Persistent alternate abundance states in the coral reef sea urchin Diadema savignyi: evidence of alternate attractors

Alternate attractors have been shown to exist in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic systems, e.g. temperate forests, savannas, shallow lakes, wetlands, coral reefs, kelp forests. The shift from one attractor to another, also referred to as a regime shift, is thought to occur when a system passes some critical threshold such that the trajectory of the system changes direction. Alternate attractors in population dynamics can also exist, leading to alternate stable states in the population abundance of a species. This study explored alternate attractors in the population dynamics of the Indo‐Pacific sea urchin Diadema savignyi and the potential underlying mechanisms that promote its bi‐stability. In Moorea, French Polynesia, the local abundance of D. savignyi, a functionally important herbivore in lagoon habitats, occurs in two states: (i) solitary individuals that occupy crevices in low densities and (ii) aggregations of tens to hundreds of individuals. These different states are temporally stable and are not explained by spatial differences in recruitment rates of juveniles. A field experiment revealed that the per capita mortality rate of adult D. savignyi was substantially lower at sites where urchins occurred in aggregations compared with sites at which they were solitary individuals. An additional experiment showed that per capita mortality decreased with increasing aggregation size. Individuals in high‐density aggregations, however, had significantly smaller test diameters than solitary individuals, indicating that individuals in aggregations may be food limited. Collectively, the evidence suggests that the two different local abundance states of D. savignyi result from negative feedback loops where high local density can be maintained by aggregative behavior that greatly reduces per capita risk of predation when the local number of adult sea urchins is sufficiently large; sites with few sea urchins remain at low density because individuals are more susceptible to predation when crevices are occupied but there are not enough individuals to form large aggregations. Thus, there may be alternate attractors in the population dynamics of D. savignyi that can produce either persistently low or high local population densities.     

全珊瑚骨料海水混凝土力学性能试验研究

为了探讨全珊瑚骨料海水混凝土的基本力学性能,并比较其与普通混凝土和轻集料混凝土的差异,通过实验系统测定了珊瑚混凝土的基本力学性能,建立了其轴心抗压强度(f_(c,m))、劈裂抗拉强度(f_(sp,m))、抗折强度(f_(t,m))与立方体抗压强度(f_(cu,m))之间的线性关系与计算公式。结果表明:在强度等级C20~C50的范围内,珊瑚混凝土的f_(c,m)和f_(sp,m)分别比普通混凝土的f_(c,m)和f_(sp,m)高出10%~48%和9%~33%,随着强度等级的提高,两种混凝土之间的差距在减小。珊瑚混凝土的f_(t,m)与普通混凝土的ft,m之间的差异规律与强度等级有关,较低强度等级的C30珊瑚混凝土ft,m比普通混凝土的f_(t,m)要高4%,而较高强度等级的C55珊瑚混凝土f_(t,m)比普通混凝土的f_(t,m)低13%。较高强度等级的C50珊瑚混凝土f_(c,m)、f_(sp,m)和f_(t,m)分别比页岩陶粒轻集料混凝土的f_(c,m)、f_(sp,m)和f_(t,m)低11%、0.9%和4%。     

珊瑚礁连通性研究进展

综述了国外近20 a珊瑚礁连通性的研究简史,总结了珊瑚礁连通性研究的方法,阐述了"珊瑚礁连通性"的研究对珊瑚礁生态系统管理的重要意义。中国的珊瑚礁连通性研究刚起步,离国外还有很大差距,今后应加强珊瑚幼虫扩散路径、珊瑚群体内(群体间)遗传分化、遗传距离、基因流的研究,对我国海域珊瑚幼虫扩散的走廊加以保护。     

曾昭璇先生对南海地理研究的重要贡献

曾昭璇先生是中国著名的地理学家,地貌学家和教育家.他在学术生涯的不同阶段对地貌学,自然地理学,历史地理学,人类地理学等学科领域均有积极的探索,他对南海地理问题的研究贯穿他的一生,为中国南海地理研究作出重要贡献.他深入研究南海海岸地貌,珊瑚礁地貌,主张采用"地形类型分析法"划分海岸类型,将中国海岸类型划分为山地港湾岸,台地岸与平原岸;他与梁景芬等合著《中国珊瑚礁地貌研究》,系统论述中国珊瑚礁探测史和石珊瑚的种属,生态,地貌特征与发育,并将中国珊瑚礁划分为四大区,六种地貌类型;他完善了珊瑚礁地貌土地名分类,根据《更路簿》划分南海珊瑚岛礁分布区,绘制珊瑚岛礁探测图;他利用历史文献资料考证"石塘"等南海诸岛古地名;他从地质学与地貌学角度论证南海诸岛与中国大陆的陆缘关系,还利用历史地理与地方志等资料佐证了南海诸岛自古以来就是中国的固有领土.     

Sublittoral seaweed communities on natural and artificial substrata in a high-latitude coral community in South Africa

Coral mortality may result in macroalgal proliferation or a phase shift into an alga-dominated state. Subtidal, high-latitude western Indian Ocean coral communities at Sodwana Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa, have experienced some mortality because of warm-water anomalies, storms and other causes, but the response of the macroalgae is unknown. We investigated the abundance and diversity of benthic algae on different hard natural substrata (dead digitate, brain and plate corals and beach rock) on Two-Mile Reef, Sodwana Bay. We also compared algal communities colonising ceramic, marble and pretreated ceramic tiles placed on the reef for six months. We identified 95 algae (14 Chlorophyta, 11 Phaeophyceae, 69 Rhodophyta and one cyanobacterium). Assemblages on natural and artificial substrata were dominated by the brown alga Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley ex Oliveira and non-geniculate corallines (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae). Cluster and ordination analyses revealed that the algae showed no affinity for particular substrata, whether natural or artificial. Algal cover was occasionally higher on rougher tiles and crustose corallines were significantly more abundant on marble than ceramic tiles. Two-Mile Reef had 23.1% dead and 48.4% live scleractinian coral cover, where dead corals were colonised indiscriminately by many small algal species, but there was no evidence of algal proliferation. The results provide a baseline for monitoring this high-latitude reef system.     

川东长兴组台缘礁滩相储层纵向非均质性特征及形成机制——以川东宣汉盘龙洞长兴组剖面为例

近几年,随着四川盆地海相碳酸盐岩储层勘探的不断加强,碳酸盐岩储层强的非均质性已成为制约礁滩气藏勘探开发的现实问题。以川东宣汉盘龙洞长兴组典型台缘礁滩剖面为研究对象,通过对典型台缘礁滩野外剖面的精细观察,结合镜下薄片及岩矿资料分析,重点探讨了盘龙洞礁滩储层纵向非均质性特征及成因。剖面上礁滩体垂向上存在很强的旋回性和储层非均质性,其储集岩分布、储层厚度、白云岩化程度、溶蚀作用等受海平面周期性的升降变化影响而呈现周期性变化。礁滩储层非均质性受高能相带、海平面升降变化和建设性成岩作用的共同控制,高能相带控制储层原生孔隙的发育,决定了储层的沉积非均质性,白云岩化和溶蚀作用有利于礁滩体储层的形成,大气淡水淋滤改造对于优化储层具有关键作用,海平面升降变化决定了礁滩体旋回性发育,而建设性成岩作用的选择性改造深化了储层非均质性。     

新疆哈密地区早泥盆世珊瑚动物群及其地质意义

新疆哈密地区下泥盆统发育,南部图拉尔根地区下泥盆统为大南湖组,北部三道白杨沟地区为卓木巴斯套组。在大南湖组中共发现四射珊瑚2属5种,床板珊瑚7属12种,并建立四射珊瑚组合Syringaxon moriense和床板珊瑚组合Pseudofavosites giganteus;在卓木巴斯套组共发现四射珊瑚5属7种,床板珊瑚2属2种,并建立四射珊瑚组合Orthopaterophyllum junggarense和床板珊瑚组合Pachyfavosites junggarensis。通过珊瑚在地层中的分布及组合的时代对比,确定前者的时代为早泥盆世埃姆斯期早期,后者的时代为埃姆斯期中晚期。通过与国内外典型的早泥盆世埃姆斯期珊瑚动物群的对比,认为哈密地区的珊瑚动物具有典型的早泥盆世温带动物群特征,在生物古地理区系上属于北方大区准噶尔-兴安省。     

中国海洋的珊瑚-珊瑚礁: 南海中央区珊瑚-珊瑚礁生物多样性特征

珊瑚是地球上最古老的原住民,具有近6×108年的发育史,弱势群居、喜温和原地长成是珊瑚的基本特征。作者介绍了珊瑚-珊瑚礁的基本特征,综述了跨十年调查的研究区珍贵照片资料和相关认识,指出中国是全球主要的珊瑚-珊瑚礁国家,地位举足轻重;珊瑚-珊瑚礁作为地球生物多样性的代表,造岛、固礁、护鱼、防护岛岸流失,形成南海四大群岛280余座岛、礁、滩、沙,所构建庞大海洋生态系统是无与伦比的海洋生态资源和寸土寸金的南海海洋国土。提出划分南海珊瑚-珊瑚礁为中央区和周缘区2个分布区,阐述了南海中央区珊瑚-珊瑚礁的基本特征,系统汇集报道了间隔10年2个科考航次调查在浅水礁盘浮潜、至20 m水深浅潜-深潜和礁盘及开展岛、礁、滩、沙地质调查的发现,包括科学定名46种六放石珊瑚和6种八放软珊瑚等成果,同时,收集了西沙、中沙、东沙和南沙群岛海域的相关调查航次珊瑚照片;进一步阐述了单体环礁和复合环礁的特征及分布,并进行了初步对比,指出永乐环礁是南海唯一一个真正的切合达尔文模式的环礁,也是环礁发展到最高阶段的产物,构成现代海洋珊瑚-珊瑚礁形成演化研究最好的天然实验室。     

香港西贡滨珊瑚REE的地球化学特征及其与海平面变化的关系

用ICP-MS技术测定了位于珠江口西岸香港西贡滨珊瑚在1991～2002年(分辨率达到0.5a)的稀土元素(REE)含量。实验结果显示香港滨珊瑚REE具有Ce负异常、重稀土富集这种典型的海水相分布模式。香港滨珊瑚中REE含量处于目前已见报道中的高值范围,与巴布亚新几内亚珊瑚的REE含量相当。通过与不同地区的比较,香港珊瑚高REE含量很可能就是毗邻的珠江水体高REE的直接反映,而且同南海北缘半封闭边缘海的性质有关。香港珊瑚REE的来源主要为珠江口及其相邻的陆缘沉积物。此外,1991～2002年香港珊瑚REE含量年际下降趋势十分明显,Ce负异常和重稀土富集的程度也呈加剧的趋势,分布模式向海水相转化。REE含量与海平面的年际变化之间有显著的负相关关系(r=-0.7～-0.9),而且重稀土与海平面的相关系数优于轻稀土。上述结果揭示了热带滨珊瑚对近期全球变暖、极冰融化和海水膨胀所引起的海平面快速上升的响应。     

热带珊瑚的高分辨率环境信息与全球变化研究进展

星罗棋布的热带珊瑚作为海洋环境的信息载体,具有分辨率高、时间跨度大、记录连续完整、体系封闭性好、蕴涵的信息丰富、可选择的代用指标多、测定简便和易于定年等特点。珊瑚有效地记录了全球环境变化的诸多信息,已成为研究过去（如末次间冰期以来）和近代（如数十至数百年以来）的气候—环境变率和可预测性（PAGES CLIVAR）领域重要的环境载体。以全球变化为背景,对近年来珊瑚环境代用指标的研究成果进行评述。重点讨论了珊瑚氧同位素和微量元素比值等指标在海表温度（SST）变化、海气交换程度、季风强弱、厄尔尼诺—南方涛动（ENSO）发生的频率和强度,以及它们之间的相互作用等全球变化的核心问题上的研究进展,并展望了南海珊瑚在高分辨率全球变化研究中的地位与方向。