Stormwater control impacts on runoff volume and peak flow: A meta-analysis of watershed modelling studies

Decades of research has concluded that the percent of impervious surface cover in a watershed is strongly linked to negative impacts on urban stream health. Recently, there has been a push by municipalities to offset these effects by installing structural stormwater control measures (SCMs), which are landscape features designed to retain and reduce runoff to mitigate the effects of urbanisation on event hydrology. The goal of this study is to build generalisable relationships between the level of SCM implementation in urban watersheds and resulting changes to hydrology. A literature review of 185 peer-reviewed studies of watershed-scale SCM implementation across the globe was used to identify 52 modelling studies suitable for a meta-analysis to build statistical relationships between SCM implementation and hydrologic change. Hydrologic change is quantified as the percent reduction in storm event runoff volume and peak flow between a watershed with SCMs relative to a (near) identical control watershed without SCMs. Results show that for each additional 1% of SCM-mitigated impervious area in a watershed, there is an additional 0.43% reduction in runoff and a 0.60% reduction in peak flow. Values of SCM implementation required to produce a change in water quantity metrics were identified at varying levels of probability. For example, there is a 90% probability (high confidence) of at least a 1% reduction in peak flow with mitigation of 33% of impervious surfaces. However, as the reduction target increases or mitigated impervious surface decreases, the probability of reaching the reduction target also decreases. These relationships can be used by managers to plan SCM implementation at the watershed scale.     

Longitudinal variation of the equatorial anomaly

The present analysis concerns the longitudinal variation in the development and decay of the equatorial anomaly as observed by the Ariel 3 satellite. Data from about seven hundred equatorial passes of the satellite were used to give a broad longitudinal and local time coverage.     

Breeding in the freshwater crayfish paranephrops planifrons white

The breeding cycle of female Paranephrops planifrons is described. The incubation of eggs and young takes place between April and December and covers about 25–26 weeks. The winter population contains some apparently adult females which do not breed. The number of eggs laid increases with the size of the parent, and in the population studied varied from some 20 to 30 eggs at 17 mm carapace length to 150 eggs at 30 mm carapace length. After hatching the young pass through two moults while still attached to the parent.     

Systematics of the New Zealand freshwater crayfish Paranephrops (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parastacidae)

The systematics of the endemic New Zealand genus Paranephrops (Family Parastacidae) are re‐examined. Specific characters previously used to separate P. zealandicus and P. setosus are considered to be inadequate, and the two species are merged. The genus, as now proposed, contains only two species: P. planifrons, occupying the Whole of the North Island and northern and western areas of the South Island, and P. zealandicus, occupying eastern and southern parts of the South Island and Stewart Island.     

Short-term and seasonal variation in metabolic balance in Liverpool Bay

Regions of freshwater influence (ROFIs) are dynamic areas within the coastal seas that experience cycles of stability driven by density gradients and the spring-neap tidal cycle. As a result, pulses of biological production may occur on a more frequent timescale than the classic seasonal cycle. Net community production (NCP) rates and chlorophyll a concentration are presented from a site within the ROFI of Liverpool Bay and compared to similar measurements made at a site outside the ROFI during 2009. The influence of water column stability on biological production in the ROFI was also investigated using high-frequency observations from a Cefas Smartbuoy. Both sites were autotrophic from spring to autumn before becoming heterotrophic over winter. NCP at the inshore site was estimated to range from 30.8 to 50.4 gC m⁻² year⁻¹. A linear relationship detected between chlorophyll a and NCP from both sites was used to estimate metabolic balance over 1 year at the ROFI site using high-resolution chlorophyll a concentrations from the Smartbuoy but was found to poorly replicate NCP rates compared to those derived from dissolved oxygen fluxes. There was no clear biological response to periods of stratification within the ROFI, and it is proposed that changes in light attenuation in the Liverpool Bay ROFI, driven not only by stratification but also by fluctuations in riverine sediment load, most likely play an important role in controlling phytoplankton growth in this region.