Astrothrombus rugosus clark,new to New Zealand,with notes on ophioceres huttoni (farquhar), hemilepis norae (benham), and ophiuroglypha irrorata (lyman) (echinodermata: Ophiuroidea)

Astrothrombus rugosus (Clark), hitherto known only from eastern Australia, is recorded here from off Kaikoura. Hemilepis abernethyi (Fell) and Ophioceres marginata (Fell) are here regarded as junior subjective synonyms of Hemilepis norae (Benham) and Ophioceres huttoni (Farquhar) respectively. Some New Zealand specimens of the cosmopolitan species Ophiuroglypha irrorata (Lyman) differ in some respects from the “typical” form; they may prove to represent a new species.     

Limnology of Morton dam and upper Karori reservoir,Wellington, New Zealand

Chemical and biological data were collected between 1947 and 1967 from Morton Dam and Upper Karori Reservoir, two artificial lakes which are part of the water supply of Wellington City, New Zealand.

Chemical analyses included the major ions, nutrients, and physical and chemical properties of engineering importance. The emphasis in biological analyses was on the dominant phytoplankters. Bacteriological results are presented as tables of plate counts and “most probable numbers” of confirmed faecal coli‐forms; iron‐fixing bacteria were identified.

Primary productivity has accelerated since 1940–42: annual maxima have increased 30‐fold at Morton Dam, and 10‐fold in Upper Karori Reservoir. In 1942, Morton Dam was believed to be oligotrophic, but the type and quantity of phytoplankton at present indicate a rapid progression to eutrophy.

Despite the extent of biological changes, no dramatic changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of either reservoir can be detected.     

Peculiarities of the rare-earth element distribution in the modern bottom sediments of the White Sea and the lower reaches of the Severnaya Dvina River

The study of the rare-earth element (REE) systematics in the modern bottom sediments of the White Sea and the lower reaches of the Severnaya Dvina River showed that they were derived by the simple mixing of the detrital material from two geochemically contrasting provenances: the Kola-Karelian geoblock almost completely consisting of Archean rocks and the northwestern Mezen syneclise made up of the Upper Vendian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic rocks. This is best manifested by the changes in ?_Nd(0). In terms of the Gd_N/Yb_N and Eu/Eu*, most of the studied samples are comparable with the Post-Archean craton complexes, some of which resemble the average composition of the Archean mudstone. Based on the ΣREE and La_N/Yb_N, the modern bottom sediments are subdivided into two groups: (1) those close to basalts and granites and (2) those approximating common sedimentary rocks. From the lower reaches of the Pinega River to the Tersky coast, the maximal average (La/Yb)_RPSC, (Gd/Yb)_RPSC, La_N/Yb_N, and Gd_N/Yb_N ratios were determined in the samples taken at the boundary of Dvina Bay with the Basin, i.e., in the sediments with the highest content of the pelitic component. In general, the geochemical composition of the modern bottom sediments of almost the entire White Sea area was defined by input of the eroded products of the mature continental crust with the Severnaya Dvina River, the main river of the region. Such a setting, when the formation of the sediments in a peri- or intracontinental marine basin is controlled by one large river system, presumably may be propagated to the sedimentation in the Laptev Sea, the eastern Kara Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and other basins.     

61～50kaBP亚洲季风百年尺度气候振荡的黔西南石笋记录

12个U/Th年龄测试结果显示,黔西南普安县雾露洞长度分别为667mm和830mm的两支石笋覆盖了61～50kaBP时段。据两支石笋999个δ18O数据建立了平均分辨率达15年的亚洲夏季风强度变化序列。雾露洞δ18O记录揭示了4个振幅达1.7‰的千年尺度季风增强事件,对应于格陵兰冰心DO17—DO14事件。在总体特征上,该记录峰谷振荡特征及振幅与贵州董歌洞、南京葫芦洞记录一致,进一步证实亚洲季风区大气降水同位素组成变化在大范围空间内具有一致性。在百年尺度上,亚洲季风区石笋δ18O清晰记录了MIS3早期6个DO亚旋回事件,而且在更短时间尺度上具有类似高纬气温振荡特征。这种低纬季风系统与北高纬气候变化的耦合关系表明,大气环流快速重组和传输可能是连接高低纬DO旋回及亚旋回气候变化的主要纽带。     

弱流场调制下的海面微波散射模拟研究

根据海面微波散射的多尺度模型以及波流相互作用理论,对一维弱流场调制下的海面微波散射截面进行了数值模拟。结果表明,利用数值方法直接求解波作用量方程获得的海浪调制谱并结合多尺度模型可以较好地模拟弱流场引起的雷达散射截面的变化。内波等海洋现象调制了海浪谱,使得雷达散射截面反映出这些海洋特征,整个调制过程的模拟对于分析这些海洋现象并更好地利用其雷达数据具有重要意义。     

Metals,arsenic, and sulfur in the Aue and Eibenstock granites,Erzgebirge

Average concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, and other metals, as well as S and As, were calculated for the Aue granitic cupola, the contact aureole of which hosts the large vein-type uranium deposit of Schlema-Alberoda and the Schneeberg uranium-base metal deposit (Erzgebirge, Germany). The cupola was exposed by mine workings and boreholes, which provided an opportunity to evaluate variations in the abundances of metals in the granites over a vertical interval of more than 2.5 km and estimate their losses in the upper oxidized part of the investigated volume of the cupola (coefficient of iron oxidation, KO _Fe, increases in the granites from bottom to top from 7 to 70%) compared with the lower unaltered and unoxidized part (with a KO _Fe plateau at about 5%). The average concentrations of metals in the upper part of the cupola are lower than those in the lower part by a factor of 2.5 for Pb, 1.56 for Zn, 1.45 for Cu, 1.3 for Co, etc. A similar decrease in the abundances of ore elements along the vertical section associating with the relative epigenetic alteration and oxidation of the granite was previously described by us for U and Th and for the components of high-temperature ores, W, Sn, and Mo. The removal of ore elements from the granite was accompanied by a decrease in the bulk contents of sulfur and arsenic by a factor of 1.35 and 1.65, respectively. The leaching of trace metals from the granites of the upper part of the Aue cupola was followed by their partial redeposition above the cupola in the ore veins of the Schlema and Schneeberg deposits. Original Russian Text ? Vikt. L. Barsukov, N.T. Sokolova, O.M. Ivanitskii, 2006, published in Geokhimiya, 2006, No. 9, pp. 967–982.     

Emerging coral diseases: a temperature‐driven process?

In the last few decades there has been a surge in research focusing on coral disease. While climate change, specifically rising sea surface temperature, has been proposed as a major and growing driver of the emergence of marine diseases, to date a solid connection between disease epizootics and elevated sea surface temperature has not been established. However, a wealth of data now exists, compiled from many different perspectives, that may support such a connection. In this work we provide a comprehensive review targeting one coral disease, black band disease, that spans the infection process, pathobiology, and epizootiology, and links specific mechanisms of the disease process to increasing temperatures. This temperature‐driven pattern of infection can be expanded to include similar processes associated with other temperature‐related coral diseases. The conclusions presented here are based upon the results of many studies using a diverse suite of approaches that have been synthesized to argue that the emergence and continuing spread of black band disease is linked to warming sea surface temperatures. In summary, as global ocean temperatures increase seasonally and over decades, the environment shifts to become more favorable for the growth of potentially pathogenic microorganisms endemic to the immediate environment of the reef. The increase in the relative number of potential pathogens in the microbial community produces microenvironments conducive to the growth of other potential pathogens, leading to infection by a polymicrobial consortium. This consortium is easily perturbed by a (seasonal) temperature decrease, but remains associated with the coral host and can be reactivated with a subsequent seasonal increase in temperature, resulting in a cycle of temperature‐dependent disease emergence.     

Local and landscape effects on spatial patterns of mangrove forest during wetter and drier periods: Moreton Bay,Southeast Queensland,Australia

Land use/cover and mangrove spatial changes were assessed for ten sites and their sub-catchments in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Two time periods were involved: 1972–1990, a period of relatively high rainfall, and 1990–2004, which was significantly drier. Aerial photographs and Landsat satellite imagery were used to map the inter-tidal wetlands and classify the land use/cover in the sub-catchments. A Maximum Likelihood Classification was used to map three types of land cover: agriculture, built-up and plantation forest. Mangroves (mainly Avicennia marina) were the focus as they have been recorded over recent decades encroaching into salt marsh. The Mangrove-Salt marsh Interface (MSI) Index was developed to quantify the relative opportunity for mangroves to expand into salt marshes, based on the shared boundary between them. The index showed a consistent relationship with mangrove expansion and change. To address problems of high dimensionality and multi-collinearity of predictor variables, a Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) model was used. A key finding of this research was that the contribution of environmental variables to spatial changes in the mangroves was altered following a reduction in rainfall. For example, agriculture had more influence on mangrove expansion and change during the wet period than during the dry period.