The Continuous Plankton Recorder: concepts and history, from Plankton Indicator to undulating recorders

Alister Hardy conceived the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey in the 1920s as a means of mapping near-surface plankton in space and time, interpreting the changing fortunes of the fisheries and relating plankton changes to hydrometeorology and climatic change. The seed he planted has grown to become the most extensive long-term survey of marine organisms in the world and the breadth of his vision becomes ever more apparent. The survey has now run for over 70 years and its value increases with every passing decade. Operating from ‘ships of opportunity’ the machines used are robust, reliable and easy to handle. Wherever possible, all the sampling and analytical methods have not been changed to maintain the consistency of the time series. Computerisation and the development of new statistical approaches have increased our ability to handle the large quantities of information generated and enhance the sensitivity of the data analyses. This overview, based on almost 900 papers, recounts the various phases in the history of the survey. It starts with the Indicator Survey (1921–1934), the deployment of the first CPR on the Discovery Expedition (1924–1927) and the early CPR survey in the North Sea (1931–1939). The survey reopened in 1946 after the Second World War and expanded across the North Atlantic to North America from 1959. Taxonomic studies were initiated and an emphasis was placed on patterns of distribution, which were seen to reflect the varying oceanographic conditions. The years 1968–1976 saw further expansion with operations even in the American Great Lakes, publication of a Plankton Atlas and initial evidence for a downward trend in plankton biomass. At about this time electronic instrumentation was attached to CPRs to make additional measurements and work was started on the development of a new generation of undulating Continuous Plankton and Environmental Recorders (CPERs). In 1976 the survey moved to Plymouth. Scientific priorities in the UK changed in the subsequent decade and funding became more difficult to secure even though some of the CPR papers being published at the time are now regarded as classics in plankton ecology. In 1988 the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) decided to close the survey. An international rescue operation led to the creation of the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS) in 1990, which has continued with consortium funding from a number of countries, and from 1999 again included NERC. The scientific rationale of the survey has gained credibility as concern over climate change and other anthropogenic effects has grown and as the key role that plankton plays as an indicator of large-scale environmental conditions becomes ever more apparent. Recently, the survey became an integral component of the Global Ocean Observation System (GOOS) and expanded into the North Pacific. It plays a complementary role in many large international and multidisciplinary projects and is providing inspiration, advice and support to daughter surveys elsewhere in the world. At the start of a new millennium, Hardy’s vision from the 1920s is a powerful driving force not just in international biological oceanography, but in global environmental science.     

Geochemical cycling in the Hooghly estuary, India

U–Th decay series isotopes, δ¹⁸O and Si measurements in the river estuarine waters and sediments of the polluted Hooghly estuary as well as the surface waters of the Bay of Bengal, its high salinity end member, are reported. Dissolved Si indicates that there are probably two mixing regimes, dissolved U behaviour is nonconservative and δ¹⁸O behaves conservatively in the overall estuarine region. Isotopes of reactive elements, viz. ²³⁴Th and ²¹⁰Po, are removed from the estuarine waters in <2 days and <1 month, respectively, which is due to high suspended matter (30–301 mg l⁻¹). ²²⁸Ra and ²²⁶Ra are profusely released into the estuarine waters in the low to mid-salinity regions.As expected, the opposite trend is observed in the case of estuarine sediments and suspended matter. Reactive isotopes of Th, ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po are enriched, whereas Ra isotopes are depleted with respect to their parent nuclides in the estuarine sediments and suspended matter. ²³²Th/Al ratio appears well suited to study the distribution and mixing of the bed load sediments of the Ganga–Brahmaputra (G–B) and the Hooghly rivers with those from other rivers on the Bay of Bengal floor.     

厦门潮间带表层沉积物天然放射系不平衡研究

用HPGeγ谱仪测定了厦门潮间带表层沉积物中的放射性核素,得到11种核素238U2、34Th2、26Ra2、22Rn2、10Pb2、28Ra2、28Ac2、28Th2、24Ra2、12Pb、40K的平均比活度分别为:40.2、82.7、32.4、28.9、94.2、69.3、57.1、71.6、64.0、71.4、692Bq/kg.结果表明潮间带沉积物中天然放射系不平衡,其中234Th相对于238U2、10Pb相对于226Ra过剩,222Rn相对于226Ra2、28Ac相对于228Ra2、24Ra相对于228Th亏损.     

电磁波信号在对流层中路径弯曲改正的级数展开式

大气折射延迟是空间大地测量中的一个主要误差源。本文严格地给出了中性大气路径弯曲改正的原理性公式。通过对各种因素量级的分析,在亚毫米量级的精度上给出了一个以视天顶距正切和正割乘积为参数的级数展开模型。新模型在球对称大气模型下,级数展开模型的精度达到了毫米量级,理论上可以展开到任意阶次,且可允许观测高度角小到5°。     

BP神经网络模型在澜沧江流域径流量模拟中的应用

河川径流等水文时间序列属于复杂的非线性系统,使用回归分析等传统的分析方法,难以获取和描述其内在关联和变化规律。利用现有的相关站点的径流量历史数据和输沙量、降水量数据,在进行规格化处理和主成分分析的基础上,利用三层BP人工神经网络模型,对澜沧江流域上游昌都站径流量与各关联因子之间复杂的非线性映射关系进行模拟,采用拟牛顿算法对模型进行训练,模拟结果达到期望精度要求,并利用1982年~1985年实测数据进行模型验证。结果证明利用BP神经网络模型对澜沧江流域站点的月径流量序列进行模拟、预测和数据补缺处理具有可行性。     

A New Female Cone, Araucaria beipoiaoensis sp. nov. from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation, Beipiao, Western Liaoning, China and Its Evolutionary Significance

A new species of Araucaria, Araucaria beipiaoensis sp. nov., collected from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation, southern hill of Shebudai village, near Beipiao city, western Liaoning is based on a permineralized female cone, which is ovate to elliptical in shape, about 11 cm × 7 cm × 4.5 cm in size. The cone bears rhomboid bracts that are spirally attached, texture thicker, with wings on both sides, with a detached lamina-like apex at the tip. In inner structure the ovuliferous scales are thicker and fused with bracts at the end with a ligular sulcns. There is one wingless ovule/seed per seed-scale complex embedded in the ovuliferous scale tissue, with the micropyle directed toward the cone axis. The ovules/seeds are long ovate or elliptical in shape, 1 cm long and near the base about 3 mm in diameter; the ovule/seed integuments have begun differentiation into 3 layers： the sarcotesta, sclerotesta, and endotesta. The nucellus is free from the enclosing integuments except in the chalazal region where it is fused to the inner layer （endotesta） of integument. Some ovules show cellularized nucellar tissue. Mature seeds exhibit the papery-thin wavy nucellus characteristically near to the micropyle. The embryonic tissue appears to be four cotyledons. The morphology and structure of the cone shows a close relationship to the araucarian cones of fossil and living genera but differs from any known species. The new species is distributed in the Middle Jurassic of the northern hemisphere, especially Asia, and has important significance for the evolution of the Family Araucariaceae.     

Jurassic Tectonics of North China: A Synthetic View

This paper gives a synthetic view on the Jurassic tectonics of North China, with an attempt to propose a framework for the stepwise tectonic evolution history. Jurassic sedimentation, deformation and magmatism in North China have been divided into three stages. The earliest Jurassic is marked by a period of magmatism quiescence （in 205-190 Ma） and regional uplift, which are considered to be the continuation of the “Indosinian movement” characterized by continent-continent collision between the North and South China blocks. The Early to Middle Jurassic （in 190-170 Ma） was predominated by weak lithospheric extension expressed by mantle-derived plutonism and volcanism along the Yanshan belt and alongside the Tan-Lu fault zone, normal faulting and graben formation along the Yinshan- Yanshan tectonic belt, depression and resuming of coal-bearing sedimentation in vast regions of the North China block （NCB）. The Middle to Late Jurassic stage started at 165y.5 Ma and ended up before 136 Ma; it was dominated by intensive intraplate deformation resulting from multi-directional compressions. Two major deformation events have been identified. One is marked by stratigraphic unconformity beneath the thick Upper Jurassic molasic series in the foreland zones of the western Ordos thrust-fold belt and along the Yinshan-Yanshan belt; it was predated 160 Ma. The other one is indicated by stratigraphic unconformity at the base of the Lower Cretaceous and predated 135 Ma. During this last stage, two latitudinal tectonic belts, the Yinshan-Yanshan belt in the north and the Qinling-Dabie belt in the south, and the western margin of the Ordos basin were all activated by thrusting; the NCB itself was deformed by the NE to NNE-trending structural system involving thrusting, associated folding and sinistral strike-slip faulting, which were spatially partitioned. Foliated S-type granitic plutons aged 160-150 Ma were massively emplaced in the Jiao-Liao massif east of the Tan-Lu fault zone and indicate important crustal thicken     

New Isophlebioid Dragonflies from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia,China(Insecta:Odonata:Isophlebioptera:Campterophiebiidae)

Three new species of fossil dragonflies assigned to Sinokaratawia Nel,Huang and Lin in family Campterophlebildae,i.e.S,daohugouica sp.nov.,S.magica sp.nov.and S.gloriosa sp.nov.,and new materials of male S.prokopi Nel,Huang and Lin,2007 are described from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou,Inner Mongolia,China.An emended diagnosis of genus Sinokaratawia was proposed.     

矿井涌水量混沌时间序列分析与预测

矿井地下水系统是个非线性系统,由于地下水系统的复杂性,很难完全确定影响矿井涌水量的因素,因此传统的矿井涌水预测表现出较大的局限性。而混沌时间序列分析能够利用单变量处理方法,分析矿井地下水系统中,由于多因素耦合作用所产生的矿井涌水量时间序列。通过对某矿区1985年9月至2005年2月矿井涌水量时间序列资料的分析,显示矿井涌水量时间序列具有混沌特征;通过对比预测值和实测值,表明预测精度高。因此,混沌时间序列分析方法用于矿井涌水量预测是可行的。