Artificial Reefs in the Low Productive Marine Environments of the Southeastern Mediterranean

Abstract. Fishery yields in the oligotrophic waters of the Southeastern Mediterranean arc low due to habitat and food limitations. A four year study of a complex of artificial structures established in the coastal waters of Israel points to several possible solutions to these problems. One approach is the artificial enrichment of the man-made reef with trash fish. This, together with the configuration of the reef, caused a significant increase in the abundance of fish predators such as groupers of the genus Epinephclus. Omnivores and herbivores were attracted only by the presence of artificial structures. Some species, such as the slipper lobster Scyllurides lulus, only use the man-made reef for shelter during part of the day or season; they forage over a much larger area the rest of the time and are important "importers" of food to the artificial habitat. Artificial kelp were effective in recruiting juveniles and small fishes to the site.     

Alkaline Phosphatase Activity in the Red-Tide Dinoflagellate, Ptychodiscus brevis

Abstract. Alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) was found in a nearshore, natural population of the red-tide dinoflagellate Ptychodiscus brevis. Initial hydrolysis rates were enhanced by two orders of magnitude within 24 h upon addition of ammonium. Other nutrient (additions) or no additions also lead to a higher, although less pronounced increase in activity. Enhanced growth after nutrient additions combined with specific APA indicated that the bloom was both N and P limited. Since the natural population was a mixture of diatoms and the dinoflagellate, APA was also measured in unialgal cultures of P. brevis. APA was not reduced but enhanced by the addition of low concentrations of orthophosphate (0.5 and 1 μM). Higher orthophosphate concentrations (5 to 20 μM) reduced APA, although activity returned to control levels within 2 to 6h. Repression occurred within 30 sec after a 20 μM orthophosphate addition. Cells which had APA repressed by an orthophosphate addition regained their initial activity within 2 h after washing with phosphate-free media. Phosphorus-deficient cells of P. brevis possess an alkaline phosphatase system which is capable of continued activity at low in situ orthophosphate levels.     

Shallow-Water Gasohydrothermal Vents of Ushishir Volcano and the Ecosystem of Kraternaya Bight (The Kurile Islands)

Abstract. A marine ecosystem in the crater of the Ushishir Volcano (Kraternaya Bight, Yankich Island, the Kuriles) showing gasothcrmal activity was studied for hydrographical, hydrochemical, and biological characteristics. Maximal changes in chemical and biological characteristics were observed in the surface water layer of 0–5 m. This layer had higher water temperature, was saturated with volcanogcnic carbon dioxide (up to 2000 10^-6 torr), ovcrsaturatcd with oxygen (up to 200 %), and contained high concentrations of chlorophyll a. Hydrogen sulfide was found in the surface water layer and at a depth of 15 m in the area of maximal effect of volcanic effluents.
The planktonic community is characterized by high rates of production and destruction of organic matter only in the 0–5 m layer. Daily vertical migrations of the ciliatc Mesodinium rubrum were observed, which caused "red tides".
Bacterial, algobacterial, and diatom mats developed on the bottom of the bight in the zone of gasohydrothermal vents and in areas of volcanic water seeping. The rate of organic matter production in algobacterial mats reached 33.4g C-rrr²-d^-l, chcmolithotrophy predominating. Bottom settlements had high population density and great animal biomass, which reached 10 kg m^-2 in gasohydrothermal fields. They obtain sufficient energy from primary production of microphy-tobenthos, algobacterial, and bacterial mats. Bcnthic species dominant in the bight were not found off the Ushishir Islands.
Some species of macrobenthos inhabiting the Kraternaya Bight differ markedly in size and biomass from the same species found beyond the bight.     

Different cardiac response to copper in limpets from metal polluted and clean shores of Hong Kong

The gastropod limpet, Cellana grata, is common on moderately exposed to exposed Hong Kong rocky shores. On the basis of the existing literature on trace metal contamination in Hong Kong, four sites were identified, representative of highly polluted (Aberdeen and Lei Yue Mun) and clean (Cape d'Aguilar and Clear Water Bay) conditions. Limpets from the two polluted sites showed similar, but significantly higher body concentrations of copper than limpets from the two clean sites, which were also similar. Non-invasive measurements of cardiac activity of limpets from the four sites showed between site differences in baseline heart rates under standard seawater, irrespective of pollution level. When acutely exposed to water borne copper (2 h, 0.5+/-0.06 SD ppm), however, limpets from clean sites showed a significantly higher increase in inter-beating time (bradycardia) than those from polluted sites. These results highlight the potential use of cardiac activity to assess the exposure of natural populations of limpets to trace metal pollution.     

New sets of wavelet-forming functions

One of the most efficient tools of studying meteorological and climatic time series is wavelet analysis, which allows local properties of a nonstationary time series to be examined. New sets of continuous and discrete wavelet-forming functions are proposed. All proposed wavelets are finite (have a bounded carrier), even, and well localized in the spectral space.     

Bioerosion by chemosynthetic biological communities on Holocene submarine slide scars

Geomorphic, stratigraphic, and faunal observations of submarine slide scars that occur along the flanks of Monterey Canyon in 2.0–2.5 km water depths were made to identify the processes that continue to alter the surface of a submarine landslide scar after the initial slope failure. Deep-sea chemosynthetic biological communities and small caves are common on the sediment-free surfaces of the slide scars, especially along the headwall. The chemosynthetic organisms observed on slide scars in Monterey Canyon undergo a faunal succession based in part on their ability to maintain their access to the redox boundaries in the sediment on which they depend on as an energy source. By burrowing into the seafloor, these organisms are able to follow the retreating redox boundaries as geochemical re-equilibration occurs on the sole of the slide. As these organisms dig into the seafloor on the footwall, they often generate small caves and weaken the remaining seafloor. While chemosynthetic biological communities are typically used as indicators of fluid flow, these communities may be supported by methane and hydrogen sulfide that are diffusing out of the fresh seafloor exposed at the sole of the slide by the slope failure event. If so, these chemosynthetic biological communities may simply mark sites of recent seafloor exhumation, and are not reliable fluid seepage indicators.