The impact of extreme turbidity events on the nursery function of a temperate European estuary with regulated freshwater inflow

Estuaries are used as nursery grounds by numerous marine species despite being usually subject to strong anthropogenic disturbances. Abundances of marine recruits (fish and crustacean decapods) and their main prey (mysids) were monitored by monthly sampling, from June 1997 to February 2009, in the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir estuary (SW Spain). During that period, unusually high and persistent turbidity events (HPTEs) were observed twice. Both HPTEs started with strong and sudden freshwater discharges after relatively long periods of very low freshwater inflow. Data from this time-series were used to test the hypothesis that HPTEs may negatively impact the nursery function of estuaries either by decreasing prey availability or by decreasing survival/arrival of marine recruits. During HPTEs, the commonest mysid (Mesopodopsis slabberi), a key species in the estuarine food web, showed a significant decrease in abundance. Likewise, some marine recruits that prey on M. slabberi and whose peaks of abundance within the estuary occur in summer–autumn (Engraulis encrasicolus and Pomadasys incisus) were less abundant during HPTEs. It is also suggested that HPTEs might have triggered a shift in the distribution of the most euryhaline prey (Neomysis integer) and predator (Dicentrarchus punctatus and Crangon crangon) species, towards more saline waters. This could have contributed to an increase in the inter-specific competition (for food/habitat) within the estuarine nursery area. The results discussed in this study call attention to the need to reduce as much as possible the anthropogenic pressures that may stimulate the occurrence of high and persistent turbidity events (HPTEs) in order to preserve the nursery function of temperate estuaries.     

Storm surge induced flux through multiple tidal passes of Lake Pontchartrain estuary during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike

In September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike generated major storm surges which impacted the Lake Pontchartrain estuary in Louisiana. This paper presents analyses of in situ measurements acquired during these storm events. The main data used in the analyses were from three bottom mounted moorings equipped with conductivity, temperature, and depth sensors, acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), and a semi-permanent laterally mounted horizontal acoustic Doppler profiler (ADP). These moorings were deployed in the three major tidal channels that connect Lake Pontchartrain with the coastal ocean. A process similar to tidal straining was observed: the vertical shear of the horizontal velocity was negligible during the inundation stage, but a shear of 0.8 m/s over a less than 5 m water column was recorded during the receding stage, 2–3 times the normal tidal oscillations. The surge reached its peak in the Industrial Canal 1.4–2.1 h before those in the other two channels. The inward flux of water lasted for a shorter time period than that of the outward flux. The inward flux was also observed to have much smaller magnitude than the outward flux (∼960–1200 vs. 2100–3100 million m³). The imbalance was believed to have been caused by the additional water into Lake Pontchartrain through some small rivers and inundation over the land plus rainfall from the hurricanes. The flux through the Industrial Canal was 8–12%, while the flux through the other two tidal passes ranged between 17% and 70% of the total, but mostly split roughly half-half of the remaining (∼88–92% of the total).     

Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning

The declining health of marine ecosystems around the world is evidence that current piecemeal governance is inadequate to successfully support healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems and sustain human uses of the ocean. One proposed solution to this problem is ecosystem-based marine spatial planning (MSP), which is a process that informs the spatial distribution of activities in the ocean so that existing and emerging uses can be maintained, use conflicts reduced, and ecosystem health and services protected and sustained for future generations. Because a key goal of ecosystem-based MSP is to maintain the delivery of ecosystem services that humans want and need, it must be based on ecological principles that articulate the scientifically recognized attributes of healthy, functioning ecosystems. These principles should be incorporated into a decision-making framework with clearly defined targets for these ecological attributes. This paper identifies ecological principles for MSP based on a synthesis of previously suggested and/or operationalized principles, along with recommendations generated by a group of twenty ecologists and marine scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives on MSP. The proposed four main ecological principles to guide MSP—maintaining or restoring: native species diversity, habitat diversity and heterogeneity, key species, and connectivity—and two additional guidelines, the need to account for context and uncertainty, must be explicitly taken into account in the planning process. When applied in concert with social, economic, and governance principles, these ecological principles can inform the designation and siting of ocean uses and the management of activities in the ocean to maintain or restore healthy ecosystems, allow delivery of marine ecosystem services, and ensure sustainable economic and social benefits.     

Role of geological inheritance in Australian beach morphodynamics

The Australian coast contains 10,685 beaches which occupy 49% of the 30,000 km coast and average 1.37 km in length. Their relatively short length is largely due to the presence of bedrock, calcarenite and laterite, which form boundaries to many of the beaches, as well as occurring as rocks, reefs and islands along and off the beaches. This geological inheritance plays a major role in Australian beach systems — determining their length and through wave refraction and attenuation influencing beach location, shape, type, morphodynamics and circulation, which in turn influence sediment transport and the backing dune and barrier systems. This paper uses a database covering every Australian beach to review the role of headlands, rocks and reefs on Australian beaches. Major effects are the short average beach length; reduction in breaker height resulting in lower energy beach types; wave refraction resulting in increased beach curvature; the presence of topographic rips on moderate and higher energy beaches and megarips during high wave conditions; and the interruption of and/or trapping of longshore sand transport leading to beach rotation.     

A comparison of the main methods for estimating probabilities of extreme still water levels

Sea-level return periods are estimated at 18 sites around the English Channel using: (i) the annual maxima method; (ii) the r-largest method; (iii) the joint probability method; and (iv) the revised joint probability method. Tests are undertaken to determine how sensitive these four methods are to three factors which may significantly influence the results; (a) the treatment of the long-term trends in extreme sea level; (b) the relative magnitudes of the tidal and non-tidal components of sea level; and (c) the frequency, length and completeness of the available data. Results show that unless sea-level records with lengths of at least 50 years are used, the way in which the long-term trends is handled in the different methods can lead to significant differences in the estimated return levels. The direct methods (i.e. methods i and ii) underestimate the long (> 20 years) period return levels when the astronomical tidal variations of sea level (relative to a mean of zero) are about twice that of the non-tidal variations. The performance of each of the four methods is assessed using prediction errors (the difference between the return periods of the observed maximum level at each site and the corresponding data range). Finally, return periods, estimated using the four methods, are compared with estimates from the spatial revised joint probability method along the UK south coast and are found to be significantly larger at most sites along this coast, due to the comparatively short records originally used to calibrate the model in this area. The revised joint probability method is found to have the lowest prediction errors at most sites analysed and this method is recommended for application wherever possible. However, no method can compensate for poor data.     

Managing coastal area resources by stated choice experiments

In many coastal regions, oil spills can be considered as one of the most important and certainly the most noticeable forms of marine pollution. Efficient contingency management responding to oil spills on waters, which aims at minimizing pollution effects on coastal resources, turns out to be critically important. Such a decision making highly depends on the importance attributed to different coastal economic and ecological resources. Economic uses can, in principal, be addressed by standard measures such as value added. However, there is a missing of market in the real world for natural goods. Coastal resources such as waters and beach cannot be directly measured in money terms, which increases the risk of being neglected in a decision making process. This paper evaluates these natural goods of coastal environment in a hypothetical market by employing stated choice experiments. Oil spill management practice in German North Sea is used as an example. Results from a pilot survey show that during a combat process, beach and eider ducks are of key concerns for households. An environmental friendly combat option has to be a minor cost for households. Moreover, households with less children, higher monthly income and a membership of environmental organization are more likely to state that they are willing to pay for combat option to prevent coastal resources from an oil pollution. Despite that choice experiments require knowledge of designing questionnaire and statistical skills to deal with discrete choices and conducting a survey is time consumed, the results have important implications for oil spill contingency management. Overall, such a stated preference method can offer useful information for decision makers to consider coastal resources into a decision making process and can further contribute to finding a cost-effective oil preventive measure, also has a wide application potential in the field of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM).     

The perceptions of local fishermen towards a hotel managed marine reserve in Vietnam

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) often fail to meet ecological, social or economic objectives due to lack of effective management by government institutions. Partly in response to this failure, a number of marine reserves managed by the private sector, Hotel Managed Marine Reserves (HMMRs), have recently been established. In this study, we investigate changes to the social and economic conditions faced by local fishermen, following the establishment of two small reserves adjacent to a hotel in Vietnam, as well as their perceptions of the reserves' ability to produce spillover. The findings are used to gauge management performance and effectiveness of the HMMRs. Two surveys with different survey designs, targeting fishermen with different fishing techniques, produced conflicting results. Fishermen mainly dependent on beach seining mostly opposed the HMMRs and the prospect of more protected areas being established. Fishermen using other fishing techniques were generally in favor of the HMMRs, welcoming more protection and confirming spillover of fish, including large food fishes.     

Cross-basin differences in particulate organic carbon export and flux attenuation in the subtropical North Atlantic gyre

We compared in-situ and satellite-derived measures of the biological carbon pump efficiency at the two seemingly similar subtropical North Atlantic gyre time series sites, the Bermuda time series (BATS, Bermuda Atlantic time-series study and OFP, ocean flux program) in the western gyre and the ESTOC time series (European station for time-series in the ocean, Canary Islands) in the eastern gyre. Satellite-derived surface chlorophyll a was slightly lower at Bermuda compared to ESTOC (annual average of 0.10±0.04 vs. 0.14±0.05-mg-m^?3), as was satellite-derived primary production (annual average of 380±77 vs. 440±80-mg C-m^?2 d^?1). However, export production normalized to primary production (export ratio) was higher at Bermuda by a factor of 2–3 when estimated using mesopelagic traps moored at 500-m depth and by a factor of 3–4 when estimated using surface-tethered drifting traps. When averaged seasonally, flux at BATS was highest in spring (March, April, May) at all depths followed by summer (June, July, August) and decreasing towards fall, but this seasonality was less visible at ESTOC. Seasonal comparison showed the fastest flux attenuation at Bermuda in winter and spring, coinciding with the highest POC flux. POC/PIC ratios derived from the moored traps were significantly higher at BATS than at ESTOC in fall and winter, but this difference was not significant in spring (p>0.05). This study shows that while the western and eastern Atlantic subtropical gyres have similar rates of primary production, the biological carbon pump differs between the two provinces. Higher new nutrient input observed at Bermuda compared to ESTOC might explain part of the difference in export ratio but alone is insufficient. Greater winter mixed-layer depths and higher mesoscale eddy activity at Bermuda resulting in pulsed production events of labile organic matter might explain both the higher export flux and export ratios found at Bermuda.     

Metazoan meiofauna in deep-sea canyons and adjacent open slopes: A large-scale comparison with focus on the rare taxa

Metazoan meiofaunal abundance, total biomass, nematode size and the richness of taxa were investigated along bathymetric gradients (from the shelf break down to ca. 5000-m depth) in six submarine canyons and on five adjacent open slopes of three deep-sea regions. The investigated areas were distributed along >2500 km, on the Portuguese to the Catalan and South Adriatic margins. The Portuguese and Catalan margins displayed the highest abundances, biomass and richness of taxa, while the lowest values were observed in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The comparison between canyons and the nearby open slopes showed the lack of significant differences in terms of meiofaunal abundance and biomass at any sampling depth. In most canyons and on most slopes, meiofaunal variables did not display consistent bathymetric patterns. Conversely, we found that the different topographic features were apparently responsible for significant differences in the abundance and distribution of the rare meiofaunal taxa (i.e. taxa accounting for <1% of total meiofaunal abundance). Several taxa belonging to the temporary meiofauna, such as larvae/juveniles of Priapulida, Holothuroidea, Ascidiacea and Cnidaria, were encountered exclusively on open slopes, while others (including the Tanaidacea and Echinodea larvae) were found exclusively in canyons sediments. Results reported here indicate that, at large spatial scales, differences in deep-sea meiofaunal abundance and biomass are not only controlled by the available food sources, but also by the region or habitat specific topographic features, which apparently play a key role in the distribution of rare benthic taxa.     

Tropospheric temperature interannual variations associated with decadal changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation

This paper studies the causes and mechanisms of the formation of extreme anomalies in the tropospheric temperature associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Our approach is based on understanding that, in the annual cycle, continental-scale tropospheric temperature anomalies (planetary waves with longitudinal wave numbers of 1–3) can both intensify under the direct action of heat inflow as an energy source for these anomalies (radiation cooling/heating) and weaken as a result of the destructive action of heat inflow under temperature advections with the opposite (to the heat inflow) sign [4, 5]. According to the monthly mean data of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis over the 40-year period, seasonal air temperature anomalies have been studied at the level 850 hPa (T ₈₅₀) in different regions of Eurasia. It has been confirmed that the negative NAO phase in winter is favorable for preserving negative T ₈₅₀ anomalies in the east of the continent at this time of year, whereas the positive NAO phase is favorable for negative T ₈₅₀ anomalies in the west. However, it has been revealed that this dependence was critically violated during the winter seasons approximately two years before an extreme event. This was explained by the fact that, in those years, the NAO influence on winter T ₈₅₀ anomalies was limited. This paper formally considers a certain mechanism of anomalous heat inflow as an energy source for these anomalies with functions of the formation (intensification) of negative T ₈₅₀ anomalies in winter and positive T ₈₅₀ anomalies in summer, as well as with a function of the limitation of the influence of the predominant dynamic mode on some regions of the continent. It is shown that, in the 1960s, T ₈₅₀ anomalies with negative NAO indices in the east of the continent were governed by a hypothetic mechanism of heat inflow as an energy source for anomalies; in 1980s, at prolonged positive NAO indices, T ₈₅₀ anomalies in the west of the continent could also be governed by this mechanism. This paper, within the accepted degree of detail, demonstrates the process of limitation of the NAO influence in some years (1966, 1967, 1987, and 1988), which leads to an unbalance of the anomalies and a possible extreme phenomenon. It is demonstrated that, in some seasons, the anomalies were not governed by the hypothetic mechanism of the heat inflow under the action of large NAO changes and a complete upset of the annual cycle of anomalies. Determining the first indicators of the unbalance, which can lead to extreme anomalies, is shown to be difficult if it is based only on an analysis of winter seasons (as is the case with most of the works) without invoking the annual trends of the tropospheric temperature and the NAO index.