Relationship between watershed scale macroinvertebrate community and environmental factors in the Japanese archipelago

The conservation and restoration of freshwater ecosystems require the understanding of potential biota of the target area. My ultimate study goal was to clarify the potential fauna of the watershed unit of the Japanese archipelago, a hotspot of biodiversity. Here, I attempted to classify the macroinvertebrate community of the major rivers within the Japanese archipelago, thereby elucidating its biogeography, and to investigate the extent to which environmental factors drive the watershed’s macroinvertebrate community. I classified the rivers located in the northern region of the Japanese archipelago geographically, but did not group the geographically adjacent rivers in the western region together. Differences in watershed size, geological history (including river conflict), and paleo-drainage systems seem to affect the classification results. Moreover, Indicator Species Analysis results suggest that river groups in the northern part of the Japanese archipelago had highly endemic species, whereas, the river groups in the western part of the Japanese archipelago had few highly endemic species. The result of the canonical correspondence analysis indicated that topographic factors, the flow regime, geology, water quality, and anthropogenic factors were significantly correlated with macroinvertebrate classification and distribution. The results of the decision tree model indicated that water temperature and maximum specific discharge were explanatory factors in the classification of the macroinvertebrate community. Further, my results also suggest that environmental factors at a smaller scale than that of the watershed were needed to explain further subdivisions in classification of the macroinvertebrate community.     

The correlation between macroscopic algae and metazoans in the Ediacaran: a case study on the Wenghui biota in northeastern Guizhou,South China

After the Marinoan glaciation, macroscopic organisms thrived in the Yangtze Sea, South China, during the Ediacaran period. The Wenghui biota, which is found from the upper Doushantuo Formation black shales (>551 Ma) in northeastern Guizhou, South China, includes macroscopic algae, metazoans and ichnofossils. Most macroalgae in the Wenghui biota bear a holdfast to secure them onto seafloor and have a thallus of various lengths extending into the water column. This biota can be divided into Globusphyton, Sectoralga–Longifuniculum, Cucullus, Beltanelliformis and Baculiphyca–Gesinella assemblages. A fossil-barren interval containing a thin layer of feldspathic sandstone separates the macroscopic organisms into two distinct parts. From the Globusphyton assemblage through the Sectoralga–Longifuniculum assemblage to the Cucullus assemblage, metazoans show a positive correlation with the abundance and diversity of branching macroalgae at both metre and millimetre scales. Nevertheless, both Beltanelliformis and Baculiphyca–Gesinella assemblages, in which the number and diversity of macroscopic algae and metazoans, especially the shorter branching macroalgae, are obviously decreasing or even lacking, might be related to a special environment and a fragile ecosystem. In addition, the ratios of Ni/Co, U/Th and V/(V + Ni) display zigzagged profiles at millimetre scales indicating frequent redox fluctuations. Variations in macrofossils and trace elements at both millimetre and metre scales indicate that the oxygen content in the northeast Guizhou Sea fluctuated frequently during the middle–late Ediacaran period and the Wenghui biota possibly lived in the redox buffering zone. Moreover, the abundance and diversity of macroalgae, especially the branching macroalgae, could have significantly influenced the redox conditions in water column. The increase in oxygen may have improved the environment for the growth and reproduction of macroalgae and metazoans.     

Modelling wetland connectivity during overbank flooding in a tropical floodplain in north Queensland,Australia

Hydrological connectivity between floodplain wetlands and rivers is one of the principal driving mechanisms for the diversity, productivity and interactions of the major biota in river–floodplain systems. This article describes a method of quantifying flood‐induced overbank connectivity using a hydrodynamic model (MIKE 21) to calculate the timing, the duration and the spatial extent of the connections between several floodplain wetlands and rivers in the Tully–Murray catchment, north Queensland, Australia. Areal photogrammetry and field surveyed stream cross data were used to reproduce floodplain topography and rivers in the model. Laser altimetry (LiDAR)–derived fine resolution elevation data, for the central floodplain, were added to the topography model to improve the resolution of key features including wetlands, flow pathways and natural and artificial flow barriers. The hydrodynamic model was calibrated using a combination of in‐stream and floodplain gauge records. A range of off‐stream wetlands including natural and artificial, small and large were investigated for their connectivity with two main rivers (Tully and Murray) flowing over the floodplain for flood events of 1‐, 20‐ and 50‐year recurrence intervals. The duration of the connection of individual wetlands varied from 1 to 12 days, depending on flood magnitude and location in the floodplain, with some wetlands only connected during large floods. All of the wetlands studied were connected to the Tully River for shorter periods than they were to the Murray River because of the higher bank heights and levees on the Tully River and wetland proximity to the Murray River. Other than hydrology, land relief, riverbank elevation and levee banks along the river were found key factors controlling the degree of connectivity. These variations in wetland connectivity could have important implications for aquatic biota that move between rivers and off‐stream habitats during floods. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国滨海核电厂温排水混合区的设置及启示

系统调研美国温排水法规标准体系、混合区政策以及滨海核电厂混合区的设置,并与我国现状进行比较。可以看出,美国清洁水法和联邦法规给出温排水和水质标准的一般要求,各个州的水质标准给出水质准则、混合区政策以及对水生生物保护的要求。水质准则给出各种类型水体温度限值(包括温升限值和/或温度上限值);混合区政策给出混合区的位置、尺寸、形状以及混合区内水质要求;具体厂址应基于"一事一议"的方式确定混合区范围,并满足混合区最小化要求,大部分美国滨海核电厂混合区范围满足州的混合区政策要求;少数核电厂混合区范围超过了州混合区政策要求,这些电厂需进行厂址特性热影响研究,以证明当前的温排水限值能够确保受纳水体中结构稳定的土著贝类、鱼类和其他野生生物种群的生长和繁育。我国当前没有地区差异的水质准则,无温排水混合区政策、设置方法或导则。美国温排水混合区设置方法和实践有助于我国滨海核电厂温排水混合区的设置和优化,以减小对水生生物的影响。     

Phase contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography of Ediacaran (Doushantuo) metazoan microfossils: Phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary implications

Microfossils from the Ediacaran Weng’an Phosphate Member of the Doushantuo Formation (Guizhou Province, southern China) have received widespread attention. The Doushantuo, which overlies the glacial deposits of the Nantuo Formation, was deposited following the Marinoan glaciation, the last extensive glaciation of Snowball Earth. Radiometric age dating indicates that the Doushantuo is older than 580 my, and hence that these microfossils are older than the Ediacara Biota. However, the diversity represented by these fossils has yet to be fully documented. A recent technological approach that has increasingly been used to image fossils, propagation phase contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography, has allowed non-destructive study of both exterior and interior features of a variety of Doushantuo microfossils from the gray facies of the Weng’an Phosphate Member, cropping out along the axis of the Mt. Beidou anticline. Studies of Doushantuo embryos demonstrate the existence of a large suite of modern embryonic features, including macromeres and micromeres, cell lineage, polar lobes, compacted epithelia, equal and unequal cleavage, blastulation and gastrulation, and chorionic protection. Because embryos such as those here studied provide only a limited amount of phylogenetic information, and because adult metazoans of the types that produced these embryos have yet to be discovered in Doushantuo-age rocks, these fossilized embryonic forms can at present be assigned only to the various superclades represented amongst living Metazoa. The diversity of the embryos here studied suggests that the metazoan fauna of the Doushantuo may well have included animals of poriferan, cnidarian, and both protostomial (representatives possibly of basal protostome lineages) and deuterostomial affinity. If this interpretation is correct, it would then follow that the last common ancestor of the bilaterian metazoan lineage, as well as the last common ancestor of sponges, cnidarians and bilaterians, pre-dated deposition of the Doushantuo strata.     

Sr、C同位素对苏皖北部上前寒武系时代的界定

对苏皖北部上前寒武系碳酸盐岩地层系统采集灰岩样品 ,采用弱酸处理方法测定清液部分的 Sr同位素组成 ,对全岩样品测定 C同位素组成。测定结果与 Shields(1999)发表的新元古代古海水 Sr、C同位素组成随时间的演化曲线对比表明 ,苏皖北部上前寒武系是跨越北方青白口系与南方震旦系之间的一段连续地层 ,其时代约从70 0 Ma到 85 0 Ma,该研究进一步印证了淮南生物群属于先伊迪卡拉期的学术观点。     

贵州关岭生物群的埋藏环境与古生态特点

新建并逐层描述了含关岭生物群的上三叠统小凹组。根据小凹组下段岩石学、地球化学和生物群生态特征分析，指出关岭新铺乡一带在晚三叠世时为一个三面环陆、一面可能与特提斯大洋相通的局限海湾。关岭生物群中少量完好保存的植物化石的生态特点指示该区当时具有热带、亚热带的气候特点，雨水充沛。元素地球化学特征则显示海湾中的海水可能受间歇性大量淡水注入影响而出现间歇性淡化，并导致生物原来赖以生存的海洋环境出现间歇性缺氧，而发生生物集群死亡和埋藏。     

宁城中生代道虎沟生物群中两类具原始羽毛翼龙的发现及其地层学和生物学意义

本文实事求是地介绍了道虎沟生物群的组成及相关地层的岩性,并根据长尾型嘴口龙类(Rhamphorhynchoidea)翼龙与短尾型翼手龙类(Pterodactyloidea)翼龙同期共生的特点,确信道虎沟生物群的地质时代为晚侏罗世。此外,本文还研究了道虎沟生物群中翼龙身上发育的皮肤衍生物,初步认为它们是原始羽毛(protofeathers),至少是与羽毛同源的(feather-homologous),这对于了解羽毛(广义)的演化历史和早期的形态结构将具有十分重要的意义。     

西藏南部拉康组菊石生物群的发现及北喜玛拉雅地层分区的东延

西藏洛扎以南的我国境内存在一套由变质砂岩、变粉砂岩、板岩、泥晶灰岩组成的哑地层，前人称之为拉康组，为时代存疑地层。新近在该组下段的中上部发现了丰富的小型特化类型菊石生物群，经鉴定有4科6属（未定种），时代为早白垩世的贝里阿斯期一早阿尔必期，这些不同于康马一隆子地层分区生物群的化石的发现，不仅确定了拉康组的时代，也使北喜玛拉雅地层分区的东延问题得以解决。     

开鲁盆地晚中生代地层

根据２００余口钻井资料，运用了生物地层学、岩石地层学、磁性地层学等方法，建立了开鲁盆地晚中生代地层层序及其与邻区地层的对比关系。早白垩世为盆地断陷期，发育了含热河生物群地层，包括义县组、九佛堂组、沙海组、阜新组；中晚白垩世为盆地坳陷期，发育含松花江生物群与明水生物群地层，包括泉头组—青山口组、姚家组、嫩江组、四方台组、明水组。