How long does oyster shell last on an oyster reef?

A reduction in population abundance, brought on by an unprecedented 6 years of low recruitment, has reduced shell input through natural mortality on Delaware Bay oyster beds. Quantitative stock surveys provide an estimate of surficial shell over the same time period, permitting the reconstruction of the time history of shell since 1998 and estimation of the rates of shell addition and loss. Shell loss rates were unexpectedly high. In most cases, half of the shell added to an oyster bed in Delaware Bay in a given year is lost over a subsequent period of 2–10 years. Unexpectedly, the shortest half-lives, typically two to three years, are at intermediate salinities. Half-lives increase upbay into lower salinity and downbay into higher salinity to about 10 years. Minimal shell doubling times were calculated under the assumption of no shell loss, a maximum accretion rate. Minimal doubling times vary from somewhat less than a decade to more than a score of years. Doubling times of decadal scale emphasize that shell has the potential to accumulate rapidly on human time scales. The rarity of definitive documentation of shell accumulation, in terms of reef vertical accretion or lateral expansion, can only be explained if most shell produced yearly does not long remain recognizably intact. Doubling times are not rapid on the scale of oyster generation time, however. Management of essential fish habitat in the estuarine realm must include management of the shell budget and management of commercial shell-producing species must include the provision of animals as carbonate producers for habitat maintenance. Shell, at least in estuarine habitats, may have low preservational potential, even in areas that, when preserved, will appear to be shellbeds. The biases in the fossil record may not be minimized in shell-rich environments of preservation because shelliness does not imply good preservability.     

Ocean bottom tiltmeter with acoustic data retrieval system implanted by a submersible

Sensitive Ocean Bottom Implanted Tiltmeters (OBITs) with a sophisticated data retrieval system have been developed in order to observe directly the subduction of oceanic lithosphere. The OBIT is the first long-term geophysical instrument which was designed to be deployed by a manned deep-sea submersible. When the OBIT is put on oceanic lithosphere which is bending and is about to subduct under a deep sea trench, the OBIT records the subduction by observing the tilt of the surface of the lithosphere. The OBIT system has a sensitivity of 10^-8 radian, which is enough to detect the ongoing subduction in months or years. The OBIT may give an answer to the question whether there are fluctuations in the subduction rate.Two OBITs were successfully deployed on a seaward slope of the Kuril Trench by the newly built French deep submersible, Nautile. The OBITs were installed on the northwest shoulder of Erimo seamount, at a depth of 3930 m, in the Kuril Trench. In order to attain stable long-term observations of crustal deformations, the sensing unit was cemented onto bare rock by mortar. We have not yet had an opportunity to recover the data.The life of the instruments is expected to be more than five years. An acoustic data transmission system has been developed for the OBIT data recovery. The stored data can be retrieved at any moment during the observation period, with no need to retrieve the instruments nor to interrupt the observation, by use of the acoustic system. The acoustic system has a high data transmission rate as well as extremely low power consumption. This will be the first long-term crustal deformation measurement on the sea floor.     

对虾白斑综合症病毒核衣壳蛋白VP664的鉴定研究

对虾白斑综合症病毒核衣壳蛋白VP664是至今知道的分子量最大的结构蛋白，全长18234bp，预计编码6077个氨基酸．从编码vp664基因的两端各选600bp，分别命名为vp664n、vp664c进行原核表达，成功表达纯化了目的蛋白并制备抗体．蛋白印记杂交（Western blot）实验中蛋白特异抗体只与完整的病毒和核衣壳裂解蛋白中的VP664蛋白反应，而不和膜蛋白反应，证明VP664基因所编码的蛋白在完整病毒颗粒上定位于核衣壳．     

盐度变化对黑鲷生长激素及其受体的影响

将海水鱼类黑鲷Sparusmacrocephalus从盐度为26.6的海水直接转入淡水,考察渗透压的急剧降低对黑鲷的生长激素(growthhormone,GH)及其受体(growthhormonereceptor,GHR)等生理指标的影响。研究发现:(1)黑鲷从海水直接转入淡水后48h有33%的鱼死亡,对照组无死亡现象;(2)黑鲷在转入淡水48h内其血清生长激素(GH)含量、肝脏及鳃中GHR及GHRmRNA含量与对照组均无显著差异;(3)黑鲷在转入淡水48h后其肾脏中GHR含量较对照组显著升高(p<0.05),肾脏中GHRmRNA含量在24h及48h显著高于对照组(p<0.05)。结果表明,从GH含量看,黑鲷从海水环境到淡水低渗环境与鲑鳟鱼类从淡水到海水环境的适应性调节机制有差异,而黑鲷肾脏中GHR的含量变化可能参与黑鲷对外界环境渗透压的这种急剧降低的适应性调节。     

白垩纪黑色页岩与大洋红层:缺氧到富氧的过程与机制

白垩纪是地球历史中一个重要的阶段,期间发生了以黑色页岩为特征的缺氧事件和以大洋红层为特征的富氧环境等许多重大地质事件,从白垩纪大洋缺氧到富氧转化的过程与机制,提出上述两个典型事件是同一原因形成的两个不同结果。一方面,白垩纪大规模的岩浆活动,引起大气中CO2气体浓度的升高和地球内部大量热能释放,并且改变了海陆面积的对比,最终导致大气温度的升高。海水温度的升高和CO2浓度的增加导致海洋环境中溶解O2的降低,缺氧事件随之而产生。另一方面,剧烈的岩浆活动在海底产生大量的富含铁元素的基性和超基性岩,在与海水发生反应时,岩石中的铁元素进入海水中。海水中的铁元素是海洋浮游植物宝贵的营养盐类,其含量的增加可激发浮游植物的大规模繁盛,而这一生命过程可以吸收海水中大量的CO2,并且产生等量的O2。随着海水中O2浓度的不断升高,以富含Fe3 的红色沉积物为特征的海洋富氧环境出现。然而,由岩浆活动引起的缺氧事件和同样由其造成的富氧环境,其机制存在明显的差异,前者以物理、化学过程为主,后者除此之外还演绎了更为复杂的生物—海洋地球化学过程。     

福建深沪湾晚更新世古牡蛎滩的发育与留存古环境

福建深沪湾晚更新世古牡蛎滩以牡蛎原生、分布面积大 ,年龄主要在25800±2490aB P～15460±420aB P之间为其主要特征 ,在牡蛎生长期间 ,深沪湾地壳抬升速率与水动型海平面上升速率相当 ,深沪湾海水深度稳定 ,海岸环境稳定 ,古牡蛎繁盛生长 ,其后深沪湾地壳抬升成陆 ,古牡蛎滩脱离海水成为牡蛎滩台地 ,距今7000a和距今2000a的两次强古地震 ,使古牡蛎滩快速下沉到潮下带和潮间带海底 ,这是深沪湾晚更新世古牡蛎滩能留存到今天的重要原因。     

水面油膜微波辐射特性实验室测量与分析

要实现利用微波辐射计对海面溢油的厚度等参数进行遥感监测，必须先对水面油膜的微波辐射特性进行研究，以便为传感器的设计和遥感资料的解译提供依据。在实验室条件下，利用“灰体室”的环境条件及测量方法，测试了原油、燃料油和食用植物油膜的微波发射率与油膜厚度之间的关系，并对测量结果进行分析和讨论。为实际应用提供技术资料。     

对虾白斑综合症病毒病围栏封闭预防技术研究简报

病毒性流行病使世界的养虾业遭受到了严重挫折 ,其中又以白斑综合症病毒 (ＷＳＳＶ)病流行最广 ,危害最大。针对这种病的病原、病理和流行病学已进行了大量的研究 ,对于如何预防也做了很多探索 ,但迄今没有得到很好的解决。养虾界总结出高位池塘养殖、内地淡化养殖、远海岸卤水、井水或渗水养殖和虾池配养肉食性鱼类等办法 ,都有一定的效果。但这些办法大多要求一定的条件 ,缺乏普适性 ,而且往往有时效限制 (即养殖年久后也会发病 ) ;有的则只是减小了发病机率 ,并不是十分可靠 (如配养肉食性鱼类 )。因此 ,研制出一种具有普适性 (特别是能…     

Mussel Periostracum from Deep-Sea Redox Communities as a Microbial Habitat: 2. The Pit Borers

Abstract. Mussel periostracum from the Florida Escarpment redox community (3266 m depth) is extensively bored by a variety of microorganisms. Four different types of pit borings were observed and characterized on the basis of SEM images of their resin casts, and/or light and TEM reconstructions: two large, open-pit borers, a "button" borer, and a cone borer. These boring patterns represent distinctive feeding "strategies". The cumulative activities of periostracum borers remove the protective organic layer from the mussel shells, exposing the mineral to cndolith attack.     

A study of transient responses of a submerged spherical shell under shock waves

Based on a procedure which couples the finite element method with the doubly asymptotic approximation, this work addresses the problem of the transient responses of a submerged spherical shell subjected to strong, plane, incident shock waves, in which elastoplastic material behavior is considered. Simulation results indicate that the procedure adopted shows good agreement with related literature, which considered linear elastic behavior of the shell. Also presented herein are the time histories of surface pressure, radial velocity and von Mises stress of the shell. Moreover, deformation diagrams and spreading of the plastic zone of the shell are described as well.