Burrowing and burying by the crab Macrophthalmus hirtipes

Macrophthalmus hirtipes (Jacquinot, 1853) excavates burrows under water in soft, muddy sand that remains waterlogged at low tide. The crabs are immersed for at least 4 h in every tide. The burrows are usually single, blind‐ending, slightly curved passages; their openings do not appear to be deliberately closed by the crabs. Excavation is effected by using one set of walking legs as a scoop while the other set provides sideways traction.

Burrow openings are readily obscured by water movement, so that apparent burrow density does not give a true indication of the number of crabs in an area, but only indicates how many have been active recently; the true density may be found by sieving.

The burrowing activity of M. hirtipes is compared with that of other ocypodid crabs, and the functions of burrows are discussed. A distinction is made between excavating a burrow and rapid burying, because the two behaviours are very different, and must involve different adaptations and selection pressures.     

Performing environmental governance

This essay reflects on issues of researcher positionality within participant observation and action research, and the specific methodological issues surrounding research on neoliberal governance strategies, using my experience at the US Environmental Protection Agency as case material. Although I was initially concerned about participating with the anti-progressive Bush Administration, I attempted to adopt the interests and subjectivity of an environmental bureaucrat. Doing so proved to be an extremely effective way of exploring the multi-vocality and cross-cutting interests constituting the state, which often appears from the outside to be a policy monolith. Participant research among elites in the neoliberal state is an effective way to observe such complexity. It became apparent that, because mainstream economics tends to adopt a totalizing epistemology, both its casual and dogmatic adherents usually do not conceive of a coherent external critique. This often means that researchers of any theoretical background can be quite frank concerning their purposes, background, and interests, even as participants.     

Environmental degradation narratives in Madagascar: From colonial hegemonies to humanist revisionism

It is recurrently argued that political ecologists, by overlooking biophysical realities, misinterpret ecological interactions and underestimate environmental degradation. This article investigates the relevance of these critiques in the case of the Malagasy highlands. It is based on an analysis of three environmental narratives: a narrative developed by European colonists at the beginning of the century; a “modern” narrative developed since the 1980s by combining data from paleobotanists, archeologists and paleontologists; and a narrative developed more recently by political ecologists. I will show that biophysical realities were actually investigated by political ecologists in Madagascar, but that their interpretation differed from those of mainstream ecologists as a result of a different way of defining, characterizing and valuing the environment. With the aim of favoring a more comprehensive understanding of environmental degradation in Madagascar, I will propose to clarify the epistemological framework of political ecology, and to bring an objective nature back into its scope of enquiry. Far from weakening political ecology, this exercise will render the discipline more resistant to the counterattacks it has received, and more powerful for building a future that will answer to both social and environmental challenges.     

A Plan to Push Limits? Investigating the ecologically sustainable development dimensions of Melbourne's Central Region sustainable water strategy

Drawing upon theory from the field of urban political ecology, we analyse a major strategic water plan for Melbourne, Australia—the Sustainable water strategy for the Central Region, published in 2006. We assess the extent to which the strategy identified and addressed ecological sustainability in terms of: cultural frames; ecological context; social equity; and engagement processes. We identify that the strategy's framing of water was largely separate from its social and ecological context. This framing resulted in the importance of issues such as environmental flows, social equity and cultural values being diminished, thus avoiding the inevitable confrontation with environmental limits needed to ensure long-term ecological sustainability. Our analysis shows that the discursive dominance of economics limited the response to persuasive scientific arguments for greater ecological consideration in the strategy. Our findings suggest that broadening engagement with the diverse ways in which water is valued is likely to contribute to more equitable and ecologically sustainable water futures.     

Water Flows Toward Power: Socioecological Degradation of Lake Urmia,Iran

Water is an invaluable resource, and equitable access to it is a fundamental human right. Disenfranchised groups often lose access to water resources because their interests are not well represented by decision makers. Excluding these groups from resource management policy often results in myopic decisions that contribute to further ecosystem damage. We describe the ecological degradation of Lake Urmia in Iran, which has recently experienced increased salinity and declining water quantity. The lake is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar site, and supports unique biodiversity in the region. The lake's decline is driven by the destruction of Zagros forests and the government's water policies, which diverted water to more politically connected agricultural land users, increasing social inequity and prompting more deforestation. The most straightforward restoration solution is to discontinue the diversions and allow critical inflows to recharge Lake Urmia, preserving the lake and wetlands for migratory birds, tourists, and local communities.     

海山区浮游生态学研究

本文综述了海山浮游生态学研究的现状。海山是大洋中常见的地形单元,在有的海山附近鱼类和底栖生物的生物量比周围大洋中要多,针对这些鱼类和底栖生物的饵料来源提出了三种假说,第一种假说认为海山区特殊的物理环境导致初级生产力较高(经典假说),第二种假说认为海山区的饵料不是本地生产的,地形和流场使得外来的浮游生物在海山区富集或通量加大(外来营养补充假说),第三种假说认为海山上部的颗粒有机物营养较高,是鱼类和底栖生物的营养来源之一(颗粒有机物补充假说)。对海山浮游生态学的研究基本围绕这几个假说进行。目前只在9座海山进行了浮游生态学研究,这些研究表明单个假说并不能解释海山附近鱼类生物量较大的现象,海山鱼类和底栖生物的营养来源可能有很多,这些假说阐述的机制并不互相矛盾,海山生物之间的营养关系也比原来想象的复杂得多。已有研究都是针对其中某个假说进行验证研究,建议我国即将进行的海山浮游生态学研究针对三种假说进行海上调查,以提供完备的数据支持。     

Trophic ecology of Pomatoschistus microps within an intertidal bay (Roscoff,France), investigated through gut content and stable isotope analyses

The diet of Pomatoschistus microps has been studied using both gut content and stable isotope analyses. In the Roscoff Aber Bay (Brittany, France), this fish is commonly found on sandy muddy intertidal flats. Gut content analyses were also interpreted using trophic indices. Owing to the large diversity of prey consumed, these indices emphasised the opportunistic feeding behaviour of P. microps. Here, this species fed mainly on endofauna with meiofauna being of high relative importance. The main biotic components of its trophic habitat, characterized by δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, provided evidence of a major trophic pathway based on drift Enteromorpha sp. Trophic positions estimated by both diet analyses and isotopic analyses led to similar results. In this bay, P. microps is a first‐order predator with a low degree of omnivory. Despite a preferential consumption of the amphipod Corophium arenarium, we assumed that this goby behaves as a generalist feeding on a uniform variety of endofauna taxa.     

Trophic ecology and vertical patterns of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in zooplankton from oxygen minimum zone regions

The unique physical and biogeochemical characteristics of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) influence plankton ecology, including zooplankton trophic webs. Using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, this study examined zooplankton trophic webs in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) OMZ. δ¹³C values were used to indicate zooplankton food sources, and δ¹⁵N values were used to indicate zooplankton trophic position and nitrogen cycle pathways. Vertically stratified MOCNESS net tows collected zooplankton from 0 to 1000 m at two stations along a north-south transect in the ETNP during 2007 and 2008, the Tehuantepec Bowl and the Costa Rica Dome. Zooplankton samples were separated into four size fractions for stable isotope analyses. Particulate organic matter (POM), assumed to represent a primary food source for zooplankton, was collected with McLane large volume in situ pumps.The isotopic composition and trophic ecology of the ETNP zooplankton community had distinct spatial and vertical patterns influenced by OMZ structure. The most pronounced vertical isotope gradients occurred near the upper and lower OMZ oxyclines. Material with lower δ¹³C values was apparently produced in the upper oxycline, possibly by chemoautotrophic microbes, and was subsequently consumed by zooplankton. Between-station differences in δ¹⁵N values suggested that different nitrogen cycle processes were dominant at the two locations, which influenced the isotopic characteristics of the zooplankton community. A strong depth gradient in zooplankton δ¹⁵N values in the lower oxycline suggested an increase in trophic cycling just below the core of the OMZ. Shallow POM (0–110 m) was likely the most important food source for mixed layer, upper oxycline, and OMZ core zooplankton, while deep POM was an important food source for most lower oxycline zooplankton (except for samples dominated by the seasonally migrating copepod Eucalanus inermis). There was no consistent isotopic progression among the four zooplankton size classes for these bulk mixed assemblage samples, implying overlapping trophic webs within the total size range considered.