Tardigrade remains from lake sediments

Remains of tardigrades have rarely been reported to preserve in sediments, resulting in the absence of important ecological and biogeographic information that they could provide. However, a study of faunal microfossils in Antarctic lake sediment cores has shown that tardigrade eggs and occasionally exuvia can be abundant. Eggs from at least five tardigrade species were identified in sediment cores from six lakes from across the continent, with abundances up to 6,000 (g⁻¹ dry wt.). It is likely that the cold temperatures and absence of benthic grazers in Antarctic lakes results in particularly good preservation conditions, though it may also be a function of population density. The conservation of tardigrade eggs and exuvia in lake sediments enables a better understanding of paleodistributions and effects of environmental changes for this phylum that cannot otherwise be obtained.     

Confronting hysteresis: Wood based river rehabilitation in highly altered riverine landscapes of south-eastern Australia

This study evaluates an experiment in river rehabilitation which uses large wood to stimulate and emulate natural system processes in an effort to reverse channel degradation, excess sediment transport and habitat simplification that has resulted from two centuries of human induced disturbances, particularly desnagging. The experiment involved the reintroduction of 436 logs (350 t) within 20 engineered log jams (ELJs) over an 1100 m reach. Commencing in 1999, the experiment was set up as a standard BACI design, with a control reach 3 km upstream. In the 5 years since implementing the rehabilitation strategy, the study reach has experienced five floods greater than the mean annual, and a further five events capable of mobilising the gravel bed. Five surveys of channel terrain have been completed since treatment implementation, and the changes to net sediment storage and morphologic diversity assessed in comparison to the control reach. Seven surveys of the fish population in the reach have also been undertaken during the project to measure the ecological response to the introduced wood. The experiment has demonstrated the effectiveness of ELJ technology in achieving engineering and geomorphic goals. To date, the treatment has halted further degradation of the river and increased sediment storage, with the test reach now storing, on average, 40 m³/1000 m² more sediment than in the control. These values, it would appear, represent a new reach-scale dynamic equilibrium storage level over decadal timescales. Additional sediment storage amounts to 3.5 m³/m³ of wood added. At the reach scale this additional storage represents a reduction of just 2% or less of the post-European expansion in channel capacity, suggesting far greater efforts are required than those employed here to reverse the cumulative effects of 180 years of channel erosion and simplification.Pool and bar area in the test reach increased by around 5% and 3.5%, respectively, while the corresponding values in the control were around 1.5% and 1%, respectively. Two indices of morphologic diversity were measured for each bed survey: the standard deviation of 3D residuals of change compared with the baseline survey (SD_iΔ3D); and the standard deviation of thalweg residuals from the line of best fit (SD_iTR). The SD_iΔ3D index shows both reaches increased in complexity through the study with the treatment increasing more than the control (0.37 and 0.29, respectively). The SD_iTR index does not detect clear changes because of the low signal to noise ratio, however, it does suggest the test reach was more complex than the control at the outset. The observed increase in fish abundance after the first 12 months of monitoring, reported previously, is now far less distinct 4 years on — a pattern seemingly reflecting the relatively minor increases in critical pool habitat and habitat diversity over the same period. Although no significant differences were detectable in fish species richness or total abundance from the reach aggregate data after 4 years, analysis of individual structures show them to be high quality habitat for native fish compared to the rest of the reach and the upstream control.These results highlight the challenges river managers face in achieving measurable improvements in the health of aquatic ecosystems in highly altered rivers. Managers must confront hysteresis in a biophysical and institutional sense when attempting to reverse the degradation of rivers. The scale of treatment implemented in this experiment was at the upper end of the spectrum of rehabilitation efforts currently being undertaken in Australia, suggesting that far greater resources and longer timescales are required to achieve the levels of improvement in the diversity of stream habitat expected by the community. The study also highlights problems with the strategy of attempting to meet multiple objectives within a reach scale rehabilitation project. While this treatment successfully met some geomorphic study objectives, maximising the benefits for fish habitat would require a strategy focused primarily on the creation of complex woody habitat within deeper pools, particularly pools immediately below riffles.     

Determination of the freshwater budget of tidal flats from measurements near a tidal inlet

The freshwater budget of a tidal flat area is evaluated from long-term hydrographic time series from an observation pole positioned in a tidal channel in the Hörnum Basin (Germany). For each tidal cycle, the freshwater budget is calculated from the total imported and exported water volumes and the corresponding mean densities. The variability of the budget on a tidal scale is characterised by a period of twice the tidal period, exhibiting a minimum when the tidal flats are dry around daylight hours during the foregoing low tide, and a maximum when low tide occurs at night; enhanced evaporation on the flats at daylight hours is identified as the driving process. On the average over one year, while winter observations are missing, the freshwater budget is negative for the years 2002–2005 and positive only for 2006. The interannual mean is negative and amounts to a freshwater loss of about 2 mm day⁻¹, although the large-scale climate in this region is humid. The results demonstrate that the bulk parametrisations for the latent and sensible heat flux between the ocean and the atmosphere must not be applied for the tidelands.     

Late glacial impacts on dispersal and colonization of Atlantic Canada and Maine by freshwater fishes

Late glacial scenarios of ice retreat and biogeography databases constrain the dispersal routes of obligate freshwater fishes into Atlantic Canada and Maine. Evidence indicates glacial ice covered the present-day mainland and offshore islands at 18,000 ¹⁴C yr before present. Possible refugia for extirpated freshwater fishes were the exposed outer edge of the Grand Banks (east), exposed Georges Bank (south-Atlantic Refugium), and the Mississippi Refugium in the west. It is improbable that the region was recolonized from the offshore refugia. Rather, fishes recolonized from the east via the upper St. Lawrence River valley into the upper Saint John River, Maine (Lake Madawaska) from 11,000 to 12,000 ¹⁴C yr BP. The short period of entry resulted in the low diversity of obligate freshwater species in the region. Lake Madawaska was breached and dispersal continued into the remainder of the region after 8000 ¹⁴C yr BP. By 6000 ¹⁴C yr BP, access routes to the east along low-lying coastal zones were blocked by rising sea levels, which isolated Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, and most probably Nova Scotia. Natural dispersal across the region appeared complete by this time.     

Laboratory and pilot studies on reclamation of a salt-affected alluvial soil

Soil column experiments showed that a surficial sodic soil is efficiently reclaimed using freshwater, after the addition of saturated gypsum solution. Gypsum application in the field was beneficial in terms of maintaining high soil permeability, increased water infiltration and neutral pH after a rainfall event. In the present paper, two different reclamation techniques for the plough layer of a sandy loam sodic soil were tested in laboratory columns, 25 cm long and 10 cm in diameter; the first using freshwater alone and the second using a saturated gypsum solution. The dynamics of salt removal were studied by continuous analysis of the water drained from the bottom of the columns. When freshwater was used, sodium presented the lower removal rate and adversely affected soil permeability. When gypsum solution was used, calcium was present in the flushing solution and the effect of sodium dominance on clay dispersion and soil clogging was limited. The results presented in this study are of practical importance with respect to the reclamation of sodic soils found in the coastal area of the east Nestos Delta, Greece, where freshwater is limited, due to seawater intrusion, and saline groundwater is used for irrigation.     

Effect of temperature on contents of essential highly unsaturated fatty acids in freshwater zooplankton

In 11 lakes from cold and warm regions we studied the content of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) in seston (<130 μm) and crustacean zooplankton using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. An increase of temperature correlated with a decrease of HUFA content in zooplankton. A multivariate canonical correlation analyses revealed, that the decrease of HUFA content was related with a decrease of per cent of copepods in zooplankton communities, which are known to have higher HUFA levels in their biomass, than cladocerans. This means that temperature primarily affected the HUFA levels indirectly, via changing of taxonomic structure of zooplankton community, while the homeoviscous adaptation of zooplankton individuals had comparatively lower importance. As found, water temperature was better predictor of HUFA contents of zooplankton, than the fatty acid composition of seston. Thus, it can be predicted, that a probable climate warming will decrease the content of the essential HUFA in freshwater zooplankton with possible negative consequences for animals of higher trophic levels.     

非海相白垩系年代学和对比

从1800年代初最早确定的白垩系定义起,白垩系就包括了海相和非海相白垩纪的地层和化石。白垩纪是一个全球性气候温暖、海平面高、构造和火山活动强烈的世界。此时,多块大陆分解,几乎所有海洋都已打开,形成了与现代相近的海陆分布的地理图案。这一变革导致了全球生物群的区域化,给全球对比带来了困难。白垩纪的全球年代地层表是主要依据菊石和微体生物(有孔虫和钙质超微浮游生物)化石,并与已完整建立的全球极性倒转年表和很多放射性同位素年龄相结合的产物。从孢粉到恐龙等各类非海相化石均已用于白垩纪生物地层学。此期专刊的特色是聚焦于区域或全球的孢粉(包括沟鞭藻)、大植物、甲壳类(包括叶肢介和介形类)、软体动物(包括腹足类和双壳类)和脊椎动物(包括硬躯体和足印)非海相白垩纪生物地层学和生物年代学。这些研究大大扩展了非海相白垩系对比的内容,并强调了将能取得更多进展的研究方向。非海相地层和化石群中直接夹有海相地层和化石的剖面/地区的非海相生物地层学更精确的研究,高分辨率的微体化石,特别是既出现于非海相又见于海相地层中的微体化石的微体生物地层学的进展,更多的直接与非海相生物地层学相关的放射性同位素和古地磁年龄的测试,非海相地层的高分辨率层序和旋回地层学分析及与非海相生物地层学对比的化学地层学的发展等,均将促进全球非海相白垩纪地层时代和对比,甚至以国际地质时标为准绳的全球非海相白垩纪地层对比框架表的建立。     

A new subspecies of Ranularia (Mollusca,family cymathdae) from the Kermadec Islands

A new geographic subspecies, Ranularia dunkeri iredalei, is described from beach specimens from Raoul Island in the Kermadec Islands. Ranularia dunkeri dunkeri (Lischke, 1868) is restricted to southern Japan.     

Population dynamics and fishery management of the paua,Haliotis iris

A population model is developed and used in conjunction with the results of a study of an unexploited population of paua (Haliotis iris Martyn) to examine the historical pattern of recruitment and yield per recruit. As H. iris cannot yet be aged, the population model uses size rather than age classes, but is structurally similar to the Leslie matrix model. Simulations suggest that the observed population size structure resulted from a short (about 5 year) period of high recruitment, preceded and followed by longer periods of low recruitment. Yield per recruit analysis shows that the present minimum legal size for the fishery (127 mm) provides close to the maximum yield per recruit for most stocks, although yield per recruit could be increased in some areas by a reduction in minimum legal size.     

南大洋淡水通量的气候效应研究进展

南大洋淡水通量在古气候演变中曾经发挥过重要作用,全球变暖背景下的南极融冰事件使南大洋淡水通量成为气候学家关注的焦点。从南大洋淡水通量异常对热盐环流和海平面变化的影响以及异常信号传播路径等3个方面系统分析了各种海洋—大气耦合数值模式的已有研究结果,总结了与这一问题有关的各种不同学术观点,对目前存有争议的问题进行了讨论,并对未来有价值的研究方向和全球变暖背景下这一问题的研究前景进行了展望。