Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning

The declining health of marine ecosystems around the world is evidence that current piecemeal governance is inadequate to successfully support healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems and sustain human uses of the ocean. One proposed solution to this problem is ecosystem-based marine spatial planning (MSP), which is a process that informs the spatial distribution of activities in the ocean so that existing and emerging uses can be maintained, use conflicts reduced, and ecosystem health and services protected and sustained for future generations. Because a key goal of ecosystem-based MSP is to maintain the delivery of ecosystem services that humans want and need, it must be based on ecological principles that articulate the scientifically recognized attributes of healthy, functioning ecosystems. These principles should be incorporated into a decision-making framework with clearly defined targets for these ecological attributes. This paper identifies ecological principles for MSP based on a synthesis of previously suggested and/or operationalized principles, along with recommendations generated by a group of twenty ecologists and marine scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives on MSP. The proposed four main ecological principles to guide MSP—maintaining or restoring: native species diversity, habitat diversity and heterogeneity, key species, and connectivity—and two additional guidelines, the need to account for context and uncertainty, must be explicitly taken into account in the planning process. When applied in concert with social, economic, and governance principles, these ecological principles can inform the designation and siting of ocean uses and the management of activities in the ocean to maintain or restore healthy ecosystems, allow delivery of marine ecosystem services, and ensure sustainable economic and social benefits.     

Stakeholder consultation during the planning phase of scientific programs

Stakeholder consultation is being adopted as standard practice in the planning and management of natural resource management programs. While the utility of stakeholder participation has been investigated for the evaluation and implementation phases of natural resource management programs, few studies have examined the utility of stakeholder consultation during the initial phases of developing such programs. This paper presents a case study from a project developing a marine and coastal monitoring program for the Pilbara and Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. Via a series of workshops held in the region, stakeholders were asked to prioritise future research needs using several voting procedures. During the analyses of the results from the different voting procedures, it became apparent that there were high levels of inconsistency, poor correlation, and contradiction, between participants’ responses. Despite the rigour of the selection process used to identify ‘suitable’ stakeholders for the workshops, these results show that stakeholders did not have the technical or broader contextual knowledge about marine ecosystems to effectively and objectively contribute to the research prioritisation and planning process. Based on the outcomes of this study, we argue that project designers need to be clear about why they are involving stakeholders in a project, particularly in light of the costs involved (financial, time, resources, costs to the stakeholder) in stakeholder consultation. Stakeholder involvement may be appropriate in later stages of developing natural resource management programs (implementation and management), however, stakeholder involvement is not appropriate in the initial phases of such programs, where scientific expertise is essential in formulating scientific concepts and frameworks.     

Growth Dynamics of the Middle Devonian Jukoupu Bioherm,Xinshao, Hunan

The growth process, palaeoecological features and the function of organisms in reef-building of the Jukoupu bioherm in Hunan are discussed in detail. The bioherm is divided into 10 microfacies. Organisms are very abundant in the reef. Thirty-two genera Belonging to 7 phyla have been recognized. They make up 5 communities composed mainly of stromatopoids, Corals and algae, each of which has its own salient ecological features. An analysis of all communities shows that the organic functions are very complex. The same organisms may possess diverse functions simultaneously as the reef growth enters the late stage. The growth process of the reef may involve five stages' (l)biostrome stage, (2) stabilization stage, (3) frame-type reef-building stage, (4) binding and covering-type reef-building stage, and (5) baffle- type reef -building stage.     

Tafoni on coastal slopes,South Devon,U.K.

Cavernous weathering (tafoni development) occurs on coastal slopes in greenschist bedrock at elevations up to 40 m above sea level. The freshly weathered surfaces of the cavern interiors are irregular in morphology, discordant to major rock structure, formed by substantially weakened rock and associated with granular weathering debris. The weathering debris contains soluble elements in proportions similar to those present in seawater, and the penetration of elements associated with sea salts into the weathering surface to estimated depths of at least 0·1–0·2 m is indicated by the presence of chlorine. Scanning electron microscopy and microprobe analyses suggest that rock breakdown occurs principally through limited chemical weathering at grain boundaries. The mechanism for the emplacement of marine salts within sheltered rock surfaces in the tafoni is postulated to be a combination of dry deposition under turbulent atmospheric conditions and wetting by coastal fog.     

辽宁海洋综合经济区划分的初步探讨

我国是海洋大国，有相当陆域国土面积三分之一的海洋国土。随着海洋资源的开发利用，海洋经济不断发展，海洋经济区逐渐形成。在全国划分经济区时，不应忽视海洋经济区。沿海省区在划分经济区时，更应把海洋列入到省级经济区内。辽宁是我国沿海省区之一，通过对辽宁海洋经济区划分的研究，探讨海洋经济区及其划分的有关理论、实践与方法。     

新化,湘潭等地跳马涧组的遗迹化石

新化、湘潭等地跳马涧组的遗迹化石经笔者鉴定与描术者共15个遗迹属24个遗迹种(包括4个新遗迹种)。它们大部分属于跳马涧组上部,可分为Arenicolites-Palaeophycus组合,Skolithos-Planolites组合,Palaeophycus-Gordia组合,Rhizocorallium-Planolites组合,代表近滨环境,属Cruziana遗迹相。部分属于顶部Zoophycus-Cochlichnus组合和Zoophycus-Skolithos组合,属Zoophycus遗迹相上部。综合前人资料,湖南跳马涧组遗迹化石现已发现22属45种,可归并为居住迹、觅食迹、爬行迹、休息迹、啮食迹、钻孔、逃逸构造、生物扰动构造八种生态类型。由跳马涧组下部至顶部,由以居住迹为主的遗迹组合,转变为居住迹、觅食迹同等发育或以觅食迹为主,转变为啮食迹为主的组合。反映由前滨转变为近滨,再转变为远滨,代表海水加深、海侵扩大的过程。     

新疆准噶尔地区泥盆系火山碎屑岩中放射虫的发现及其地质意义

泥盆系课题组,在准噶尔地区发现20余层含放射虫的火山碎屑岩,放射虫均产于被化石证明了的下、中、上泥盆统中.在火山碎屑岩中产放射虫,国外已有报导,国内尚无正式报导.从而对该区岩相古地理提出了新认识.     

Simulation of pebble abrasion on coastal benches by transgressive waves

Tumbler simulations of abrasion processes affecting rocks on basaltic marine benches have clarified the effects of mass and volume of rock fragments on their rate of wear. Several experiments indicate that rate of basalt wear increases with mass in the interval 1 g to 8 g, but is not related to volume of fragments abraded in seawater. Relatively small quantities of rock flour suspended in the immersant seawater substantially reduced the rate of basalt wear. Basalt and calcareous beachrock responded differently in systems with both rock types tumbling together. Examination of the cuttings from these low-energy encounters suggests that abrasion on elevated benches along exposed seacoasts reduces virtually all clastic material to particles of silt size or smaller, producing essentially no sand.     

云南路南上泥盆统的划分与对比

云南路南上泥盆统的划分与对比曹仁关（云南省地质科学研究所，云南昆明，６５００１１）关键词云南，路南，上泥盆统，一打得组，寨黑组，地层划分，地层对比云南东部泥盆系发育完整，分布较广，南起元江龙孔，经后屏双拼，建水石关山、华宁盘溪，至路南老人山都有出露。...     

宁夏卫宁盆地晚泥盆世中华豆石介族（介形类）的发现

通过对中华巨石介族的研究，指出宁夏卫宁盆地中宁组下段为法门期滨海相沉积，泥盆纪时属华南生物地理区系。根据生物群和沉积建造的相似性，并结合古地磁资料分析、推测在晚泥盆世期间，包括卫宁盆地在内的河西走廊地体可能还未完全脱离华南地块。