Nutrient enrichments and phytoplankton growth in the surface waters of the Louisiana Bight

Nitrate concentrations have increased twofold in the Mississippi River during the past three decades. The increased nitrogen loading to the Louisiana shelf has been postulated as a factor leading to eutrophication and the subsequent development of hypoxia west of the Mississippi River delta. While ratios of nitrogen:phosphorus and nitrogen:silica are relatively high in surface waters on the western Louisiana shelf, nitrogen has been posed as the ‘limiting’ nutrient in this region. Bioassays were performed with nutrient additions to surface waters collected from the Louisiana shelf to examine the potential for specific nutrient limitation. Experiments were conducted in March and September 1991, and May 1992. The growth responses of natural and cultured phytoplankton populations were determined by measuring the time course of in vivo and 3-(3,4 dichlorophenyl)-1, 1-dimethylurea (DCMU)-induced fluorescence, as well as initial and final chlorophylla concentrations. The results suggest that phosphate and silicate potentially limit phytoplankton growth during the winter-spring, particularly at low salinities. In late summer, in contrast, nitrogen limitation may be prominent at higher salinities.     

Environmental impacts of shrimp farming with special reference to the situation in the continental United States

Shrimp culture technology has resulted in development of a major shrimp farming industry worldwide. Without the shrimp farming industry, increasing demands for shrimp by consumers could not be met, resulting in increased pressure on wild shrimp resources. Unfortunately, there are realized and potential adverse environmental effects on estuarine ecosystems as a result of shrimp farming. The effects can be categorized as wetland destruction for construction of shrimp farms, hypernutrification of estuarine ecosystems by shrim pond effluent, “biological pollution” of native shrimp stocks through escapement of aquaculture stocks, water use and entrainment of estuarine biota, and impacts of shrimp farm chemicals on estuarine systems. While the shrimp farming industry in the United States is small, the United States is effectively addressing all the realized and potential environmental impacts through regulation and research at the federal and state levels. Areas of regulation and research include stringent prohibitions on wetland destruction, regulation of effluents and support of research to eliminate and/or reduce effluents, escapement prevention technology and development of high-health stocks, minimizing entrainment of estuarine biota through water conservation and screening technology, and regulation of chemical use in the shrimp farming industry and support of research on shrimp pathology and environmentally safe disease control. Work is still in progress and not all problems have been resolved to the complete satisfaction of shrimp farmers and estuarine conservationists. However, the situation in the United States should serve as a model of how to encourage sustainable economic development through commercial shrimp farming while abating adverse environmental impacts on estuarine systems. To further improve the situation, the development and adoption of “best management practices” for shrimp aquaculture are recommended.     

Trona resources in southwest Wyoming

Bedded trona (Na₂CO₃·NaHCO₃·2H₂O) in the lacustrine Green River Formation of Eocene age in the Green River Basin, southwest Wyoming, constitutes the largest known resource of natural sodium carbonate in the world. In this study, 116 gigatons (Gt) of trona ore are estimated to be present in 22 beds, ranging from 1.2 to 11 meters (m) in thickness. Of this total, 69 Gt of trona ore are estimated to be in beds containing less than 2 percent halite and 47 Gt in beds containing 2 or more percent halite. These 22 beds underlie areas of about 130 to more than 2,000 km² at depths ranging from about 200 m to more than 900 m below the surface. The total resource of trona ore in the basin for which drilling information is available is estimated to be about 135 Gt.Underveloped trona beds in the deeper southern part of the basin may be best developed by solution mining. Additional unevaluated sodium carbonate resources are present in disseminated shortite (Na₂CO₃·2CaCO₃) in strata interbedded with the trona and in shallow sodium carbonate brines in the northeast part of the basin. Estimates of the shortite and brine resources were not made.     

Multiple Residence and Cyclical Migration: A Life Course Perspective*

As a result of restrictive time-space bounds in viewing migration, surprisingly little is known about the tempos and rhythms of geographical mobility in America. We discuss limitations of the conventional definition of migration and develop a life course framework of multiple residence and cyclical migration. Results of an Arizona-based case study reveal that multiple residence is common and more diverse than the annual influx of elderly snowbirds. Coming to grips with multiple residence and recurrent mobility in the United States represents a fundamental challenge in population and migration studies.     

Climatic change has stabilized An Editorial

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Interpretation of210Pb profiles and verification of the CRS dating model in PIRLA project lake sediment cores

This paper reports results and analysis of²¹⁰Pb-activity measurements in 51 lake-sediment cores from 32 lakes in the four PIRLA (Paleoecological Investigations of Recent Lake Acidification) project regions (Adirondack Mountains [New York], Northern New England, Northern Florida, and the Northern Great Lakes States). General application of the Constant Rate of Supply (Constant Flux) model for²¹⁰Pb dating is valid for lakes in the PIRLA study, although application of the model is equivocal in a few lakes.²¹⁰Pb inventories and profiles are replicable among closely spaced cores within a lake. Specific²¹⁰Pb activity in surface sediments is negatively correlated with bulk sediment accumulation rate in seepage lakes, but not in drainage lakes. Drainage lakes with lower pH have lower unsupported²¹⁰Pb inventories in sediments, but the relationship does not occur in seepage lakes.²¹⁰Pb profiles in only seven of the cores, all from either the Adirondacks or the northern Great Lakes states, exhibit exponential decay curves. Deviations from an exponential profile include a flattening of the profile in the top few cm or excursions of one or a few measurements away from an exponential curve.²¹⁰Pb dates typically agree with other chronostratigraphic markers, most of which are subject to greater uncertainty. Several hypotheses, including sediment mixing, hydrologic regime, sediment focusing, and acidification, are proposed to explain variation of²¹⁰Pb distribution among lakes and regions. Hydrologic factors exert control on unsupported²¹⁰Pb inventories in PIRLA lakes, and there is a strong focusing effect in drainage lakes but a weak focusing effect in seepage lakes.This is the third of a series of papers to be published by this journal following the 20^th anniversary of the first application of²¹⁰Pb dating of lake sediments. Dr P. G. Appleby is guest editing this series.     

The characterization of axenic culture systems suitable for plant propagation and experimental studies of the submersed aquatic angiospermPotamogeton pectinatus (Sago Pondweed)

Clonal lines of the submersed aquatic angiospermPotamogeton pectinatus were grown in three culture systems. The first, which used sucrose as a carbon source in a liquid medium, supported vigorous vegetative growth and can be used to propagate large numbers of plants in axenic conditions. In this culture system, plants were responsive to increasings photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) photon flux density (PFD) and were photosynthetically competent. However, their growth was heterotrophic and root development was poor. When these plants were transferred to a second nonaxenic culture system, which used 16-1 buckets containing artificial sediments and tap water, growth was autotrophic and plants were morphologically identical to field-harvestedP. pectinatus. The last culture system which consisted of a sand substrate and inorganic nutrient bathing solution aerated with 135 ml min^?1 ambient air enhanced to 3.0% CO₂ was axenic and supported autotrophic growth by plants that were also morphologically normal.