A potential new threat on the coral reefs of Puerto Rico: The recent emergence of Ramicrusta spp.

The rapid appearance of Ramicrusta spp. is described and analyzed from 40 permanent monitoring coral reef stations in Puerto Rico. Before 2016, Ramicrusta had not been observed from any of the reef monitoring stations. By 2018, it was present at 76% of all the monitoring stations. Ramicrusta was the dominant substrata type at all of the shallow reef sites sampled on the east coast (e.g., Fajardo, Culebra, and Vieques), reaching a cover (±SE) as high as 63.0 ± 5.8%. The spread of Ramicrusta occurred at the expense of historically resilient living benthic elements, such as turf algae. Since its detection in 2016, colonization of hard substrata by Ramicrusta remained constant, with the exception of two shallow reefs in Fajardo and Culebra, where the cover was significantly reduced by the scouring and or abrasive effects of two major hurricanes. The ecological implications of Ramicrusta prevalence on Puerto Rican reefs remain unclear; however, increasing herbivory might be a useful mitigation tool in the reduction of Ramicrusta abundance on coral reefs.     

Mineralogical signatures and sources of recent sediment in a large tropical lake

Two lead-210 (²¹⁰Pb) dated sediment cores from Chapala Lake were studied to identify the mineral composition of the sediments and to discuss its relation with trace metals. Minerals and trace metals reflected the domain of volcanic rocks (i.e. basalts, rhyolite and andesite) that characterize Chapala Lake and the Lerma River watershed. Redundancy analyses (RDA) were used to identify the sedimentary variables (magnetic susceptibility, organic matter, sand content, and mineral composition) that could be related to elemental composition. Despite the distance between the two cores (7.3 km) and hydrodynamic circulation the RDA showed that the main mechanism that controls the input of mineral species, and, therefore, element distributions in the lacustrine sediment of Chapala Lake, is related to the weathering of volcanic rocks in the Lerma-Chapala watershed, the consequent runoff and transport of fine grained catchment materials, and later in-lake processes. These findings highlight the importance of controlling watershed erosion to contribute to the improvement of the environmental quality of the lake.     

Joint second-order parameter estimation for spatio-temporal log-Gaussian Cox processes

We propose a new fitting method to estimate the set of second-order parameters for the class of homogeneous spatio-temporal log-Gaussian Cox point processes. With simulations, we show that the proposed minimum contrast procedure, based on the spatio-temporal pair correlation function, provides reliable estimates and we compare the results with the current available methods. Moreover, the proposed method can be used in the case of both separable and non-separable parametric specifications of the correlation function of the underlying Gaussian Random Field. We describe earthquake sequences comparing several Cox model specifications.     

Spatial pattern analysis using hybrid models: an application to the Hellenic seismicity

Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural disasters and the spatial distribution of their epicentres generally shows diverse interaction structures at different spatial scales. In this paper, we use a multi-scale point pattern model to describe the main seismicity in the Hellenic area over the last 10 years. We analyze the interaction between events and the relationship with geological information of the study area, using hybrid models as proposed by Baddeley et al. (2013). In our analysis, we find two competing suitable hybrid models, one with a full parametric structure and the other one based on nonparametric kernel estimators for the spatial inhomogeneity.     

Spatial distribution and estimation of rainfall trends and erosivity in the Epitácio Pessoa reservoir catchment,Paraíba,Brazil

Natural Hazards - The main goals of this study are to better understand the spatial and temporal variabilities in rainfall and to identify rainfall trends and erosivity for the period from 1963 to...     

A dynamic stability analysis for the Olinalá landslide,northeastern Mexico

Natural Hazards - We have evaluated slope stability conditions considering different triggering conditions for the Olinalá landslide, a paleo-landslide located in the northern front of the...     

Land use change effects on runoff and erosion from plot to catchment scale on the basaltic plateau of Southern Brazil

In the region of the basaltic plateau in Southern Brazil, problems of runoff and erosion on the deep ferrallitic soils are becoming increasingly recognized. Land use change from conventional tillage using disk plough to no‐tillage on residues without terracing occurred at the beginning of the 1990s and it spread very quickly. Measurements of runoff and sediment concentrations on 1 m² plots receiving natural rainfall and simulated rainfall under different crops with different stages of growth and different tillage systems, field surveys and measurements of rills and gullies in nested experimental catchments indicate a relative decrease of runoff on slopes but an increase of subsurface flow, and a marked decrease of sheet and rill erosion and soil loss from plot to catchment scales. Nevertheless, the extension of parts of the gully system is still continuing, strongly influenced by extreme rainfall. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interface creep behavior of grouted anchors in clayey soils: effect of soil moisture condition

This study aims at investigating the influence of moisture conditions on interface shear behavior of element-grouted anchor specimens embedded in clayey soils. The tests involved comparatively short embedment lengths and a device that was specially designed to facilitate moisture conditioning. Rapidly loaded pullout tests as well as pullout tests under sustained (creep) loading were conducted to characterize both the short-term and long-term ultimate shear strength of anchor–soil interfaces. Both values of the interface shear strength were found to decrease exponentially with increasing moisture content values, although their ratio was found to show a linearly decreasing trend with increasing moisture content. The interface shear creep response under pullout conditions was characterized by a rheological hybrid model that could be calibrated using experimental measurements obtained under increasing stress levels. The accuracy of the hybrid model was examined by evaluating the stress-dependent prediction model as well as its governing parameters. This investigation uncovers the coupled impact of soil moisture condition and external stress state on the time-dependent performance of grouted anchors embedded in clayey soils by correlating the interface shear strength with soil moisture content and associating the creep model with stress levels applied to the grout–soil interface.

     

Active and passive arching stresses outside a deep trapdoor

Acta Geotechnica - The classic trapdoor configuration has been useful to examine the changes in stresses expected on buried structures. However, the primary focus of previous studies has been on...     

Assessment of Holothuria arguinensis feeding rate,growth and absorption efficiency under aquaculture conditions

Holothuria arguinensis is a potential species for sea cucumber aquaculture in Europe. In a first experiment, feeding rate (FR), growth, absorption efficiency (AE) and survival of adults (135.01?±?10.87?g eviscerated weight) were assessed under sediment tank conditions. In a second experiment, the feasibility to use sea bream (Sparus aurata) biodeposits as a food source was studied for adults (168.69?±?14.59?g eviscerated weight). Individuals in the first experiment showed an increase of weight (specific growth rate (SGR)?=?0.2% d^?1), positive FRs and mean value of AE close to 80% with a mean organic matter content of 90.07?±?11.5?mg/g in the offered sediment. Sea cucumbers fed with fish biodeposits showed a reduction of weight (SGR??1), low FRs and negative values of AE. The influence of low salinity and temperature during experiments should be considered to explain these results. Indeed, sea cucumbers can be affected by a decrease of these parameters during winter months resulting in a period of inactivity.