Residency and migratory behaviour by adult Pomatomus saltatrix in a South African coastal embayment

Acoustic telemetry was used to study patterns of habitat use and movements of Pomatomus saltatrix L. (common name elf/shad/bluefish/tailor) within the Saldanha Bay with Langebaan Lagoon coastal embayment on the west coast of South Africa. Thirty six mature P. saltatrix were tagged with acoustic transmitters and released within the lagoon in May 2006 and November–December 2007, and their positions were monitored until late-November 2008 using 28 hydrophones positioned throughout the embayment. The detection pattern of P. saltatrix suggested a tendency to residence within the embayment throughout the thirty month long study period, with nearly 60% of released individuals only being detected within the lagoon in the inner part of the embayment. However, there was a long-term trend of movement from the lagoon into the bay. One individual was recaptured off the east coast of South Africa 21 months after being tagged, 1760 km away, suggesting that P. saltatrix are capable of undertaking long along-shore migrations. Over finer scales within the inner lagoon, P. saltatrix ground speed increased (1) with an increase in tidal current speed, (2) with an increase in photoperiod, and (3) during day. Pomatomus saltatrix tended to move seaward during ebb tides, and to occupy greater depths during day.     

Spatial distribution and vertical migrations of fish larvae communities off Northwestern Iberia sampled with LHPR and Bongo nets

The spatial distribution and diel vertical migration of fish larvae were studied in relation to the environmental conditions off NW Iberia during May 2002. Larvae from 23 families were identified, the most abundant were the Clupeidae, Gobiidae, Callionymidae, Blenniidae, Sparidae and Labridae. Sardina pilchardus was the most abundant species, mean concentrations 1 order of magnitude higher than the other fish larvae species. Larval horizontal distribution was mainly related to upwelling-driven circulation, resulting in an offshore increase of larval abundance while the vertical distribution was closely associated to the Western Iberia Buoyant Plume. Despite this general trend, taxon-specific relationships between the distribution of larvae and environmental variables were observed, and temperature was an important regressor explaining the distribution of most taxa. A comparison between ichthyoplankton samples collected alternatively with the LHPR and Bongo nets resulted in captures of larvae ≈1 order of magnitude higher for the LHPR, probably related to its higher towing speed. The spatial distribution and relative composition of larvae were also different for both nets, although the most frequent/abundant groups were the same. A fixed station sampled for 69-h showed diel vertical migrations performed by the larvae, with the highest larval concentrations occurring at surface layers during the night and most larvae being found in the neuston layer only during that period.     

Metabolic loss of mass in glass eels at different salinities according to their propensity to migrate

Eel facultative catadromy is not clearly understood. Initial work suggested a possible control by energy content and energy expense in young stages. The present work aimed to better understand the mechanisms involved, by studying the influence of the salinity rearing environment in the loss of mass and therefore on fish energy and migration. Glass eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) caught on the Atlantic coast were identified according to their rheotactic response to the dusk signal, and thus to their propensity to migrate which can be low (sedentary, M⁻ fish) or high (flow-wise catches in early night, M⁺ fish). M⁺ and M⁻ fish were individually placed at different salinities (0, 10 or 30) for 28 days in small containers equipped with shelters. Individual wet mass and pigmentary stage were determined on Day 1 and Day 28. In addition, dry mass and percent dry mass were measured on a sub-sample of 30 fish randomly chosen on Day 1, and on all fish on Day 28. There was no difference in the loss of mass linked to their adaptation to salinity between M⁻ and M⁺ fish, and so the results do not support the link between migratory behaviour and salinity tolérance (or to a larger extent osmoregulation). However, M⁻ fish lost more wet mass than M⁺ fish irrespective of the salinity, maybe because of a higher standard metabolism, which suggests that glass eels prone to loose more energy might choose to settle at sea or in estuary. In addition, the highest percent dry mass after 28 days in seawater associated to the highest loss of mass in 28 days in seawater does not support a higher energy cost of osmoregulation at sea.     

山东招掖金矿带控矿断裂断面迁移规律及其意义

本文重点探讨了矿体在断裂带内的赋存规律。通过对招掖金矿带内各主要控矿断裂(带)的详细研究,并对其代表性构造岩进行了系统的镜下观察和化学分析,笔者着重论述了控矿断裂断面迁移的存在和演化,并用断面迁移的观点对断裂的控矿机制进行了讨论。文章明确指出,不同形式的断面迁移具有不同的控矿意义,进而总结了矿体在断裂(带)中的产出规律。     

Climate change and forced migrations: An effort towards recognizing climate refugees

The scientific community has long urged for the broadening of the refugee term, which remains identical since the 1951 Refugee Convention, despite strong evidence showing connections between forced migration and climate change. Even though the concept of climate and environmental refugees is not legally recognized, the discussion concerning these definitions is increasing. Furthermore, with the intensification of global climate change, a more specific subcategory of refugees began to be popularized: climate change refugees. A climate change refugee is any person who has been forced to leave their home, or their country, due to the effects of severe climate events, being forced to rebuild their lives in other places, despite the conditions to which they are subjected.     

Heterotrophic potentials and trophic status of ten New Zealand lakes

A comparative study of the heterotrophic potentials of ten New Zealand lakes was carried out. Two sampling periods were chosen, one during late August and early September 1972 (late winter, minimal thermal stratification) and another during February 1973 (mid summer, strong thermal stratification in all but two lakes). A wide range of heterotrophic potentials occurred which enabled the lakes to be placed in the following basic groups according to descending trophic levels:

Group I: Rotowhero (thermal, acid lake) >Rotorua>Okaro

Group II: Rotokakahi> Tikitapu >Okareka

Group III: Rotoma = Rotoroa (S.I.) = Rotoiti (S.I.) = Okataina

Maximum values for heterotrophic potential (Vm a x ) in micrograms of glucose per litre per hour were: Maximum heterotrophic activities were found within the metalimnion, except in Lakes Tikitapu and Rotokakahi, where maximum activities occurred within the hypolimnion.     

A new species of deep sea amphipod (gammaridea) belonging to the genus runanga

Runanga wairoa n.sp., a deep sea amphipod, is described from a female specimen collected in deeper waters to the east of New Zealand. Features that distinguish it from R. coxalis Barnard are noted.     

Variations in grain‐size and sorting on two kaikoura beaches

Two exposed, high‐energy beaches on the Kaikoura coast of New Zealand are composed of sand and gravel derived from a greywacke terrain. Both beaches can be classified as mixed beaches although the sediment varies from dominantly gravel at the ends of the beach to dominantly sand at the centre, through transition zones in which sand and gravel are mixed. Sixty‐four surface samples were analysed for grain size; two sediment parameters, mean grain size (M_z) and sorting (σ_I), were calculated.

A striking feature of the cumulative frequency curves is that both unimodai and bimodal distributions include median sizes over the whole range of sampled material, even though bimodal samples display two strong modes in the sand and gravel grades. The general deficiency lof sediment dn the very coarse sand and granule classes (0 to — 2 _F ) noted by numerous authors in many parts of the world is apparent in the poorly‐sorted bimodal samples. However, the best‐sorted samples also occur in these two classes.

Mean grain size of samples ranges from medium sand (1.820) to medium pebbles (—4.7 _F ), and sorting ranges from very well sorted (0.250) to very poorly sorted (2.69 _F ). Mean erain size on the northern beach is significantly greater than on the southern beach, but values of sorting are comparable. The greater mean size on one beach compared with the other is thought to be a function of the grade of material supplied by local rivers; the similarity in sorting presumably reflects the similarity of the processes acting on the two beaches.

Mixed sand‐shingle beaches are relatively rare on a world scale but common in New Zealand. Sediment distributions along the Kaikoura beaches do not reveal a regular decrease in size away from the rivers which supply material to shore at present. Instead, the beaches are differentiated into a number of sediment zones composed of either sand, or mixed sand‐gravel, or gravel. On each beach a gravel zone is located furthest from the river outlets. Sorting generally improves toward the Kaikoura Peninsula. Explanations for these trends are not given. Variations in size and sorting across the two beaches do not show a well developed zonation because of the high level of wave energy which continually mixes the material across the beach.     

Estimation of shoreline position and change from satellite images considering tidal variation

This paper presents the one-line shift method of determining mean sea level datum-based shoreline positions from three sequential satellite images that take into account tidal variations. Tidal correction through data interpolation on originally computed tides to accurately predict tidal level with a root mean squared error less than 10 cm. The determined mean sea level datum-based shoreline positions of the Waisanding Sandbar by the proposed method differ from those by RTK GPS by about 43.09–193.58 m. Based on the acceptable shoreline positions from satellite images, the whole area of the Waisanding Sandbar is proven to be decreasing since 1999 and migrating landward to the west of Taiwan.