Assessing the use of global land cover data for guiding large area population distribution modelling

Gridded population distribution data are finding increasing use in a wide range of fields, including resource allocation, disease burden estimation and climate change impact assessment. Land cover information can be used in combination with detailed settlement extents to redistribute aggregated census counts to improve the accuracy of national-scale gridded population data. In East Africa, such analyses have been done using regional land cover data, thus restricting application of the approach to this region. If gridded population data are to be improved across Africa, an alternative, consistent and comparable source of land cover data is required. Here these analyses were repeated for Kenya using four continent-wide land cover datasets combined with detailed settlement extents and accuracies were assessed against detailed census data. The aim was to identify the large area land cover dataset that, combined with detailed settlement extents, produce the most accurate population distribution data. The effectiveness of the population distribution modelling procedures in the absence of high resolution census data was evaluated, as was the extrapolation ability of population densities between different regions. Results showed that the use of the GlobCover dataset refined with detailed settlement extents provided significantly more accurate gridded population data compared to the use of refined AVHRR-derived, MODIS-derived and GLC2000 land cover datasets. This study supports the hypothesis that land cover information is important for improving population distribution model accuracies, particularly in countries where only coarse resolution census data are available. Obtaining high resolution census data must however remain the priority. With its higher spatial resolution and its more recent data acquisition, the GlobCover dataset was found as the most valuable resource to use in combination with detailed settlement extents for the production of gridded population datasets across large areas.     

Microbialite development patterns in the last deglacial reefs from Tahiti (French Polynesia; IODP Expedition #310): Implications on reef framework architecture

The widespread occurrence of microbialites in the last deglacial reef frameworks (16–6 Ka BP) implies that the accurate study of their development patterns is of prime importance to unravel the evolution of reef architecture through time and to reconstruct the reef response to sea-level variations and environmental changes.The present study is based on the sedimentological and chronological analysis (¹⁴C AMS dating) of drill cores obtained during the IODP Expedition #310 “Tahiti Sea Level” on the successive terraces which typify the modern reef slopes from Tahiti. It provides a comprehensive data base to investigate the microbialite growth patterns (i.e. growth rates and habitats), to analyze their roles in reef frameworks and to reconstruct the evolution of the reef framework architecture during sea-level rise.The last deglacial reefs from Tahiti are composed of two distinctive biological communities: (1) the coralgal communities including seven assemblages characterized by various growth forms (branching, robust branching, massive, tabular and encrusting) that form the initial frameworks and (2) the microbial communities developed in the primary cavities of those frameworks, a few meters (1.5 to 6 m) below the living coral reef surface, where they heavily encrusted the coralgal assemblages to form microbialite crusts. The dating results demonstrate the occurrence of two distinctive generations of microbialites: the “reefal microbialites” which developed a few hundred years after coralgal communities in shallow-water environments, whereas the “slope microbialites” grew a few thousands of years later in significantly deeper water conditions after the demise of coralgal communities.The development of microbialites was controlled by the volume and the shape of the primary cavities of the initial reef frameworks determined by the morphology and the packing of coral colonies. The most widespread microbialite development occurred in frameworks dominated by branching, thin encrusting, tabular and robust branching coral colonies which built loose and open frameworks typified by a high porosity (> 50%). In contrast, their growth was minimal in compact coral frameworks formed by massive and thick encrusting corals where primary cavities yielded a low porosity (~ 30%) and could not host a significant microbialite expansion.     

Impact of environmental parameters on coral reef development and drowning: Forward modelling of the last deglacial reefs from Tahiti (French Polynesia; IODP Expedition #310)

The sedimentological and chronological analysis of the last deglacial reef sequences of Tahiti (French Polynesia), drilled during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 310, provide a high‐resolution data set allowing a well‐constrained forward modelling study. This study represents the first attempt to model in three dimensions the coral reef development of Tahiti during the last deglacial sea‐level rise (23 000 to 6000 cal yr bp ) using the software dionisos developed by IFP Energies nouvelles. It allows the testing of the reconstructed last deglacial sea‐level curve and the different environmental parameters (for example, wave energy and sediment fluxes) that could have influenced the reef development. These last deglacial reef sequences form two prominent ridges occurring seaward of the living barrier reef that consist of successive submerged reefs. These reefs have been prone to drowning because the window of maximum carbonate production rate is inhibited by high water turbidity (sediment supply from a nearby river), shallow depth of wave action and substrate availability. These factors, combined with rapid sea‐level rise, have driven the growth of retrograding reef pinnacles. Local factors (substratum nature, sediment supply and wave energy) were the main processes that induced the drowning of the inner ridge, whereas interplay of local and global factors (acceleration of the sea‐level rise) was responsible for the drowning of the outer ridge. This particular acceleration of sea‐level rise of 16 m between 14·6 ka and 14 ka bp corresponds to meltwater pulse 1A.     

Can pollution bias peatland paleoclimate reconstruction?

Peatland testate amoebae are widely used to reconstruct paleohydrological/climatic changes, but many species are also known to respond to pollutants. Peatlands around the world have been exposed to anthropogenic and intermittent natural pollution through the late Holocene. This raises the question: can pollution lead to changes in the testate amoeba paleoecological record that could be erroneously interpreted as a climatic change? To address this issue we applied testate amoeba transfer functions to the results of experiments adding pollutants (N, P, S, Pb, O₃) to peatlands and similar ecosystems. We found a significant effect in only one case, an experiment in which N and P were added, suggesting that pollution-induced biases are limited. However, we caution researchers to be aware of this possibility when interpreting paleoecological records. Studies characterising the paleoecological response to pollution allow pollution impacts to be tracked and distinguished from climate change.     

Environmental assessment from the sedimentary record of high-latitude fiords

The sedimentary record of fiords at high latitude where global change may be occurring earliest and will be greatest has the potential for assessment of environmental change at both low resolution (the scale of millennia) and high resolution (decadal to less than daily). Unlike the lacustrine record which has been used very successfully in these studies, the sedimentary processes and thus the sedimentary deposits of fiords differ (1) in the role of salt water in inhibiting mixing and promoting flocculation, and through the role of sea-ice, (2) in the exchange of mass and energy with the much larger ocean beyond, and (3) in the role of benthic biota in the sedimentary environment. The work reviewed in this paper shows that fiord sediments are being used to assess sedimentary and oceanic processes, as well as glacial, periglacial and geomorphic history, and that they are important proxies for long-term climate and hydrology. Recommendations for advancing this work include long-term monitoring of conditions in fiords and their drainage basins so that the transfer relations can be more solidly constructed from the proxy of fiord sediment. Integration of results from fiords in opposite polar latitudes, and among proxies especially from lacustrine and ice-core records will produce valuable insights. Assessment of the range of conditions in fiords from the most polar to temperate regions is important to building models of their processes and understanding of the paleoenvironmental signals that can be interpreted from each type.     

Dynamos on stream surfaces of a highly conducting fluid

Abstract

This paper discusses dynamo action in generalisations of the Ponomarenko dynamo at large magnetic Reynolds number. The original Ponomarenko dynamo consists of a spiralling flow in which the stream surfaces are concentric cylinders of circular cross section, and the flow depends only on distance from the axis in cylindrical polar coordinates.

In this study, the stream surfaces are allowed to be cylinders of arbitrary cross section, and the flow is only required to be independent of the coordinate along the cylinder axes. For smooth flows alpha and eddy diffusion effects are identified, in terms of the geometry of the stream surfaces, and asymptotic formulae for growth rates in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number are obtained. Numerical support for these results is presented using direct simulation of dynamo action in selected flows at high conductivity. Finally the case is considered when in spherical polar coordinates the flow is independent of the azimuthal coordinate and the stream surfaces, which are tori, have arbitrary cross sections.     

Influence of bioturbation by the polychaete Nereis diversicolor on the structure of bacterial communities in oil contaminated coastal sediments

Patterns of change in the structure of bacterial communities monitored by ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA) in oil contaminated sediments inhabited or not by the marine polychaete Nereis diversicolor were studied during 45 days under laboratory conditions. Results supported by principal component analysis showed a marked response of the bacterial communities to the oil contamination and to the presence of N. diversicolor. Phylogenetic affiliation of specific RISA bands showed that, in the contaminated sediments, the presence of the marine polychaetes favoured the development of bacteria which may play an active role in natural bioremediation processes of oil polluted environments.     

Hydrocarbons in coastal sediments from the Mediterranean sea (Gulf of Fos area, France)

Sedimentary hydrocarbons have been studied quantitatively and qualitatively in 11 coastal stations located in the Gulf of Fos (French Mediterranean coast). Hydrocarbon levels ranged from 10 to 260 mg kg(-1) sed. dry weight. A new parameter "NAR" (Natural n-alkane ratio) is proposed to evaluate the contribution of terrestrial inputs of hydrocarbons in the sediments. The origins of hydrocarbons are multiple: terrestrial inputs, biogenic, pyrolytic (industry emissions mainly steel and iron industries, ship and road traffic). Generally, the main source of contamination is not petroleum. Several ratios between parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons show that the sources of hydrocarbons in the sediments are generally much more pyrolytic than petrogenic.     

Book reviews

Theory and management of tropical fisheries. Edited by D. Pauly and G. I. Murphy. Proceedings of the ICLARM/CSIRO Workshop on the Theory and Management of Tropical Multispecies Stocks. 12–21 January 1981, Cronulla, Australia. 1982. 360 p. $US21.50 surface; hardbound.

Animals of the estuary shore : illustrated guide and ecology. By Malcolm B. Jones, 1983. University of Canterbury publication No. 32. 162p., 140 figures, 11 keys. ISBN 0900–392–32–0 (soft cover, spiral bound). Price NZ$7.50.

Numerical ecology. By L. Legendre and P. Legendre, 1983. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam. $US83.00.

The control of oil pollution (revised edition). Edited by J Wardley‐Smith. Graham & Trot‐man Limited, London. 1983. 285 p., 98 figures, 17 tables. ISBN 0.86010 3382. £19.00/$US35.00.

Physical oceanography in Australia. Edited by J. Imberger. Reprinted from the Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, Volume 34, 1–230, 1983. CSIRO, Melbourne 1983.