Wind-forced circulation model and water exchanges through the channel in the Bay of Toulon

A hydrodynamic model of the Bay of Toulon has been developed for use as a post-accident radionuclide dispersion simulation tool. Located in a Mediterranean urban area, the Bay of Toulon is separated into two basins by a 1.4-km long seawall. The Little Bay is semi-enclosed and connected to the Large Bay by a fairway channel. This channel is the site of significant water mass exchange as a result of both wind-driven currents and bathymetry. It is therefore a focal point for marine contamination. As part of the model calibration and validation process, the first step consisted of studying the water mass exchange between the two basins. An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler was moored in the channel for 1 year. The present study analyses in situ data to determine the current intensity and direction, and also to better understand the vertical current profile, which is highly correlated with meteorological forcing. Comparisons of model-generated and measured data are presented, and various atmospheric forcing datasets are used to enhance computed results. It appears that accurate meteorological forcing data is needed to enhance the accuracy of the hydrodynamic model. This channel is an important location for water mass renewal in the Bay of Toulon, and model results are used to quantify these exchanges. The mean calculated annual water exchange time is approximately 3.4 days. However, this duration is strongly wind dependent and shortens during windy winter months. It ranges from 1.5 days during strong wind periods to 7.5 days during calm weather. Residence time values calculated through tracer dispersion modelling after release at the back of the Little Bay are found to be comparable to the mean exchange time values, especially for windy conditions.     

汶川地震同震滑坡物质在震区的滞留和运移及其对龙门山地形演化的影响

2008年M_W7.9汶川地震导致龙门山断裂发生强烈地壳变形,同时引发的巨量同震滑坡加速了该地区的地表剥蚀和河流侵蚀.然而,目前尚缺少系统的数据定量研究滑坡物质的运移以及河流侵蚀速率随时间的演化规律,这些对理解龙门山前缘物质的再分配以及强震对活动造山带地形塑造的作用至关重要.为此,本研究在汶川地震后的6年间,对震区沱江上游3条支流湔江、石亭江、绵远河流域进行了多期次的定点现代河沙采样.通过系统测量河沙中的石英¹⁰Be浓度,并与震前已发表的数据进行对比,发现如下基本特点：（1）震后河沙¹⁰Be浓度均有明显降低,表明同震滑坡物质对河沙的稀释作用;（2）震后河流对河沙的运移量增加为震前的1.3~18.5倍,因此震后龙门山地区侵蚀速率短期显著增加;（3）初步估计得到汶川地震产生的滑坡物质被完全运移出造山带所需要的时间至少为100~4000年,接近龙门山地区强震复发周期;（4）震间和同震产生的构造变形和地表剥蚀在空间上具有互补性.考虑到地表剥蚀引起的地壳均衡反弹效应,认为类似汶川地震的强震有利于龙门山的隆升.认识震前、震时和震后的地壳变形及侵蚀过程有助于更好地理解单次强震事件对高原边界龙门山地形演化的作用.

     

Impacts of climate change on coastal benthic ecosystems: assessing the current risk of mortality outbreaks associated with thermal stress in NW Mediterranean coastal areas

In the framework of climate change, the increase in ocean heat wave frequency is expected to impact marine life. Large-scale positive temperature anomalies already occurred in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea in 1999, 2003 and 2006. These anomalies were associated with mass mortality events of macrobenthic species in coastal areas (0–40 m in depth). The anomalies were particularly severe in 1999 and 2003 when thousands of kilometres of coasts and about 30 species were affected. The aim of this study was to develop a methodology to assess the current risk of mass mortality associated with temperature increase along NW Mediterranean continental coasts. A 3D regional ocean model was used to obtain the temperature conditions for the period 2001–2010, for which the model outputs were validated by comparing them with in situ observations in affected areas. The model was globally satisfactory, although extremes were underestimated and required correction. Combined with information on the thermo-tolerance of a key species (the red gorgonian P. clavata) as well as its spatial distribution, the modelled temperature conditions were then used to assess the risk of mass mortality associated with thermal stress for the first time. Most of the known areas of observed mass mortality were found using the model, although the degree of risk in certain areas was underestimated. Using climatic IPCC scenarios, the methodology could be applied to explore the impacts of expected climate change in the NW Mediterranean. This is a key issue for the development of sound management and conservation plans to protect Mediterranean marine biodiversity in the face of climate change.     

Determination of Radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr and Stable δ88/86SrSRM987 Isotope Values of Thirteen Mineral,Vegetal and Animal Reference Materials by DS‐TIMS

This work presents new ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 isotopic values of thirteen mineral, vegetal and animal reference materials. Except for UB‐N, all our results are consistent with previously published data. Our results highlight intermediate precisions among the best presently published and a non‐significant systematic shift with the calculated δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 mean values for the three most analysed reference materials in the literature (i.e., IAPSO, BCR‐2 and JCp‐1). By comparison with the literature and between two distinct digestions, a significant bias of δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 values was highlighted for two reference materials (UB‐N and GS‐N). It has also been shown that digestion protocols (nitric and multi‐acid) have a moderate impact on the δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 isotopic values for the Jls‐1 reference materials suggesting that a nitric acid digestion of carbonate can be used without significant bias from partial digestion of non‐carbonate impurities. Different δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 values were measured after two independent Sr/matrix separations, according to the same protocol, for a fat‐rich organic reference material (BCR‐380R) and have been related to a potential post‐digestion heterogeneity. Finally, the δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 value differences measured between animal‐vegetal and between coral‐seawater reference materials agree with the previously published results, highlighting an Sr isotopic fractionation along the trophic chain and during carbonate precipitation.     

Influence of wave groups on SSC patterns over vortex ripples

Estimates of spatial and temporal variations in suspended sand concentrations (SSC) made with a multi-transducer Acoustic Backscatter Sensor (ABS) under a repeated wave group over a mobile rippled bed in the wave research flume at the National Hydraulics Laboratory in Ottawa, Canada, reveal an number of complex and intriguing patterns. Ensemble averages of 8 nearly identical wave groups provided much more robust estimates of SSC and allowed a detailed examination of the wave group effects. The largest SSC near the bed (< 0.10 m) occurs in phase with the largest waves in the group. Above approximately 0.10 m elevation, SSC lags behind the near bed SSC by as much as 2–3 waves; introducing significant curvature (on a semi-log plot) to the SSC profile. The log linear segments of the SSC profile grow and decay systematically on the scale of the wave group. The range in lengths of log-linear profile segments ( 0.03–0.355 m) suggest that the boundary layer thickness also fluctuates throughout the passage of the wave group. Furthermore, there are significant variations in the patterns of SSC, which occur under the largest and smallest waves in the group. Under the largest waves vertical bands of alternating high and low SSC produce an intra-wave modulation in the upper water column ( 0.075–0.30 m). The equivalent horizontal excursion of these bands scales to the ripple length. Under the smaller waves the intra-wave modulation of the SSC disappears and is replaced by temporally homogenous suspension that expands vertically through several individual wave cycles. The former pattern of homogenous suspension appears to be associated with growth of a boundary layer due to the persistent uni-directional horizontal flow during this part of the group together with the persistence of antecedent bed generated turbulence and vorticity which maintains the suspension. The latter pattern of bands of high and low SSC indicates a strong temporal and spatial constraint on the SSC (phase coupling) induced by the presence of the bedforms which may be enhanced by strong reversals in both flow and vorticity under the large waves in the group.     

Tropical shrimp trawl fisheries: Fishers’ knowledge of and attitudes about a doomed fishery

Tropical shrimp trawl fisheries are unsustainable, and similar sets of management measures are used globally to address the direct and indirect costs of their practices. Yet little is known about shrimp fishers’ perceptions, despite the clear importance of human behaviour in determining the success of fisheries management. This article presents the results of interviews with industrial shrimp trawl fishers from the southern Gulf of California, Mexico, and reveals fishers’ knowledge and attitudes that should be considered when developing management plans for industrial shrimp trawl fisheries. Fishers were asked to comment on problems facing the fishery, management options to address the issues, and the future of the fishery in general. The interviews also elicited new knowledge on effort and valuable components of bycatch, useful to the management process. Among the problems facing the Gulf of California fishery, fishers tended to identify those generated externally—fluctuations in shrimp populations, increases in fishing effort, decreases in shrimp prices and increasing overheads—and thus distance themselves from responsibility for management options. The successes of any mitigation measures for the fishery are likely to depend on proper enforcement and reliable governance, as our study indicates. Should strong enforcement be put in place, then trawl free areas seem to be the most pragmatic way to alleviate problems associated with the fishery; our effort data point to areas that might have greatest acceptance among fishers. A reduction in capacity would clearly complement marine zoning for trawl free areas. In the long run, however, it may be economic extinction of the fishery that reduces pressure on the marine ecosystem.     

How do species and data characteristics affect species distribution models and when to use environmental filtering?

ABSTRACT

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. However, their performance is known to be affected by a variety of factors related to species occurrence characteristics. In this study, we used a virtual species approach to overcome the difficulties associated with testing of combined effects of those factors on performance of presence-only SDMs when using real data. We focused on the individual and combined roles of factors related to response variable (i.e. sample size, sampling bias, environmental filtering, species prevalence, and species response to environmental gradients). Results suggest that environmental filtering is not necessarily helpful and should not be performed blindly, without evidence of bias in species occurrences. The more gradual the species response to environmental gradients is, the greater is the model sensitivity to an inappropriate use of environmental filtering, although this sensitivity decreases with higher species prevalence. Results show that SDMs are affected to the greatest degree by the species response to environmental gradients, species prevalence, and sample size. Models’ accuracy decreased with sample size below 300 presences. Furthermore, a high level of interactions among individual factors was observed. Ignoring the combined effects of factors may lead to misleading outcomes and conclusions.