Intra-annual recruitment events of a shelf species around an island system in the NW Mediterranean

Seasonal pattern of fish recruitment can vary over years, and the coupling of such pattern with favourable trophic-environmental conditions may trigger non-stationary and non-linear effects on the yearly recruitment variability. The relative contribution of intra-annual discrete recruitment events (REs) to recruitment is often the basis of the inter-annual fluctuations in abundance and biomass of exploited fish populations which are based on a small number of age classes. In this study, REs of European hake (Merluccius merluccius L.) were identified in the north and south of the Balearic Islands (NW Mediterranean) during the 2004 recruitment season and investigated for growth and physiological and morphological condition. Five REs were identified with different contributions in abundance to the annual recruitment in each area coming from different intra-annual spawning batches. Growth rates were similar between the REs with the exception of the last event of the season. Conversely, large differences in morphological and physiological condition were observed between REs and were due to: different environmental-trophic scenarios encountered, and ontogenetic changes related to the recruitment to the shelf-break grounds (ca. 11 cm, 5–6 months of life) which triggered a trade-off in the energy allocation strategy. The spatial-temporal variability in the physiological condition among REs at the beginning of the recruitment season might be explained in the basis on a ‘condition expanded match–mismatch hypothesis’. We advance that individuals recruiting in the north, which were in better condition and temporally and spatially differenced from the south, have most probably hatched in separated locations with different food availability for larvae and early life stages. We propose that hake recruiting to the north and south of the island are from different origins, mainland and the islands respectively, and have benefited from different environmental conditions. This results in a different condition but not in different growth rates.     

Changes in biomass structure and trophic status of the plankton communities in a highly dynamic ecosystem (Gulf of Venice,Northern Adriatic Sea)

The changes in the plankton biomass structure in relation to nutrient inputs were studied in the Gulf of Venice (Northern Adriatic Sea), an area characterized by a very marked trophic state variability. The investigation was carried out at two stations, in March, May and July 2005 and 2006, considering the whole water column. The size structure (from picoplankton to mesozooplankton) of both autotrophs and heterotrophs was analysed. Signals of diluted waters and nutrient inputs were more marked in 2005 than in 2006. In 2005, the total plankton biomass was almost double (87 ± 37 μg·C·l^?1) that in 2006 (44 ± 26 μg·C·l^?1). The variations were determined mainly by phytoplankton, with a 70% decrease, and a shift from a community dominated by microphytoplankton (49 ± 12%) in 2005 to one dominated by bacteria (43 ± 11%) in 2006 was observed. The relationship between the heterotrophic (H) and autotrophic (A) biomass indicated a rapid decline of the H/A ratio with increasing phytoplankton biomass. This study, although temporally limited, is consistent with the results reported for other marine environments and it seems to confirm the importance of nutrient inputs in structuring the biomass of plankton community.     

Comparative biomass structure and estimated carbon flow in food webs in the deep Gulf of Mexico

A budget of the standing stocks and cycling of organic carbon associated with the sea floor has been generated for seven sites across a 3-km depth gradient in the NE Gulf of Mexico, based on a series of reports by co-authors on specific biotic groups or processes. The standing stocks measured at each site were bacteria, Foraminifera, metazoan meiofauna, macrofauna, invertebrate megafauna, and demersal fishes. Sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC) by the sediment-dwelling organisms was measured at each site using a remotely deployed benthic lander, profiles of oxygen concentration in the sediment pore water of recovered cores and ship-board core incubations. The long-term incorporation and burial of organic carbon into the sediments has been estimated using profiles of a combination of stable and radiocarbon isotopes. The total stock estimates, carbon burial, and the SCOC allowed estimates of living and detrital carbon residence time within the sediments, illustrating that the total biota turns over on time scales of months on the upper continental slope but this is extended to years on the abyssal plain at 3.6 km depth. The detrital carbon turnover is many times longer, however, over the same depths. A composite carbon budget illustrates that total carbon biomass and associated fluxes declined precipitously with increasing depth. Imbalances in the carbon budgets suggest that organic detritus is exported from the upper continental slope to greater depths offshore.The respiration of each individual “size” or functional group within the community has been estimated from allometric models, supplemented by direct measurements in the laboratory. The respiration and standing stocks were incorporated into budgets of carbon flow through and between the different size groups in hypothetical food webs. The decline in stocks and respiration with depth were more abrupt in the larger forms (fishes and megafauna), resulting in an increase in the relative predominance of smaller sizes (bacteria and meiofauna) at depth. Rates and stocks in the deep northern GoM appeared to be comparable to other continental margins where similar comparisons have been made.     

Changes in European temperature extremes can be predicted from changes in PDF central statistics

Although uncertainties are still large, many potentially dangerous effects have already been identified concerning the impacts of global warming on human societies. For example, the record-breaking 2003 summer heat wave in Europe has given a glimpse of possible future European climate conditions. Here we use an ensemble of regional climate simulations for the end of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries over Europe to show that frequency, length and intensity changes in warm and cold temperature extremes can be derived to a close approximation from the knowledge of changes in three central statistics, the mean, standard deviation and skewness of the Probability Distribution Function, for which current climate models are better suited. In particular, the effect of the skewness parameter appears to be crucial, especially in the case of cold extremes, since it mostly explains the relative warming of these events compared to the whole distribution. An application of this finding is that the future impacts of extreme heat waves and cold spells on non-climatological variables (e.g., mortality) can be estimated to a first-order approximation from observed time series of daily temperature transformed in order to account for simulated changes in these three statistics.     

A multisource scheme based on NWP and MSG data to correct non-precipitating weather radar echoes

Weather radar quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) are one of the usual tools to monitor rainfall intensity remotely by forecasters on duty or by automatic systems such as hydrological models. Derivation of radar QPE requires a set of robust quality control procedures to address a number of different factors. In particular, significant departures from the standard temperature and moisture atmospheric vertical profiles may increase dramatically the refraction of the radar beam. This anomalous propagation (AP or anaprop) of the microwave radar energy may therefore increase the number of spurious echoes due to ground clutter and contribute, with non-realistic rainfall, to the estimated precipitation field. Based on previous experience of geostationary satellite imagery usage to depict cloud-free areas in precipitation analysis systems, a methodology to incorporate Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) observations and NWP data in the quality control of weather radar QPE was implemented considering two different algorithms. They were validated with two different verification data sets, built with manually edited radar data and rain gauge observations using HKS, PC and FAR scores. The evaluation of the scores was performed for weak (<15 dBZ), stronger and all echoes and for day, night and day and night conditions. One of the methods dealing with weak echoes at night improved PC from 80 to 97% and decreased FAR from 0.32 to 0.19. The results obtained indicate that the technique shows potential for operational application complementing other existing methodologies designed to improve the quality of weather radar precipitation estimates.     

Remarkable variability in dyke features at the Vicuña Pampa Volcanic Complex,Southern Central Andes

Dykes at the Vicuña Pampa Volcanic Complex, which are mostly basaltic (trachy)‐andesite and (trachy)‐andesite, are exposed at the base and along the walls of a large depression resulting from intense degradation. Dykes intruding stiff layers (lavas, plugs and necks) are thin, mostly dip >60° and have coherent textures, whereas dykes intruding more compliant materials (breccias and conglomerates) tend to be thicker, have lower dips and have coherent, brecciated or mixed textures (coherent and brecciated textural domains in a single or compound dyke). Single dykes with brecciated and mixed textures are only found intruding near‐surface units. Dykes with mixed textures always have sharp contacts between domains. Dykes with sinuous domain contacts and enclaves of one domain inside the other are interpreted as resulting from dyke arrest, partial cooling and reinjection of new magma. Dykes with straight domain contacts are considered to be compound dykes, with a new dyke intruding along the margins of an older, solidified one.     

Seasonal changes in the daily emission rates of terpenes by Quercus ilex and the atmospheric concentrations of terpenes in the natural park of Montseny, NE Spain

We studied the daily patterns in the rates of terpene emissions by the montane holm oak, Quercus ilex, in three typical days of winter and three typical days of summer in Montseny, a natural park near Barcelona, and related them to the air concentrations of terpenes, ozone and NO₂. Terpene emission rates were about 10 times higher in summer than in winter. Emissions virtually stopped in the dark. In both seasons, rates of terpene emissions were well correlated with light, air temperature and relative humidity. Rates of emissions were also correlated with stomatal conductance and the rates of transpiration and photosynthesis. Almost all the individual terpenes identified followed the same pattern as total terpenes. The most abundant terpene was ??-pinene, followed by sabinene + ??-pinene, limonene, myrcene, camphene and ??-phellandrene. Atmospheric terpene concentrations were also about 10 times higher in summer than in winter. A significant diurnal pattern with maxima at midday was observed, especially in summer. The increase by one order of magnitude in the concentrations of these volatile isoprenoids highlights the importance of local biogenic summer emissions in these Mediterranean forested areas which also receive polluted air masses from nearby or distant anthropic sources. Atmospheric concentrations of O₃ and NO₂ were also significantly higher in summer and at midday hours. In both seasons, concentrations of O₃ were significantly correlated with concentrations of terpenes and NO₂ in the air and with rates of terpene emission.