Future seagrass beds: Can increased productivity lead to increased carbon storage?

While carbon capture and storage (CCS) is increasingly recognised as technologically possible, recent evidence from deep-sea CCS activities suggests that leakage from reservoirs may result in highly CO₂ impacted biological communities. In contrast, shallow marine waters have higher primary productivity which may partially mitigate this leakage. We used natural CO₂ seeps in shallow marine waters to assess if increased benthic primary productivity could capture and store CO₂ leakage in areas targeted for CCS. We found that the productivity of seagrass communities (in situ, using natural CO₂ seeps) and two individual species (ex situ, Cymodocea serrulata and Halophila ovalis) increased with CO₂ concentration, but only species with dense belowground biomass increased in abundance (e.g. C. serrulata). Importantly, the ratio of below:above ground biomass of seagrass communities increased fivefold, making seagrass good candidates to partially mitigate CO₂ leakage from sub-seabed reservoirs, since they form carbon sinks that can be buried for millennia.     

Coral Ba/Ca records of sediment input to the fringing reef of the southshore of Moloka’i, Hawai’i over the last several decades

The fringing reef of southern Moloka’i is perceived to be in decline because of land-based pollution. In the absence of historical records of sediment pollution, ratios of coral Ba/Ca were used to test the hypothesis that sedimentation has increased over time. Baseline Ba/Ca ratios co-vary with the abundance of red, terrigenous sediment visible in recent imagery. The highest values at One Ali’i are near one of the muddiest parts of the reef. This co-varies with the lowest growth rate of all the sites, perhaps because the upstream Kawela watershed was historically leveed all the way to the nearshore, providing a fast-path for sediment delivery. Sites adjacent to small, steep watersheds have ∼decadal periodicities whereas sites adjacent to mangrove forests have shorter-period fluctuations that correspond to the periodicity of sediment transport in the nearshore, rather than the watershed. All four sites show a statistically significant upward trend in Ba/Ca.     

The places parents go: understanding the breadth,scope, and experiences of activity spaces for parents

Neighborhood environments are related to parenting behaviors, which in turn have a life-long effect on children’s health and well-being. Activity spaces, which measure individual routine patterns of movement, may be helpful in assessing how physical and social environments shape parenting. In this study we use qualitative data and GIS mapping from four California cities to examine parental activity spaces. Parents described a number of factors that shape their activity spaces including caregiving status, the age of their children, and income. Parental activity spaces also varied between times (weekends vs. weekdays) and places (adult-only vs. child-specific places). Knowing how to best capture and study parental activity spaces could identify mechanisms by which environmental factors influence parenting behaviors and child health.     

Seasonal Composition of Benthic Macroinfauna Exposed to Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Bottom-water hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico has increased in severity (duration, frequency, and intensity) since the 1970s and has impacted the less-mobile benthos ever since. From September 2003 to October 2004, the macrobenthic density, species richness, community composition, and vertical distribution were studied at a frequently hypoxic station, C6B (28°52.10′ N and 90°28.00′ W). The polychaete-dominated community was approximately three times less dense and diverse in post-hypoxic months compared to pre-hypoxic months. The lowest oxygen concentrations in July 2004 did not significantly affect the infaunal community as predicted; rather, the response was observed 1 month later after a longer, low-oxygen exposure. The opportunistic, hypoxia-tolerant polychaete, Paraprionospio pinnata, population increased in July 2004 when other common species decreased, thereby maintaining pre-hypoxic densities. Determining the duration and severity of hypoxia prior to sampling rather than at the time of sampling helps to better understand benthic community responses to hypoxia.     

Nutrient Limitation on Phytoplankton Growth in the Upper Barataria Basin,Louisiana: Microcosm Bioassays

The Davis Pond Diversion (DPD) was constructed to divert Mississippi River (MR) water into the Barataria Basin to reduce the salinity in support of wetland restoration on the Louisiana coast. To assess the phytoplankton nutrient limitation in adjacent water systems and potential impacts of DPD, 12 seasonal nutrient-phytoplankton bioassay experiments were conducted from October 2003 to July 2004 using the natural phytoplankton assemblages from freshwater and brackish-water lakes, Cataouatche and Salvador, LA (USA), which receive Mississippi River water from the DPD, and from a nearby freshwater lake, Lac des Allemands, that does not. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and silicate (Si) were added with different combinations at Redfield ratios in 10-l microcosms. Nitrogen was found to be the sole or primary limiting nutrient in all 12 experiments. N and P colimitations were found in seven of 12 experiments, but N was always the stronger limiting factor. P limitation was never observed to be the sole limiting nutrient. The results showed that a low concentration of P and a relatively high concentration of N do not necessarily indicate only P limitation in these lakes. Lake Cataouatche and Lake Salvador were dominated by centric diatoms, and Anabaena spp. were detected at high levels, particularly in summer. Lac des Allemands was generally dominated by N-fixing Anabaena spp. and other cyanobacteria, and their biomass responded significantly to N addition but not to P addition, indicating that nitrogen fixation in Lac des Allemands may be inhibited by other factors such as iron. Our bioassay results demonstrate that whether a water body is N- or P-limited is the consequence of the nutrient status and not the salinity regime. The results suggest that the addition of nutrient-rich waters via diversions of Mississippi River water into these lakes might increase the frequency of algal blooms, including noxious and toxic freshwater cyanobacteria.     

Reassessment of historical sections from the Paleogene marine margin of the Congo Basin reveals an almost complete absence of Danian deposits

The early Paleogene is critical for understanding global biodiversity patterns in modern ecosystems. During this interval, Southern Hemisphere continents were largely characterized by isolation and faunal endemism following the breakup of Gondwana. Africa has been proposed as an important source area for the origin of several marine vertebrate groups but its Paleogene record is poorly sampled, especially from sub-Saharan Africa. To document the early Paleogene marine ecosystems of Central Africa, we revised the stratigraphic context of sedimentary deposits from three fossil-rich vertebrate localities: the Landana section in the Cabinda exclave(Angola), and the Manzadi and Bololo localities in western Democratic Republic of Congo.We provide more refined age constraints for these three localities based on invertebrate and vertebrate faunas, foraminiferal and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, and carbon isotope records. We find an almost complete absence of Danian-aged rocks in the Landana section, contrary to prevailing interpretations over the last half a century(only the layer 1, at the base of the section, seems to be Danian). Refining the age of these Paleocene layers is crucial for analyzing fish evolution in a global framework, with implications for the early appearance of Scombridae(tunas and mackerels) and Tetraodontiformes(puffer fishes). The combination of vertebrate fossil records from Manzadi and Landana sections suggests important environmental changes around the K/Pg transition characterized by an important modification of the ichthyofauna. A small faunal shift may have occurred during the Selandian. More dramatic is the distinct decrease in overall richness that lasts from the Selandian to the Ypresian. The Lutetian of West Central Africa is characterized by the first appearance of numerous cartilaginous and bony fishes. Our analysis of the ichthyofauna moreover indicates two periods of faunal exchanges: one during the Paleocene, where Central Africa appears to have been a source for the European marine fauna, and another during the Eocene when Europe was the source of the Central Africa fauna. These data indicate that Central Africa has had connections with the Tethyian realm.     

Cross-shore distribution of longshore sediment transport rates on a barred non-tidal beach

This study was conducted to relate the cross-shore distribution of longshore sediment transport and grain size characteristics to cross-shore and longshore current velocities on a sandy low-energy beach in a non-tidal embayment of the Baltic Sea. Simultaneous measurements of current velocities and amount of sand caught in streamer traps were made on 31 sampling runs on 6 d in April 1999 at three fixed sites including the swash zone on the upper foreshore, the lower foreshore, and the crest of the most landward of four bars. Spilling waves broke frequently on the bar but rarely on the lower foreshore, even during onshore wind speeds up to 11.0 m s⁻¹. Waves always broke as plunging waves at the step at the base of the upper foreshore and were converted directly into swash. The greatest longshore current velocities in the swash occurred when wind speeds and water levels were greatest, but wind direction was nearly directly onshore. Longshore velocities were greater in the swash zone than at other sites except when relatively strong winds blew nearly parallel to the shoreline, causing a pronounced wind-induced current at the other two sites. Calculated longshore shear stress and rate of sediment trapped were highly correlated on the bar (r=0.90), less highly correlated in the swash zone, and least highly correlated (r=0.66) on the lower foreshore. Mean trapping rates in the swash were 14.6 times greater than on the lower foreshore and 7.2 times greater than on the bar. Greater trapping rates in the swash are attributed to the greater turbulence mobilizing sediments in the uprush and backwash. Little of the finer-grained sediment on the offshore sites was reworked under low energy conditions. The study reveals the dominance of swash transport on steep, reflective, low-energy beaches where wave energy dissipation takes place over small distances on the upper foreshore.     

Investigations of the availability and survival of submersed aquatic vegetation propagules in the tidal Potomac River

The establishment of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) at unvegetated sites in the freshwater tidal Potomac River was limited primarily by factors other than propagule availability. For two years, traps were used to quantify the amount of plant material reaching three unvegetated sites over the growing season. The calculated flux values provided a gross estimate of the flux of propagules that could potentially survive if other site factors were suitable. The mean flux ofHydrilla verticillata and all other species (≥0.01 gdw m^?2 d^?1) appeared sufficient to favor the establishment of vegetation, particularly considering the high viability (70–100%) of whole plants and fragments under controlled conditions. However, median water clarity values (i.e., for light attenuation, Secchi depth, total suspended solids, and chlorophylla) were below SAV restoration goals at all unvegetated sites. Additionally, sediments from unvegetated sites showed a potential for nitrogen limitation of the growth ofH. verticillata. Our findings support the hypothesis that in the tidal Potomac River, water clarity and nutrient (especially nitrogen) levels in sediment are key to plant community establishment.