The Geography of Fish: The Use of Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis Tools in Fisheries Research

Rather than seeing the oceans as an expansive void, researchers using acoustic technologies can detect the heterogeneity of biological resources and view the marine environment as a three-dimensional landscape. Underwater remote sensing, using acoustics, provides high resolution maps of the spatial distribution of organisms in aquatic ecosystems. Analyzing the spatial pattern of species distribution within the water column and the impact of that organization on ecological processes bridges the fields of fisheries and spatial analysis. Tools and concepts familiar to geographers, such as remote sensing, GIS, and landscape ecology, contribute to the investigation of large lake and marine ecosystems.     

Biodiversity patterns of free-living marine nematodes in a tropical bay: Cienfuegos, Caribbean Sea

Spatial and temporal biodiversity patterns of free-living marine nematodes were studied in Cienfuegos Bay, a tropical semi-enclosed basin in the Caribbean Sea. Taxonomic (to species level) and functional (biological trait) approaches were applied for describing the assemblage structure and relating it to abiotic environment based on a sampling scheme in six subtidal stations and three months. Biological trait approach added relevant information to species pattern regarding relationships between diversity patterns and the abiotic environment. The most common morphotypes were deposit feeding nematodes, with colonising abilities of 2–3 (in a scale from 1 to 5), tail conical cylindrical or filiforme and body slender; and their abundance were correlated with depth, organic matter and silt/clay fraction. In spite of a high turnover of species, functional diversity of assemblages did not change notably in space and time. A result probably due to sampling of the habitat pool of species and to low heterogeneity of the studied muddy bottoms. Chemical pollution (organic enrichment and heavy metals) and hydrodynamic regime possibly drove the biodiversity patterns. Spatial distribution of assemblages support the existence of two well differentiated basins inside the bay, the northern basin more polluted than the southern one. The low hydrodynamic regime would determine a poor dispersion of nematodes resulting in high spatial variance in the assemblage structure; and also the associated hypoxic conditions and pollutants in sediments can explain the dominance of tolerant nematode species such as Daptonema oxycerca, Sabatieria pulchra, Terschellingia gourbaultae, and Terschellingia longicaudata. A comparison of spatial–temporal patterns of biodiversity between Cienfuegos Bay and other semi-enclosed bays in temperate regions suggests several similarities: nematode assemblages are strongly influenced by anthropogenic disturbance, temporal trends are weak or overridden by spatial ones, and few cosmopolitan genera/species tolerant to pollution and hypoxic conditions are dominant.     

地质环境生态适宜性评价指标体系研究

科学合理地进行地质环境生态适宜性评价是正确处理地质资源开发利用－生态环境保护之间关系、实施可持续发展的前提。在阐述了地质环境生态适宜性评价的内涵及其评价步骤的基础上,研究了地质环境的生态适宜性评价指标体系确定原理与方法,并以河西走廊地区为例进行了具体应用,提出了可供借鉴的地质环境生态适宜性评价指标体系,并探讨了有待研究的评价标准、现状评价和预测评价、评价方法等问题。     

河流景观生态学的发展与当前核心议题

河流景观生态学已成为河流科学研究与应用的新范式,但国内研究还颇为不足。从河流景观生态学发展的逻辑必然性、主要进程、基本内容与重要理论等方面进行了总结。结果显示,多尺度跨学科整体论河流认识要求和景观尺度上处理河流问题的实践需求共同推动河流景观生态学的迅速发展,其中心议题是河流物理景观系统与生物系统在不同等级尺度上的结构、格局与功能过程,尤其重视物理景观与不同等级生物系统的相互作用关系,对河流景观多尺度等级性、高动态性和有向性等突出性质的认识已取得重要理论发展。指出当前面临5个方面的核心议题亟需取得突破:改进和统一河流景观分类系统、河流景观跨尺度研究、河流景观方法对经典河流生态理论的再认识、河流景观机理与模拟、河流景观对气候变化与区域土地利用/覆被变化的响应研究。     

生态经济战略是江西21世纪发展的必然抉择

根据生态经济战略的核心问题和江西省的实际情况,分析了江西实施生态经济战略的必要性与可行性,指出了江西开展生态经济建设的几个切入点。     

鱼类摄食生态研究的理论及方法

综合分析了鱼类摄食生态研究的理论，方法及其应用中的诸多问题：胃含物分析法，营养生境及食物重叠，食物链与食物网，营养结构与营养级，摄食器官的形态特征与摄食行为的关系，食物选择以及生理生太因子对鱼类摄食的影响；提出了食物排序的概念、优势度指数Ｄ及其判定公式，并以此比较客观地建立了摄食生态相似的鱼类群落主次食物的划分标准。     

溢油对海洋生态系统内在价值损害的评估——以“塔斯曼海”轮溢油事故为例

作者籍以能值和生态炯分析,将海洋生态内在价值补充到溢油损害评估中,并以"塔斯曼海"轮溢油事故为例,分析了生态系统内在价值损害评估的特点。结果表明溢油生态内在价值损害大于对生态服务价值的损害,前者是后者的6.9倍;能值变化反映对资本积累的损害,生态炯更突出了溢油对初级生产力的生态系统的影响。本评价是现有溢油损害评价的补充,可为彻底、有效环境治理、生态修复提供保障,对海洋开发管理决策和公众环保意识的提高将有积极的影响。     

气候变化对中国木本植物物候的可能影响

本文根据我国的３０年的物候资料和气候资料的统计分析，论证了气温是影响中国木本植物物候的主要因子，在此基础上建立了物候与年平均气温的线性统计模式，又利用此模式分析计算了未来全球年平均气温升高０．５－２．０℃和未来大气中ＣＯ２浓度倍增而增暖情况下，我国主要木本植物物候期的大致变幅。     

‘Paleoenvironmental study of modern charcoal making activity on forest soils in the Northern Vosges Mountains (Bitche,France): A multidisciplinary study of two remaining charcoal platforms and associated soils sequences’

This multidisciplinary study aims to decipher the impact of ancient charcoal production on past and present-day soils in the northern Vosges Mountains. Soil observations in the field and laboratory were complemented by charcoal and phytolith studies on large thin sections, molecular analyses of organic pollutants, and phytolith analysis on bulk samples. The complex technosol platform records an ancient natural soil sequence buried by a human-made platform on which charcoal accumulated. The current upslope soil is an entic Podzol. Palaeoecological data collected in the buried soil are reliable owing to low bioactivity due to soil acidity. Podzolisation predated the platform construction. The presence of ashes induced low soil alkalisation developed in the charcoal hearth remains and appears to have generated the migration of subsequent iron/clay/organic bands throughout the platform sediment and the buried soil. Charcoal studied in thin sections revealed mainly Quercus and Fagus taxa. Phytolith studies suggest that a less dense or degraded forest preceded platform construction, probably due to former woodland coppicing or earlier disorganised wood gathering. The specific distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons sorbed on charcoal has persisted in soils throughout centuries, but we have no evidence that charcoal-making activities contributed to diffuse global pollution.     

The inhibition of marine nitrification by ocean disposal of carbon dioxide

In an attempt to reduce the threat of global warming, it has been proposed that the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations be reduced by the ocean disposal of CO2 from the flue gases of fossil fuel-fired power plants. The release of large amounts of CO2 into mid or deep ocean waters will result in large plumes of acidified seawater with pH values ranging from 6 to 8. In an effort to determine whether these CO2-induced pH changes have any effect on marine nitrification processes, surficial (euphotic zone) and deep (aphotic zone) seawater samples were sparged with CO2 for varying time durations to achieve a specified pH reduction, and the rate of microbial ammonia oxidation was measured spectrophotometrically as a function of pH using an inhibitor technique. For both seawater samples taken from either the euphotic or aphotic zone, the nitrification rates dropped drastically with decreasing pH. Relative to nitrification rates in the original seawater at pH 8, nitrification rates were reduced by ca. 50% at pH 7 and more than 90% at pH 6.5. Nitrification was essentially completely inhibited at pH 6. These findings suggest that the disposal of CO2 into mid or deep oceans will most likely result in a drastic reduction of ammonia oxidation rates within the pH plume and the concomitant accumulation of ammonia instead of nitrate. It is unlikely that ammonia will reach the high concentration levels at which marine aquatic organisms are known to be negatively affected. However, if the ammonia-rich seawater from inside the pH plume is upwelled into the euphotic zone, it is likely that changes in phytoplankton abundance and community structure will occur. Finally, the large-scale inhibition of nitrification and the subsequent reduction of nitrite and nitrate concentrations could also result in a decrease of denitrification rates which, in turn, could lead to the buildup of nitrogen and unpredictable eutrophication phenomena. Clearly, more research on the environmental effects of ocean disposal of CO2 is needed to determine whether the potential costs related to marine ecosystem disturbance and disruption can be justified in terms of the perceived benefits that may be achieved by temporarily delaying global warming.