likely that the marked declines in eelgrass abundance observed during recent decades in the Northeast have resulted from an interaction of increasing nutrient enrichment combined with increasing summer water temperatures.     

An investigation of the relationship between uniaxial compressive strength and degradation for selected rock types

The relationship between uniaxial compressive strength and degradation was investigated for selected rock types, by using regression analyses to determine whether degradation was a useful predictor of compressive strength. In addition, the effects of aggregate particle size, number of hammer blows during the degradation test, engineering index properties, petrographic characteristics, and water saturation on the compressive strength-degradation relationship were evaluated. The results show that strong inverse relationships exist between compressive strength and degradation (measured on a 9.5-4.75-mm size aggregate) for sandstones and igneous/metamorphic rocks, but that no significant relationship exists for limestones/dolomites. The results also indicate a strong positive correlation between degradation and L.A. abrasion loss and can be used to establish a limit of allowable degradation for practical applications. Engineering index properties do not significantly affect the relationship between compressive strength and degradation but petrographic characteristics are important in explaining the strength and degradation behavior of the rocks studied. Water saturation decreases compressive strength and increases degradation to varying degrees.     

Effect of in vivo cadmium exposure on the respiratory burst of Marine Fish (Limanda limanda L.) phagocytes

Following the in vivo exposure of dab (Limanda limanda L.) to cadmium chloride, kidney phagocytes were collected and their respiratory burst measured in vitro using chemiluminescence. Fish were exposed to mean measured concentrations of 1.3, 2.7 and 5.5 mg Cd litre⁻¹ (as total cadmium ion) for a total of nine weeks, followed by a three week depuration period in clean sea water. Compared with control fish, the respiratory burst of kidney phagocytes from dab sampled after six weeks was significantly reduced in the 2.7 and 5.5 mg Cd litre⁻¹ treatments (Steel's test, p < 0.05). Significant reductions were observed in the respiratory burst of phagocytes from all cadmium exposed fish compared with control fish after nine weeks (Steel's test, p < 0.05). After a further three week depuration period in clean sea water, the respiratory burst of phagocytes from fish previously exposed to 1.3 and 2.7 mg Cd litre⁻¹ were still significantly less than in the control group (Steel's test, p < 0.05). Muscle tissue cadmium concentrations were also analysed, although there was no clear relationship between the muscle total cadmium levels and kidney phagocyte chemiluminescence. The results are discussed with respect to the possible mechanism(s) of cadmium immunotoxicity in dab and recommendations made for future work.