Genetic structure of bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli) populations in Chesapeake Bay

To determine the genetic structure of the bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli) within Chesapeake Bay, 16 isozyme systems encoding 21 loci for 20 population were examined using horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. Contingency Chisquare analysis revealed significant allelic frequency differences at nine loci (AAT-1, AAT-2, ALD-1, CPK-2, GAP-1, GLY-1, LDH-1, MDH-1, and MDH-2). Two loci, ALD-1 and MDH-1, were responsible for nine of 14 tests not conforming to Hardy-Weinberg expectations, with some of these deviations attributed to possible scoring and/or sampling error. Estimates for mean average heterozygosity were relatively high, ranging from 0.40 to 0.096, with 33–57% of the loci polymorphic. A low F_st value (0.041) along with high genetic identity estimates (I=0.997) indicated little substructuring of bay anchovy populations within Chesapeake Bay.     

A note on the chemical composition of lake water in the Laguna Amarga,a saline lake in Patagonia,Chile

The chemical composition of lake water in Laguna Amarga, a small, shallow, saline lake near the Torres del Paine National Park (at 51°S), Chilean Patagonia, was studied in January, 1993. The water was strongly alkaline (pH 9.4) conductivity was 71.4 mS cm^–1, and salinity was 77 g L^–1. The major ions were sodium and sulphate.     

A Holocene record of climate change,fire ecology and human activity from montane Flat Top Bog,Maui

A sediment core from a high-elevation bog on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands contains evidence for drier conditions between 9.4–5.8 kyr BP, followed by a wetter interval between 5.8–2.2 kyr BP, and a variable late Holocene. These precipitation changes may be a reflection of vertical displacements of the upper boundary of the mid-Pacific Trade Wind Inversion (TWI) cloud layer. Fires, probably volcanically ignited, occurred in the forests prior to human arrival. Polynesian activity in this high-elevation, remote site was apparently limited, with no pollen, charcoal, or sedimentological evidence for local anthropogenic disturbance. After European contact, grass fires increased and introduced plant species invaded the site. Values for Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in sediments throughout the Holocene indicate low trace-metal deposition from atmospheric particulates at the site, even in the twentieth century.This paper is one of a series of papers guest edited by Dr. Mark Brenner on tropical paleolimnology     

Study of homogeneity of precipitation in a region in the province of Buenos Aires,Argentina

Summary Monthly and annual climatic variabilities of precipitation were analyzed from a 60 years record of rainfall data at 10 measuring stations in the humid region of Argentina.Different statistical techniques were used to analyze the regional homogeneity of precipitation fields. Special structures and monthly trends were studied. Simple correlations of yearly precipitation at different locations were computed. Exponential functions relating cross-correlations and distances were determined through regression analysis.Monthly and annual rainfall show no evident signs of trends; aleatory processes are predominant in the whole region; and, correlation functions are independent of the direction of the vector connecting the stations.With 3 Figures     

Fluctuations in the onset,termination and length of the growing season in northern Nigeria

Summary A simple water balance method is used to compute the dates of the onset and termination and length of the growing season from long-term rainfall series in northern Nigeria. For most of the stations, the time series of onset and termination dates and growing season length are homogeneous and random, and can be taken as normally distributed. There is a progressive decrease in the length of the growing season from a mean of about 200 days in the south to less than 155 days in the extreme northern part. While there is no statistically significant trend in the onset dates, there is some evidence for statistically significant decreasing trend in the termination dates and the length of the growing season over the region. The results indicate that recent trends in the length of the growing season are more sensitive.to large interannual fluctuations in the start of the rains than to variations in the cessation dates.With 7 Figures     

Fluctuation dissipation in a general circulation model

This paper considers the climate response to step function changes in the solar constant in two versions of a general circulation model with simplified geography. The NCAR CCM0 model is applied to an all-land planet with no topography (Terra Blanda). In one version there is moisture in the air (as well as self-generated clouds) as evaporated from an ideal surface at a fixed 80% of saturation. In the other version there is no moisture in the atmosphere. We examine the decay of natural anomalies in the large-scale temperature field in each model and compare the time dependence of the ensemble average with the average temporal behavior of the response to step function changes in the solar constant. The fluctuation-dissipation theorem of statistical mechanics makes specific predictions about the relationship between the two curves. We conduct the experiments for both versions of the model since the sensitivity is quite different for each. The theorem is found to hold reasonably well in each case.     

Ultra-wideband radar studies of steep crested waves with scanning laser measurements of wave slope profiles

We report results of ultra wide-band radar sea spike experiments using steep and weakly breaking non-linear water surface features in a wave tank. To generate these features we used a 1 s paddle wave and wind waves for a sequence of wind speeds. A scanning laser was used to measure synchronously the surface slope profile across 12 cm along the wave propagation direction once per radar pulse. A time domain reflectometer (TDR) radar transmitted short horizontally polarized pulses at X-band, several hundred picoseconds long, to give a range resolution of 10 cm. A radar range of 36 cm was digitally sampled so that surface feature echoes could be tracked through the area continuously with 5 ms temporal resolution with each instrument. We report results considering the wave slope component in the propagation direction and the corresponding curvature component. For the conditions studied, two types of features which produce sea spike radar echoes were generated–a non-linear feature near the crest front of the wind wave, caused by extreme steepening as a result of the passage of the paddle wave, and a steepened blocked wind wave in the trough of the paddle wave, caused by the local orbital current of the 1 s wave being nearly equal to and opposite the phase velocity of the wind wave.