The Beach Crowding Index: A Tool for Assessing Social Carrying Capacity of Vulnerable Beaches

The aim of this article is to introduce the Beach Crowding Index (BCI), a procedure to assess the social carrying capacity of vulnerable beaches. The study uses the people at one time (PAOT) approach and data gathered weekly throughout the bathing season regarding the number of beachgoers in 100 m² cells of the beach to assess how many beachgoers it can comfortably hold. The procedure is based on fieldwork, interviews with beachgoers, and geographic information system (GIS) analysis and has been tested on four beaches in protected areas on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. On a scale from 0 to 4, minimum scores throughout the bathing season are 0.7 and maximum 3.7, although results showed wide variation between the beaches, the section of the beach, and the time of day. This study suggests that determining the location of beachgoers and collecting a long-term series of data is fundamental to assessing social carrying capacity and that the BCI procedure can be used for a large number of applications.     

Refinement of the crystal structure of beryllonite,NaBePO4

Summary The refined lattice parameters of beryllonite are:a=8.178 (3) Å,b=7.818 (2) Å,c=14.114 (6) Å, =90.00° (2); space groupP2₁/n,Z=12. Integrated Weissenberg photographs were taken by using CuK radiation and multiple film packs. The anisotropic refinement of the crystal structure by means of least-square methods gave a finalR value of 0.063 for the 1388 observed reflections. In the crystal structure PO₄ and BeO₄ tetrahedra, linked by shared oxygen atoms in a three-dimensional network, form pseudo-ditrigonal rings perpendicular to theb axis. The independent Na atoms lying in the channels formed by the rings are coordinated as an irregular nine-cornered polyhedron and as distorted octahedra.

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Verfeinerung der Kristallstruktur des Beryllonits,NaBePO ₄

Zusammenfassung Verfeinerte Gitterkonstanten des Beryllonits lauten:a=8,178 (3) Å,b=7,818 (2) Å,c=14,114 (6) Å, =90,00 (2)°; Raumgruppe:P2₁/n,Z=12. Integrierte Weissenbergaufnahmen wurden mit CuK-Strahlung und multiplen Filmpaketen aufgenommen. Die anisotrope Verfeinerung der Kristallstruktur nach der Methode der kleinsten Quadrate ergab für 1388 beob. Reflexe einen abschließendenR-Wert von 0,063. In der Kristallstruktur bilden PO₄-und BeO₄-Tetraeder, die über gemeinsame Sauerstoffe zu einem dreidimensionalen Gerüst verknüpft sind, pseudo-ditrigonale Ringe senkrecht zurb-Achse. Die kristallographisch unabhängigen Arten von Na-Atomen, welche in den aus Ringen gebildeten Kanälen liegen, sind in der Form eines unregelmäßigen neuneckigen Polyeders bzw. in der Form verzerrter Oktaeder koordiniert.

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With 2 Figures     

Reef status in the Rasfari region (North Malé Atoll,Maldives) five years before the mass mortality event of 1998

The Maldives was severely hit by massive coral bleaching and subsequent mortality in 1998. The results of reef monitoring in the following years have supported contrasting views about their recovery potential, partly because of the scarcity of information on the situation before 1998. Quantitative data on coral assemblages collected in 1993 in the Rasfari region (North Malé Atoll) may provide a base-line for the evaluation of the present status of the Maldivian reefs. Five years before the 1998 mortality, most coral communities appeared to be similar, in terms of both coral cover and growth-form composition, to those described in 1958 and 1964, notwithstanding increased human pressure and local events such as minor bleaching episodes in 1987 and crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) attacks in 1989. Three lessons can be learnt from these results to help to understand the present situation, some ten years after the 1998 mass mortality. First, Maldivian reefs proved in the past to be capable of maintaining flourishing coral life despite various disturbances. Second, four years had been sufficient for complete reef recovery after a (minor) bleaching event. Third, recovery after both COTS attack and bleaching follows a predictable path suggesting that the presence of a three-dimensional community structure, which should reduce post settlement mortality of coral recruits, is essential for rapid coral recovery. As coral recruitment remains high and large tabular Acropora colonies are now reappearing, it is expected that Maldivian reefs should return to their original condition within the next few years.     

The Econo-techno-social Design of Invasive Animal Management: costs and benefits or beneficiaries and benefactors?

This paper examines invasive animal management institutions, using theories at the interstices of anthropology and geography, to question current approaches to management based on neoclassical and neoliberal economic rationales. I present an analysis of two feral pig management regimes in Far North Queensland, Australia: (i) bounty systems of payment for feral pig control; and (ii) a community-based feral pig trapping program. I show how these management methods reshape important social and cultural processes through their overlapping technological and economic elements. On the basis of this analysis, I propose a conceptual framework for invasive animal management planning that incorporates a beneficiary–benefactor analysis alongside cost–benefit analyses. I argue that ecological-economic theories of pest management may be usefully enhanced by addressing the links between economic and social behaviours.     

The meteorologically abnormal year of 2006 and natural disasters in the Philippines

In the early part of 2006 the Philippines was hit by a La Nina event which brought floods, flashfloods and landslides. The most significant event was the February 2006 landslide that covered the whole community of Guinsaugon, in Southern Leyte, resulting in 154 deaths with 973 people still missing. Another rare event was the simultaneous presence of two tropical cyclones inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility （PAR） in August-- Tropical Depression Bopha and Tropical Storm Saomai--that enhanced the southwest monsoon. With the strong winds and high waves associated with the southwest mon- soon, an oil tanker, the M/T Solar 1, sank, resulting in the worst oil spill the country has ever suffered. Lastly, with a weak El Nino phenomenon forming in the Pacific Ocean and affecting the Philippines, a destructive typhoon, Xangsane, made a multi-landfall before hitting Metropolitan Manila. This was followed by the landfall of three superty- phoons--Cimaron, Chebi and Durian--during the last quarter of the year, bringing tremendous destruction of life and property. The occurrence of these weather events are attributed to climate variability the effects of which were exacerbated by a range of factors that include inappropriate land use.     

Reproductive biology of Parazoanthus axinellae (Schmidt, 1862) and Savalia savaglia (Bertoloni, 1819) (Cnidaria,Zoantharia) from the NW Mediterranean coast

Despite the wide distribution of zoanthids, little is known about their pattern of reproduction. Here we investigate the reproductive biology of two Mediterranean species, the common Parazoanthus axinellae (Schmidt) and the rare Savalia savaglia (Bertoloni). For both species, samples were collected during an annual cycle, from January to December 2005, in the Western Mediterranean (Ligurian Sea, Italy). Both species are gonochoric. In P. axinellae the sex‐ratio (n colonies = 30) showed a slight predominance of male colonies (M/F = 1.35), whereas in the population of S. savaglia (n colonies = 15) a predominance of females was found (M/F = 0.3). In P. axinellae the first gametocytes were visible in March, whereas in S. savaglia they became visible in May. Both species reproduce at the end of autumn when seawater temperature begins to decrease. Parazoanthus axinellae (10 m depth) spawns eggs and sperms in November, whereas S. savaglia (67 m depth) spawns in December. In P. axinellae sexes were segregated on a rocky wall, with males occurring deeper, whereas male and female colonies of S. savaglia were irregularly dispersed in the population. The maximum number of oocytes differed between the species, being higher in P. axinellae than in S. savaglia.     

On the expansion of supernova shells

We have investigated a simple model for the effects of a central pulsar on the expansion of supernova shells. Some numerical results relevant to the Crab Nebula are also reported.     

Miocene shelf‐edge deltas and their impact on deepwater slope progradation and morphology,Northwest Shelf of Australia

Late‐middle Miocene to Pliocene siliciclastics in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, Northwest Shelf of Australia, are interpreted as having been deposited by deltas. Some delta lobes deposited sediments near and at the shelf break (shelf‐edge deltas), whereas other lobes did not reach the coeval shelf break before retreating landward or being abandoned. Shelf‐margin mapview morphology changes from linear to convex‐outward in the northern part of the study area where shelf‐edge deltas were focused. Location and character of shelf‐edge deltas also had significant impact on along‐strike variability of margin progradation and shelf‐edge trajectory. Total late‐middle and late Miocene margin progradation is ca. 13 km in the south, where there were no shelf‐edge deltas, vs. ca. 34 km in the north where shelf‐edge deltas were concentrated. In the central area, the deltas were arrested and accumulated a few kilometres landward of the shelf break, resulting in an aggradational shelf‐edge trajectory, in contrast to the more progradational trajectory farther north. This illustrates a potential limitation of shelf‐edge trajectory analysis: only where shelf‐edge deltas occur, there is sufficient sediment available for the shelf‐edge trajectory to record relative sea‐level fluctuations reliably. Small‐scale (ca. 400 m wide) incisions were already conspicuous on the coeval slope even before deltas reached the shelf break. However, slope gullies immediately downdip from active shelf‐edge deltas display greater erosion of underlying strata and are wider and deeper (>1 km wide, ca. 100 m deep) than coeval incisions that are laterally offset from the deltaic depocenter (ca. 0.7 km wide, ca. 25 m deep). We interpret this change in slope‐gully dimensions as the result of greater erosion by sediment gravity flows sourced from the immediately adjacent shelf‐edge deltas. Similarly, gullies also incised further (up to 6 km) into the outer shelf in the region of active shelf‐edge deltas.