High population connectivity and Pleistocene range expansion in the direct-developing plough shell Bullia rhodostoma along the South African coast

Pleistocene climatic and oceanographic changes have influenced the distribution of marine biodiversity in southern Africa. Most evidence, however, has been derived from rocky shore or demersal taxa; data on sandy shore species are limited, despite severe threats to many sandy beach ecosystems. To test the effects of past climatic changes on sandy shore species, we sampled 140 smooth plough shell Bullia rhodostoma individuals from eight localities and generated phylogeographic data derived from the mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) marker. Nuclear markers (ATPSα, ATPSβ, ANT, SRPS4, TBP, LTRS and ZMP) showed no sequence variation. Bullia rhodostoma exhibited shallow genetic differentiation (Φ_ST = 0.07, p < 0.05) across its range. Isolation-by-distance suggests a stepping-stone model of migration, which is expected given the species’ direct-development life-history strategy. Demographic reconstruction suggests a post-LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) range expansion, concordant with the signal of shallow genetic differentiation. Phylogeographic patterns obtained suggest that, during lower sea levels than current, B. rhodostoma could have been restricted to the South-West Coast, the central Agulhas Bioregion and probably also the East Coast. When climatic conditions changed and temperatures began to rise after the LGM, the species began a rapid westward range expansion from these refugial regions.     

浙江朱家尖岛东沙海滩沉积与地貌动态变化

砂质海滩是浙江沿海的稀缺资源,以朱家尖岛东沙海滩为例,开展海滩沉积与地貌演变研究,可进一步了解浙江岬湾型海滩发育的区域特性。通过2010-2012年4次地形重复测量对比和沉积物采样分析,结果表明,东沙岸滩沉积地貌相带分布变化明显,沉积物自岸向海分别为砾石、中砂、细砂、粉砂、黏土质粉砂,海滩地貌呈现季节性调整,冬季为滩脊-沟槽地貌,夏季为平坦缓坡地貌,水下岸坡表现为冬淤夏冲。水动力(波浪、潮汐)、沉积物来源和人类活动是影响东沙海滩发育演变的主要因素。崩破波方式和较大的潮差,使东沙海滩呈现为无沙坝发育的消散性状态。丰富的长江入海悬浮泥沙来源,导致东沙海滩粗颗粒砂质沉积物分布范围变小,砂泥分界线向岸靠近。采砂、海塘修筑等人为活动减少和阻断了沿岸粗颗粒沉积物来源,造成海滩侵蚀明显。     

Inbreeding vs outbreeding depression in a marine species with low dispersal potential

Inbreeding depression strongly affects the biological fitness of organisms throughout their life cycle. These negative effects are more pronounced in species with low dispersal potentials, where mating among relatives is more likely. However, in some species, an outbreeding depression could be expressed when local adaptive and genetic beneficial interactions are disrupted when mating occurs between individuals from different localities. The amphipod Orchestoidea tuberculata inhabits the upper level of sandy beaches. This species has direct development and adults are poor swimmers, resulting in low dispersal potential. We herein evaluated potential inbreeding and outbreeding depression responses in O. tuberculata estimated in fecundity, egg size, and mate choice. Artificial families were used with individuals from different sites within a single beach and from distinct beaches. Results showed that the highest fecundity (66.7%) and the largest egg size (50.1 mm³) were recorded in females that mated with males from the same site, rather than males from other sites and beaches. We also observed potential recognition mechanisms that clearly favored inbreeding (81.8% of males chose females from the same site). These results suggest a potential outbreeding depression in O. tuberculata. Additional studies are needed to elucidate underlying adaptive mechanisms favoring inbreeding in this species.     

Beach recovery from extreme storm activity during the 2013–14 winter along the Atlantic coast of Europe

The storm sequence of the 2013–14 winter left many beaches along the Atlantic coast of Europe in their most eroded state for decades. Understanding how beaches recover from such extreme events is essential for coastal managers, especially in light of potential regional increases in storminess due to climate change. Here we analyse a unique dataset of decadal beach morphological changes along the west coast of Europe to investigate the post-2013–14 winter recovery. We show that the recovery signature is site specific and multi-annual, with one studied beach fully recovered after 2 years, and the others only partially recovered after 4 years. During the recovery phase, winter waves primarily control the timescales of beach recovery, as energetic winter conditions stall the recovery process whereas moderate winter conditions accelerate it. This inter-annual variability is well correlated with climate indices. On exposed beaches, an equilibrium model showed significant skill in reproducing the post-storm recovery and thus can be used to investigate the recovery process in more detail. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Field observations of an evolving rip current on a meso-macrotidal well-developed inner bar and rip morphology

The Aquitanian Coast (France) is a high-energy meso-macrotidal environment exhibiting a highly variable double sandbar system. The inner and the outer bar generally exhibit a bar and rip morphology and persistent crescentic patterns, respectively. In June 2007, an intense five-day field experiment was carried out at Biscarrosse Beach. A large array of sensors was deployed on a well-developed southward-oriented bar and rip morphology. Daily topographic surveys were carried out together with video imaging to investigate beach morphodynamic evolution. During the experiment, offshore significant wave height ranged from 0.5 to 3 m, with a persistent shore-normal angle. This paper identifies two types of behavior of an observed rip current: (1) for low-energy waves, the rip current is active only between low and mid tide with maximum mean rip current velocity reaching 0.8 m/s for an offshore significant wave height (H_s) lower than 1 m; (2) for high-energy waves (H_s≈ 2.5–3 m), the rip current was active over the whole tide cycle with the presence of persistent intense offshore-directed flows between mid and high tide. For both low and high-energy waves, very low-frequency pulsations (15–30 min) of the mean currents are observed on both feeder and rip channels.A persistent slow shoreward migration of the sandbar was observed during the experiment while no significant alongshore migration of the system was measured. Onshore migration during the high-energy waves can be explained by different sediment transport processes such as flow velocity skewness, wave asymmetry or bed ventilation. High-frequency local measurements of the bed evolution show the presence of significant (in the order of 10 cm) fluctuations (in the order of 1 h). These fluctuations, observed for both low- and high-energy waves, are thought to be ripples and megaripples, respectively and may play an important but still poorly understood role in the larger scale morphodynamics. The present dataset improves the knowledge of rip dynamics as well as the morphological response of strongly alongshore non-uniform meso-macrotidal beaches.     

Diversity and temporal variation of peracarid fauna (Crustacea: Peracarida) in the shallow subtidal of a sandy beach: Playa América (Galicia, NW Spain)

Peracarids (Crustacea: Peracarida) are an important component of soft-sediment faunas and are considered good indicators of quality of water and sediments. Nevertheless, little is known about diversity of peracarid crustaceans on the shallow subtidal sediments of Playa América, a sandy beach in the Ensenada de Baiona (Galicia, NW Spain). Therefore, the peracarid fauna of its shallow subtidal zone was studied in a fine-sand site at 4-m depth from February 1996 to February 1997. Monthly sampling yielded a total of 4753 individuals belonging to 60 species. Amphipods were dominant in number of individuals and species followed by cumaceans. The assemblage showed a stable composition in species through the year and was numerically dominated by a few species, namely the amphipods Siphonoecetes kroyeranus and Microprotopus maculatus and the cumacean Pseudocuma longicorne . These species showed large monthly fluctuations in abundance, with maximal values between summer and autumn.     

福建深沪湾晚更新世古牡蛎滩与晚更新世中晚期以来的地壳运动

介绍了深沪湾沿岸地层、构造、海底古森林及晚更新世古牡蛎滩遗迹，深沪湾的地壳运动与古环境变迁；研究了海底古森林和晚更新世古牡蛎滩的成因。     

Short-term morphological change and sediment dynamics in the intertidal zone of a macrotidal beach

This paper describes the morphological and sedimentological evolution of a macrotidal beach over a 20 day period under varying hydrodynamic conditions (significant breaker heights of 0·3–2 m and tidal ranges of 2–5 m). During the field campaign, an intertidal bar developed around the mid‐tide level, migrated onshore, welded to the upper beach and was then flattened under energetic wave conditions. The bar had a wave breakpoint origin and its formation was triggered by a reduction in tidal range, causing more stationary water‐level conditions, rather than an increase in wave height. Most of the onshore bar migration took place while the bar was positioned in the inner to mid‐surf zone position, such that the bar moved away from the breakpoint and exhibited ‘divergent’ behaviour. The depth of disturbance over individual tidal cycles was 10–20% of the breaker height. Such values are more typical of steep reflective beaches, than gently sloping, dissipative beaches, and are considered to reflect the maximum height of wave‐generated ripples. The grain size distribution of surficial sediments did not vary consistently across the beach profile and temporal changes in the sedimentology were mostly unrelated to the morphological response. The lack of clear links between beach morphology and sedimentology may be in part due to shortcomings in the sampling methodology, which ignored the vertical variability in the sediment size characteristics across the active layer.     

Vegetation dynamics on eroding to accreting beach‐foredune systems,Florida panhandle

Vegetation surveys were conducted on a variety of coastal foredunes in a largely natural region along the Gulf County region of the Florida panhandle. Species presence, absence and percentage cover were surveyed on 12 foredune profiles during different seasons. The vegetation data were analyzed using the Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index and Sørensen Index. Uniola sp. and Andropgon sp. were the dominant species on foredunes. Uniola sp. was found predominantly on the gulfward facing or stoss slopes, and Andropgon sp. was found to be dominant on the inland or lee slopes of foredunes. While they are present on all foredunes, their presence and percentage cover are dominant on rapidly prograding coasts. Prograding/accretional beaches had higher Sørensen Index values (i.e. higher similarities) than did the foredune‐vegetation profiles on eroding beaches. Diversity as indicated by the Shannon–Wiener analysis (H’) is greatest on the highest, and generally eroding dunes. Foredune diversity increased with foredune height, and the tallest foredunes were found on shorelines with relatively low erosion rates, where dunes were slowly translating landwards, cannibalizing older dunes, and moving into areas colonized by late successional species, such as Quercus sp. These observations of foredune species richness, diversity, profile similarities, and the use of ecological indices can provide excellent proxy evidence of shoreline dynamics, and in particular the degree of beach erosion and accretion, in the absence of historical erosion/accretion data. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.