The influence of key environmental variables on phytoplankton community structure in the estuary of tidal rivers around Luoyuan Bay,China

A total of 348 species belonging to 8 phyla and 125 genera were observed in seasonally sampled phytoplankton of tidal rivers from 13 sampling sites around Luoyuan Bay, and all field samplings were carried out in productive period(March/June/August/December) at ebb tide. Bacillariophyta species were the most abundant species, followed by Chlorophyta, Cyanophytes, Euglenophyta, Cryptophyta, Dinophyta, Xanthophyta and Chrysophytas. Seasonal distribution index(SDI) value ranged from 0.63 to 0.86, which meant that species found at those sites in 4 seasons tended to be largely different. Phytoplankton individuals ranged from 5.939×10~4 ind L~(-1) in winter to 75.31×10~4 ind L~(-1) in autumn. Phytoplankton biomass ranged from 0.620 mg L~(-1) in summer to 2.373 mg L~(-1) in autumn. The grey correlation analysis(GCA) showed that the nutrient variables played an important role in the influence on phytoplankton community in every season. The canonical correspondence analysis(CCA) revealed impact of environmental variables on the different species, most of Bacillariophyta species were negative correlation with nutrients(TP and NH_3-N) in the four seasons, Chlorophyta species and Cyanophyta species did not show obvious correlation with environment variables in every season. The combination of GRA analysis and CCA analysis provided a method to quantitatively reveal the correlation between phytoplankton community and environmental variables in water body of tidal rivers at this region.     

Long-term statistics of extreme tsunami height at Crescent City

Historically, Crescent City is one of the most vulnerable communities impacted by tsunamis along the west coast of the United States, largely attributed to its offshore geography. Trans-ocean tsunamis usually produce large wave runup at Crescent Harbor resulting in catastrophic damages, property loss and human death. How to determine the return values of tsunami height using relatively short-term observation data is of great significance to assess the tsunami hazards and improve engineering design along the coast of Crescent City. In the present study, the extreme tsunami heights observed along the coast of Crescent City from 1938 to 2015 are fitted using six different probabilistic distributions, namely, the Gumbel distribution, the Weibull distribution, the maximum entropy distribution, the lognormal distribution, the generalized extreme value distribution and the generalized Pareto distribution. The maximum likelihood method is applied to estimate the parameters of all above distributions. Both Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and root mean square error method are utilized for goodness-of-fit test and the better fitting distribution is selected. Assuming that the occurrence frequency of tsunami in each year follows the Poisson distribution, the Poisson compound extreme value distribution can be used to fit the annual maximum tsunami amplitude, and then the point and interval estimations of return tsunami heights are calculated for structural design. The results show that the Poisson compound extreme value distribution fits tsunami heights very well and is suitable to determine the return tsunami heights for coastal disaster prevention.     

The Gastric Shield and the Undrelying Epithelium of Chlamys Farreri:Morphological,Histological and Histochemical Characterizations

The gastric shield and underlying stomach epithelium of Chlymas ffarreri were examined at the light and ultrastructural levels.The results showed that the gastric shield consisted of two different size lobes joined together by a narrow middle piece,the thicker lobe was shaped like a funnel,but unclosed at the lateral side;the other lobe was irregularly triangular-shaped.The transverse section of the thicker lobe was obviously laminated and gradually decreased in thickness from the peak to the margins of the shield.The underlying epithelium bore numerous about 3μm diameter spherical processes formed by the apical plasmalemma of the epithelial cells becoming blunt pseudopodia.Microvilli and some interspersed cilia were present in the areas among the spherical processes regions where only microvilli existed.Rough endoplasmic reticulum,Golgi apparatus,different-sized electron-dense secretory granules and electron-lucent vacuoles as well las abundant mitochondria were present in the underlying epithelial cells.Fused droplets of the secretion from the underlying epithelial cells formed the gastric shield.     

Relationship between the variation of water quality in rivers and the characteristics of watershed at Miyun,Beijing, China

Based on the characteristics of land use and drainage network of the upper watershed of the Miyun Res-ervoir, Beijing, 26 monitoring and sampling sites were selected in different sub-catchments. Temporal and spatial variations in nutrient loss were dealt with in this paper in terms of the monitoring data on the water quality of the main tributaries flowing into the Miyun Reservoir. In combination with the monitoring data on water quality, the impacts of watershed characteristics including land-use type, landscape pattern, and drainage density were assessed, The concentrations of nutrients in the rainy season are higher than those in other seasons, and the concentrations of NO3--N are linearly related to those of total N which is the main form of nitrogen present in the fiver water. The concentrations of nitrogen become higher toward the reservoir along the main rivers. The seasonal variation of ni-trogen in the watershed affected by intensive human activities is very obvious; in the watershed with steady or low water flow, the seasonal variation of nitrogen is less obvious. Forest land and grassland can trap and filter nitrogen effectively. Land-use pattern also has important impacts on the loss of nitrogen. The concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water bodies show great temporal and spatial variations. On a temporal scale, the concentrations of TN and TP in the rainy reason are higher than those in other seasons. On a spatial scale, the concentrations of TN and NO3--N in the Qingshui River and Chaohe River are highest all the time. The spatial variation of TP is distinct, being obvious at sampling sites near villages. The form of nitrogen and phosphorus loss varies in different hydrological seasons. Dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus are the main forms in streams in non-rainy seasons, the dissolved nitro-gen and total nitrogen decrease in percentage in the rainy season. Particulate nitrogen and phosphorus are the main forms in some rivers. The concentrations of TN and NO3--N from orchards and villages are high whereas those from forest land are lowest. Land-use pattern has impacts on TN and NO3--N losses, at the sampling sites near the source landscape, the concentrations are higher than those at the sampling sites near the sink landscape. Water quality of the rivers which flow into the Miyuan Reservior is influenced by the composition of adjacent soils.     

Effects of copper pollution on the activity of soil invertase and urease in loquat orchards

Dealt with in this paper is the relationship between Cu contents of soil and activity parameters for soil invertase and urease from the Changtai loquat orchards in Fujian Province. The soil invertase activity and maximum reaction velocity (enzyme kinetic parameters: Vmax and Vmax/Km) have no remarkable negative correlation with Cu concentrations, but Cu concentrations have an obvious positive effect on invertase Kin, indicating a reversible com-petitive restraint on the reaction between Cu and invertase. The soil urease activity and maximum reaction velocity (Vmax,Vmax/Km) have a remarkable negative correlation with Cu concentrations, and in this aspect, they can be used as ecological indices of the soil polluted by Cu. A slightly variable Km indicates the non-reversible competitive restraint level.     

Pan-African high-grade metamorphism of southern Sinai,Egypt, fluid inclusion evidence

Fluid inclusions in the leucosomes of Wadi Feiran migmatites showed that CO ₂ , H₂O and (H₂O-CO₂) fluids were likely to have been present when partial melting began in these rocks. Low salinity, aqueous fluid, to a lesser extent, CO₂-rich fluids are the most abundant fluids. The present study suggests that high-density CO₂ inclusions were formed at the earliest stage, while H₂O inclusions were formed at the late stage. In an intermediate stage, low-density CO₂ and H₂O, CO₂ inclusions were formed. At the early stage of uplift and during melt crystallization, the CO₂-bearing vapour was trapped at grain boundaries. At the late stage of uplift, H₂O released at the time of crystallization of the melt was trapped as inclusions.     

Radio-Optical Imaging of ATLBS Survey

We present the radio-optical imaging of ATLBS, a sensitive radio survey (Subrahmanyan et al. 2010). The primary aim of the ATLBS survey is to image low-power radio sources which form the bulk of the radio source population to moderately high red-shifts (z ∼ 1.0). The accompanying multiband optical and near infra-red observations provide information about the hosts and environments of the radio sources. We give here details of the imaging of the radio data and optical data for the ATLBS survey.     

The First Polarization Maps from the GMRT

We present the first set of polarimetric images made with the GMRT. We find that the instrumental polarization leakage at the GMRT varies with frequency. It is possible to calibrate these terms to better than 1% accuracy, making it feasible to study sources that are polarized at the few per cent level. We present 610 MHz polarization images of two extended FR-II radio galaxies, viz. 3C 79 and 3C 265. We present high resolution polarization images of these two sources and also find that the polarization fractions of the two sources as seen at the GMRT are consistent with those reported by Conway & Strom (1984).     

Exact solution of anisotropic compact stars via mass function

Studying relativistic compact objects is important in modern astrophysics to understand several astrophysical issues. It is therefore natural to ask for an internal structure and physical properties of specific classes of compact stars from astrophysical observations. We obtain a class of new relativistic solutions with anisotropic distribution of matter for compact stars. More specifically, stellar models, described by an anisotropic fluid, establishing a relation between metric potentials and generating a specific form of mass function, are explicitly constructed within the framework of General Relativity. New solutions can be used to model compact objects, which adequately describe compact strange star candidates like SMC X-1, Her X-1 and 4U 1538-52, with observational data taken from Gangopadhyay et al. (Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 431:3216, 2013). As a possible astrophysical application the obtained solutions could explain the physics of selfgravitating objects, and might be useful for strong-field regimes where data are currently inadequate.     

Chromospheric activity in $\epsilon$ Eridani: results from theoretical wave studies

This work discusses theoretical models of chromospheric heating for \(\epsilon\) Eridani by shock waves. Self-consistent, nonlinear and time-dependent ab-initio numerical computations for the excitation of the atmosphere (i.e., arrays of flux tubes) are pursued based on waves generated in stellar convective zones. Based on previous studies the magnetic filling factor is estimated according to the stellar rotational period, although general models are described as well. The Ca II H+K fluxes are computed assuming partial redistribution (PRD). Time-dependent ionization notably affects the resulting Ca II fluxes, as expected. The emergent Ca II H+K fluxes are based on two-component models, consisting of a dominant magnetic component (as given by longitudinal tube waves) and a subordinate acoustic component. The Ca II fluxes as obtained are smaller by about a factor of 2 than those given by observations. Possible reasons for this discrepancy include (1) inherent limitations of our theoretical approach as it is based on 1-D rather than 3-D modelling and/or (2) the existence of additional heating processes in \(\epsilon\) Eridani (a young star) not included here.