Integration of InVEST-habitat quality model with landscape pattern indexes to assess mountain plant biodiversity change: A case study of Bailongjiang watershed in Gansu Province

Journal of Geographical Sciences - Mountains in western China, hosted rich biodiversity and millions of people and inhabitant with vital ecosystem services, had experienced the most serious...     

Faecal indicator bacteria in New Zealand freshwater fish: a pilot study

Recent studies have suggested that poikilothermic animals, such as fish, may represent a previously overlooked source of the faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) used for the assessment of water quality. However, quantitative studies of FIB in poikilotherms are scarce. We investigated the presence of FIB in the faeces of five freshwater fish species. E. coli and enterococci were detected in 71 and 76% of faecal samples, respectively. Concentrations were highly variable, with maximum concentrations (2.1?×?10⁴ E. coli and 1.3?×?10⁶ enterococci per gram of faecal material) up to four orders of magnitude higher than present in the water column. FIB were not detected in faecal samples from marine fish. Our findings suggest that FIB ingested from the environment may be capable of replication within the fish gut, making fish a potential source and transport mechanism for FIB in New Zealand freshwaters. This may have implications for water quality monitoring.     

Method‐dependent influence of environmental variables on reef fish assemblages when comparing trap and video surveys

Despite substantial survey effort and a large body of literature on abiotic and biotic factors in temperate reef ecosystems, knowledge of the complex and interactive effects of environmental variables on those communities is limited. Various survey methods have been developed to study environmental predictors of biodiversity, but there remains a gap in our understanding of how survey results are influenced by environmental factors. Here, we surveyed the fish assemblage associated with southeastern U.S. temperate marine reefs with simultaneous, paired trap, and camera gears throughout a ~50,000 km² area during 2011–2013 and assessed the influence of environmental variables on the trap‐ and video‐surveyed assemblages. Predictor variables in the multivariate general linear models included depth, temperature, month, year, location, substrate relief, percent sessile biota, biota type, and turbidity. Depth and latitude had the greatest influence on the fish assemblage for both gears. The influence of habitat variables differed between methods and percent biota explained more variation in the fish assemblage when assessed by traps, while substrate relief and biota type explained more variation in the fish assemblage when assessed by video. In general, habitat complexity was positively related to the abundance of fishes in the video survey, but there was a negative relationship in the trap survey. Differences between gears were species‐specific and the influences of environmental variables were similar for some species such as Haemulon plumierii and Hyporthodus niveatus. The methods presented here can be used to assess method‐dependent differences in fish assemblages, which is a necessary precursor to assess the effect of environmental variables on the accuracy of surveys.     

海州湾4种鱼类生长特征的空间异质性

传统的渔业资源评估均假设鱼类的生长参数是匀质的,然而近年来越来越多的研究表明海洋鱼类生长存在空间异质性。为探究海州湾鱼类生长参数的空间异质性现象,本研究分析了2013–2018年海州湾及其邻近海域方氏云鳚(Pholis fangi)、尖海龙(Syngnatus acus)、小黄鱼(Larimichthys polyactis)和赤鼻棱鳀(Thryssa kammalensis)的空间分布,使用电子体长频率分析方法结合Bootstrap重抽样方法估算了这4种鱼类的生长参数及其在深、浅水区域中的差异。结果显示,这4种鱼类生长参数均表现出一定的空间异质性,其中尖海龙和小黄鱼生长参数的空间异质性表现较为明显。这种差异可能是由于空间上的理化条件、群落结构以及物种本身洄游分布的差异而产生的。     

Clupeid fish hosts a Peniculus sp.(Pennellidae,Siphonostomatoida, Copepoda)—First report on new host and season dependent prevalence

Pennellid copepod Peniculus fistula fistula(Nordmann, 1832)(Synonym: Peniculus fistula Nordmann, 1832,Aphia ID: 745880), a worldwide distributed species, has been recovered from at least 19 teleost families. The present paper reports for the first time from the Malabar coast(South India), not only the existence of a new host family, Clupeidae, hosting this parasitic copepod species(P. fistula fistula) but also their season dependent hosting. A total of 123 marine fish species, belonging to 77 genera and 38 families surveyed along the Malabar coast, only the clupeid, Anadontostoma chacunda(Hamilton, 1822) was shown to be infected by this copepod species; all the recovered(copepod) parasites were invariably found attached at the mid portion of the caudal fin lobes and lying parallel to the host body, indicating the strict site-specific parasitisation. There is a discrete seasonality in the prevalence(P0.05) as the sign of infection was noticed during the period from September to May with relatively high prevalence during winter months(November–January). During the monsoon months(June–August), the host fish was found completely free from Peniculus infection. Interestingly, all the 229 recovered specimens(P. fistula fistula) were gravid females having paired uniserrate egg sacs with the length more than its own body length.     

我国瓯江口和珠江口凤鲚洄游模式和生境利用研究

Habitat use of the tapertail anchovy(Coilia mystus Linnaeus, 1758) from the Oujiang River Estuary and the Zhujiang(Pearl) River Estuary was studied by examining the environmental signatures of Sr and Ca in otoliths using electron probe microanalysis. Individuals from the Oujiang River had higher and varied Sr:Ca ratios(expressed as(Sr:Ca)×1 000, 3.83–13.0 average) in the otolith core regions, suggesting that they were born in brackish or sea waters, and that a freshwater habitat might not be necessary for egg hatching and larval growth.While, individuals from the Zhujiang River had lower Sr:Ca ratios(0.39–2.51 average) in the core regions,suggesting a freshwater origin. After hatching, anchovies from the Zhujiang River migrate downstream to the river estuary close to brackish water. Our results demonstrated varied habitat use for spawning during stages of early life history between the two populations, and suggested that such variations are promoting diversity of life history strategies of this species.     

Fish Assemblage Responses to a Low-head Dam Removal in the Lancang River

Dam removal is becoming an effective approach for aquatic biodiversity restoration in damming river in order to balance the aquatic ecosystem conservation with large-scale cascade damming. However, the effects of dam removal on fish communities in Asian mountainous rivers, which are dominated by Cypriniformes fishes, are still not well known. To determine whether dam removal on a mountainous river benefit restoration of fish diversity, we investigated the response of fish assemblage to dam removal using a before-after-control-impact design in two tributaries of the Lancang River(dam removal river: the Jidu River, and control river: the Fengdian River). Fish surveys were conducted one year prior to dam removal(2012) and three years(2013–2015) following dam removal. We observed rapidly and notably spatio-temporal changes in fish biodiversity metrics and assemblage structure, occurring in the Jidu River within the first year after dam removal. Overall, fish species richness, density and Shannon-Wiener diversity all increased immediately in above-and below-dam sites, and maintained a stable level in subsequent years, compared to unchanged situation in the control river. All sites in the Jidu River experienced shifts in fish composition after dam removal, with the greatest temporal changes occurred in sites below-and above-the former dam, resulting in a temporal homogenization tendency in the dam removed river. These findings suggest that dam removal can benefit the recovery of habitat conditions and fish community in Asian mountainous rivers, but the results should be further evaluated when apply to other dammed rivers since the dam age, fluvial geomorphology and situation of source populations could all affect the responses of fish assemblages.     

防城河口湾鱼类群落结构及其与环境因子关系研究

文章根据2016年5月、8月、11月和2017年2月在防城河口湾海域进行的渔业资源和环境调查数据, 研究了河口湾鱼类群落结构及其空间和季节变化, 分析了鱼类群落结构与主要环境因子的关系。结果表明: 全年调查共渔获鱼类95种, 隶属于2纲12目37科69属, 适温性以暖水性鱼类为主, 生态类型以底层和近底层鱼类为主。其中, 春季60种, 夏季59种, 秋季54种, 冬季46种, 夏—秋季间种类相似性指数最高。全年优势种为褐菖鲉Sebastiscus marmoratus和长鳍篮子鱼Siganus canaliculatus, 主要种有黄鳍棘鲷Acanthopagrus latus、条马鲾Equulites rivulatus、李氏?Callionymus richardsoni和真赤鲷Pagrus major等10种; 夏、秋季的最大优势种均为长鳍篮子鱼, 春、冬季的最大优势种分别为褐菖鲉和条马鲾。全湾鱼类年均资源密度为45836尾·km ^-2和 435.21kg·km ^-2, 资源密度具有明显的空间差异和季节变化。全年各站位种数变化范围在2~21种, 多样性指数H′在0.468~4.031, 丰富度指数d在0.120~1.926, 均匀度指数J在0.181~0.969。聚类分析、单因子相似性分析(ANOSIM)及相似性百分比(SIMPER) 分析表明该海域鱼类群落存在一定程度的时空异质性。相关性分析表明影响防城河口湾鱼类群落结构的主要环境因子为水温、盐度和硝酸盐。     

仿生机器鱼尾鳍推进效率的多参数优化研究

仿生机器鱼作为一种高效、高机动的水下机器人,得到了科研人员的广泛关注,对BCF方式机器鱼尾鳍推进效率的研究是其中的重点方向。目前对尾鳍推进效率的优化研究,大多局限于尾鳍单一参数的优化,这与自然鱼类的游动状态相差甚远,因而不能真正达到推进效率最大化的目的。本文提出了尾鳍多参数优化方案,通过对尾鳍转动频率、摆动幅值、击水角度和摆动周期等参数的联合优化,得到一组特定游速下的参数值,结果表明本研究对象在游速0.6L m/s时(L为体长),数值计算推进效率为65.7%,仿真推进效率为64.3%的,均大于目前单一参数的优化结果,充分体现了尾鳍多参数配合的优越性。本文的研究,对提高仿生机器鱼的推进效率具有积极作用。     

Towards new applications of underwater photogrammetry for investigating coral reef morphology and habitat complexity in the Myeik Archipelago,Myanmar

Photogrammetry represents a non-destructive, cost-effective tool for coral reef monitoring, able to integrate traditional remote sensing techniques and support researchers’ work. However, its application to submerged habitats is still in early stage. We present new ways to employ Structure from Motion techniques to infer properties of reef habitats. In particular, we propose the use of Digital Surface Models and Digital Terrain Models for assessing coral colonies extension and height and discriminating between seabed and coral cover. Such information can be coupled with digital rugosity estimates to improve habitat characterization. DTM, DSM and orthophotos were derived and used to compute a series of metrics like coral morphologies, reef topography, coral cover and structural complexity. We show the potentialities offered by underwater photogrammetry and derived products to provide useful basic information for marine habitat mapping, opening the possibility to extend these methods for large-scale assessment and monitoring of coral reefs.