黔东北石阡志留纪最早期生物礁的形态学和古生态学

上扬子区志留纪早期的浅水相灰岩和壳相动物分布,多局限于滇黔桂古陆之北陆浅海近岸带。黔东北石阡兰多维列世埃隆期香树园组上部记录了华南板块奥陶纪末生物灭绝事件之后最早后生动物礁群落的复苏,持续相对长时间清澈浅水环境是造礁的基本条件,南陆北海的古地貌塑造了礁体各亚相的展布方式,礁灰岩南北延伸出露宽度约为150m,最大保存厚度约为20余米,形态学上呈现点礁特征。棘屑滩之上的珊瑚—层孔虫格架礁具有较高的生物多样性,属全球志留纪最常见的礁灰岩类型;南侧为礁后薄层棘屑滩堆积;礁核部位的大量珊瑚—层孔虫原地生长格架具有抗浪性,并障积不同粒度的壳相化石和内碎屑颗粒,有利于加速沉积形成块状礁灰岩和正向地貌;礁体北端为薄层生屑灰岩夹少量粉砂—泥质薄层的礁前沉积区;礁顶薄层灰岩中粉砂质—泥质成分逐渐取代珊瑚—层孔虫格架岩,相变为雷家屯组下部的陆源碎屑岩沉积,海水浑浊度增高是终止生物礁群落栖居的主控因素。     

Experimental bleaching of a tropical sea anemone in situ

Bleaching (whitening) of cnidarians such as corals and sea anemones has caused widespread degradation of coral reefs around the world and is therefore an urgent issue for coral reef science and conservation. Although cnidarians often bleach in aquaria, methods for experimental induction of bleaching in wild cnidarians are lacking, which impedes scientists’ ability to understand the ultimate effects of bleaching on the broader ecosystem. In this study, we investigated the utility of an in situ method for experimental induction of bleaching in the tropical sea anemone Heteractis crispa. Healthy, wild anemones were covered with opaque black plastic sheets, mesh cages or left undisturbed (controls) and tentacle colour and body size were monitored with a colour reference card and flexible tape, respectively, every 1–3 days for 15 days. Caged and control anemones remained unchanged for the duration of the experiment, but covered anemones commenced whitening after 4–6 days and were completely white after 7–14 days (mean time to bleaching ± SE = 10.1 ± 0.7 days). Experimental bleaching occurred without reduction in anemone body size and was visibly similar to natural bleaching seen previously in H. crispa. We hypothesize that light‐deprivation, reduced water flow, physical contact or some combination of these factors caused the bleaching. This study provides the basis for a simple and rapid method of inducing bleaching in situ, which releases scientists’ dependence on sporadic natural bleaching events or artificial aquarium experiments, and provides a means to investigate the effects of bleaching on other ecosystem components such as fishes.     

生物礁油气藏近源成藏模式及其对勘探的启示

近源成藏(近地生成就地储集)是生物礁油气藏的主要成藏模式,生物礁可构成有利储集空间,其上下左右相邻地层的泥页岩或碳酸盐岩作为其优质烃源岩和盖层。根据烃源岩与礁的相对位置及其组合关系,可将生物礁近源成藏模式划分为单源生烃型和多源生烃型两大类,共6种类型。单源生烃型只含一套烃源岩,包括盖生型、侧生型和下生型3种类型;多源生烃型包含两套及两套以上烃源岩,目前只发现侧生-盖生型、侧生-顶生型和上下共生型3种类型。分析了烃源与储层配置关系对生物礁油气藏勘探的影响,认为只有礁体周围的地层具备良好的烃源条件和盖层条件时,才有利于生物礁的成藏,生物礁远源成藏是非常少见的。     

A broad-scale assessment of the risk to coastal seagrasses from cumulative threats

Informing the management of coastal marine habitats at broad spatial scales is difficult because of the costs associated with collecting and analyzing ecological data at that scale. Spatially explicit assessments of the risk to coastal marine habitats from cumulative threats provide an alternative approach by identifying sites that are exposed to multiple anthropogenic threats at broad scales. In this study, qualitative measures of vulnerability were combined with geospatial data to evaluate the risk to coastal seagrasses at the scale of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region (∼26,000 km²) of Queensland, Australia. The risk assessment outputs identified agricultural, urban and industrial runoff, and urban and port developments as the major anthropogenic activities threatening coastal seagrasses. ‘Hot spots’ with multiple threat exposure were all in industrial port locations and the southern two-thirds of the GBR. There is a distinct discontinuity in threat exposure along the GBR coast with 98% of seagrass meadows in the northern third exposed to only low levels of anthropogenic risk. The clustering of threat exposure is discussed in terms of coastal management policy. The approach outlined in this study provides management agencies a method of achieving maximum return for minimal investment in data collection at broad spatial scales by identifying sites where management intervention would be best targeted.     

Organic biomarkers to describe the major carbon inputs and cycling of organic matter in the central Great Barrier Reef region

Controversy surrounds the sources and transport of land derived pollutants in the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem because there is insufficient knowledge of the mechanism of movement of organic contaminants and the cycling of organic matter in this dynamic system. Thus a sediment and sediment trap study was used to describe the composition of resuspended and surface sediments in the south central Great Barrier Reef and its lagoon. This region is characterised by strong tides (6–8 m at Mackay) and trade winds regularly about 15–20 knots. A series of organic biomarkers detailed the cyclical processes of sediment resuspension, recolonising with marine algae and bacteria, packaging into zooplankton faecal pellets and resettlement to sediments where the organics undergo further diagenesis. With each cycle the inshore sediments are diluted with CaCO₃ reef sediments and moved further offshore with the strong ebb tide currents. This results in transport of land derived materials offshore and little storage of organic materials in the lagoon or reef sediments. These processes were detailed by inorganic measurements such as %CaCO₃ and Al/Ca ratios, and by the compositions of hydrocarbon, sterol, alcohol, and fatty acid lipid fractions. Persistent contaminants such as coal dust from a coastal loading facility can be detected in high concentration inshore and decreasing out to the shelf break at 180 m approximately 40 nautical miles offshore. The normal processes would likely be amplified during cyclonic and other storms. The lipids show the sources of carbon to include diatoms and other phytoplankton, creanaerchaeota, sulfate reducing and other bacteria, land plants including mangrove leaves, plus coal dust and other petroleum contaminants.     

Rehabilitation effects on gully sediment yields and vegetation in a savanna rangeland

Gully rehabilitation can contribute to catchment management by stabilizing erosion and reducing downstream sediment yields, yet the globally observed responses are variable. Developing the technical basis for gully rehabilitation and establishing guidelines for application requires studies that evaluate individual rehabilitation measures in specific environments. An eight-year field experiment was undertaken to evaluate sediment yield and vegetation responses to several gully rehabilitation measures. The rehabilitation measures aimed to reduce surface runoff into gully head cuts, trap sediment on gully floors and increase vegetation cover on gully walls and floors. The study occurred in a savanna rangeland in northeast Australia. Two gullies were subject to treatments while four gullies were monitored as untreated controls. A runoff diversion structure reduced headcut erosion from 4.3 to 1.2 m² yr⁻¹. Small porous check dams and cattle exclusion reduced gully total sediment yields by more than 80%, equivalent to a reduction of 0.3 to 2.4 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, but only at catchment areas less than 10 ha. Fine sediment yields (silt and clay) were reduced by 7 and 19% from the two treated gullies, respectively. The porous check dam deposits contained a lower percentage of the fine fraction than the parent soil. Significant regeneration of gully floor vegetation occurred, associated with trapping of organic litter and fine sediment. Increases in vegetation cover and biomass were comprised of native perennial grasses, trees and shrubs. In variable climates, long-term gully rehabilitation will progress during wetter periods, and regress during droughts. Understanding linkages between rehabilitation measures, their hydrologic, hydraulic and vegetation effects and gully sediment yields is important to defining the conditions for their success.     

Human impacts on large benthic foraminifers near a densely populated area of Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands

Human impacts on sand-producing, large benthic foraminifers were investigated on ocean reef flats at the northeast Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, along a human population gradient. The densities of dominant foraminifers Calcarina and Amphistegina declined with distance from densely populated islands. Macrophyte composition on ocean reef flats differed between locations near sparsely or densely populated islands. Nutrient concentrations in reef-flat seawater and groundwater were high near or on densely populated islands. δ¹⁵N values in macroalgal tissues indicated that macroalgae in nearshore lagoons assimilate wastewater-derived nitrogen, whereas those on nearshore ocean reef flats assimilate nitrogen from other sources. These results suggest that increases in the human population result in high nutrient loading in groundwater and possibly into nearshore waters. High nutrient inputs into ambient seawater may have both direct and indirect negative effects on sand-producing foraminifers through habitat changes and/or the collapse of algal symbiosis.     

Additive toxicity of herbicide mixtures and comparative sensitivity of tropical benthic microalgae

Natural waters often contain complex mixtures of unknown contaminants potentially posing a threat to marine communities through chemical interactions. Here, acute effects of the photosystem II-inhibiting herbicides diuron, tebuthiuron, atrazine, simazine, and hexazinone, herbicide breakdown products (desethyl-atrazine (DEA) and 3,4-dichloroaniline (3,4-DCA)) and binary mixtures, were investigated using three tropical benthic microalgae; Navicula sp. and Cylindrotheca closterium (Ochrophyta) and Nephroselmis pyriformis (Chlorophyta), and one standard test species, Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Ochrophyta), in a high-throughput Maxi-Imaging-PAM bioassay (Maxi-IPAM). The order of toxicity was; diuron > hexazinone > tebuthiuron > atrazine > simazine > DEA > 3,4-DCA for all species. The tropical green alga N. pyriformis was up to 10-fold more sensitive than the diatoms tested here and reported for coral symbionts, and is recommended as a standard tropical test species for future research. All binary mixtures exhibited additive toxicity, and the use of herbicide equivalents (HEq) is therefore recommended in order to incorporate total-maximum-load measures for environmental regulatory purposes.     

澳大利亚悉尼Long Reef Beach中新世古土壤岩石磁学特征及环境意义

本文对发育在澳大利亚悉尼附近的Long Reef Beach中新世古土壤剖面进行了系统的岩石磁学研究,测量了磁化率、饱和磁化强度、饱和等温剩磁、非磁滞剩磁等常温磁学参数和磁滞回线,并对所有样品进行了热磁分析.实验结果表明:全新世软土层主要磁性矿物为MD颗粒磁铁矿,磁性矿物含量与黄土高原黄土层相当.中新世老成土层随地层深度增加主要磁性矿物由磁铁矿转变为磁赤铁矿,随着磁铁矿向磁赤铁矿的转化,开始出现赤铁矿;磁性矿物粒径分布较广,以PSD颗粒为主,其次为SD颗粒,同时含有少量MD颗粒;磁性矿物含量高于黄土高原强发育古土壤层.中新世红土矿层主要磁性矿物为赤铁矿,同时含有少量磁赤铁矿和针铁矿,属于铁的富集层,赤铁矿以SD颗粒为主,含少量PSD和MD颗粒.Long Reef Beach中新世古土壤形成时期,对应着一种全球性高温多雨气候,地表化学风化作用十分强烈.丰富的降水,导致中新世老成土层发生淋溶作用,磁铁矿在向下淋溶迁移过程中逐渐氧化为磁赤铁矿和赤铁矿,铁氧化物最终在红土矿层淀积,磁赤铁矿经高温压实作用再结晶转化为赤铁矿.磁性矿物转化过程可概括为磁铁矿—磁赤铁矿化的磁铁矿—磁赤铁矿—赤铁矿,其中部分磁赤铁矿具有热稳定性,在空气(氩气)环境中加热到700℃未发生转化.     

Impact of sea-level rise and coral mortality on the wave dynamics and wave forces on barrier reefs

A one-dimensional wave model was used to investigate the reef top wave dynamics across a large suite of idealized reef-lagoon profiles, representing barrier coral reef systems under different sea-level rise (SLR) scenarios. The modeling shows that the impacts of SLR vary spatially and are strongly influenced by the bathymetry of the reef and coral type. A complex response occurs for the wave orbital velocity and forces on corals, such that the changes in the wave dynamics vary reef by reef. Different wave loading regimes on massive and branching corals also leads to contrasting impacts from SLR. For many reef bathymetries, wave orbital velocities increase with SLR and cyclonic wave forces are reduced for certain coral species. These changes may be beneficial to coral health and colony resilience and imply that predicting SLR impacts on coral reefs requires careful consideration of the reef bathymetry and the mix of coral species.