Ecological quality assessment of small estuaries from the Portuguese coast based on fish assemblages indices

The importance of establishing the ecological quality of estuarine systems has been widely acknowledged and led to the development of several fish community-based multimetric indices. Nevertheless, a question rose about the accuracy of these tools when natural disturbance is acting upon the organization of the systems’ communities. Four multimetric indices were used to examine their ability to differentiate the ecological status of five small estuarine systems (southern Portugal), and also to test if they reflected the level of anthropogenic pressures. Fish assemblages from Mira, Odeceixe and Aljezur (in the Southwest coast), Gilão and Bensafrim (in the South coast) estuaries were sampled seasonally for one year, and anthropogenic sources of pressure were identified and quantified. We found that although the applied indices provided information on ecological condition differentiation among systems, they are unable to explain different classes of ecological status in systems with equivalent pressure levels.     

Estuarine ecological risk based on hepatic histopathological indices from laboratory and in situ tested fish

Juvenile Senegalese soles were exposed through 28-day laboratory and field (in situ) bioassays to sediments from three sites of the Sado estuary (W Portugal): a reference and two contaminated by metallic and organic contaminants. Fish were surveyed for ten hepatic histopathological alterations divided by four distinct reaction patterns and integrated through the estimation of individual histopathological condition indices. Fish exposed to contaminated sediments sustained more damage, with especial respect to regressive changes like necrosis. However, differences were observed between laboratory- and field-exposed animals, with the latest, for instance, exhibiting more pronounced fatty degeneration and hepatocellular eosinophilic alteration. Also, some lesions in fish exposed to the reference sediment indicate that in both assays unaccounted variables produced experimental background noise, such as hyaline degeneration in laboratory-exposed fish. Still, the field assays yielded results that were found to better reflect the overall levels of contaminants and physico-chemical characteristics of the tested sediments.     

Application of organic petrology and geochemistry to coal waste studies

Coal wastes produced during mining activities are commonly deposited in nearby dumps. These wastes mostly composed of minerals and variable amounts (usually 20-30%) of organic matter start to weather immediately after deposition. Oxidation of the organic matter can lead to self heating and self combustion as a result of organic and mineral matter transformations. The degree of alteration depends on the properties of the wastes, i.e., the maceral and microlithotype composition of the organic matter and its rank.Alteration of wastes also depends on the heating history, i.e., the rate of heating, final heating temperature, duration of heating, and the degree of air access. Although air is probably necessary to initiate and drive the heating processes, these usually take place under relatively oxygen depleted conditions. With slow heating, color of organic matter particles changes, irregular cracks and oxidation rims develop around edges and cracks, and bitumen is expelled. As a result, massive and detritic isotropic and strongly altered organic matter forms. On the other hand, higher heating rates cause the formation of devolatilization pores, oxidation rims around these pores and along cracks, vitrinite-bands-mantling particles, and bitumen expulsions.Organic compounds generated from the wastes include n-alkanes, iso-alkanes, alkylcyclohexanes, acyclic isoprenoids, mainly pristane, phytane and, in some cases, farnesane, sesquiterpanes, tri- and tetracyclic diterpanes, tri- and pentacyclic triterpanes, and steranes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (mostly with two- to five rings, rarely six rings), and phenols. The compounds formed change during the heating history. The fact that phenols are found in dumps where heating has not yet been completed, but are absent in those where heating ceased previously suggests the presence of water washing. The organic compounds formed may migrate within the dumps. However, when they migrate out of the dumps, they become a hazard to environment.This paper is a review on transformations of organic matter (both maceral composition and reflectance and chemical composition) in coal wastes deposited in coal waste dumps. Immediately after deposition the wastes are exposed to weathering conditions and sometimes undergo self heating processes.     

喀斯特石漠化信息遥感提取的不确定性

我国西南喀斯特地区以石漠化为特征的生态环境退化严重,遥感是快速、大面积石漠化定性评价、关健指标定量提取必不可少的手段.在简述喀斯特生态地质背景复杂性的基础上,系统分析了目前喀斯特石澳化信息遥感提取在遥感数据源、提取方法、、精度验证、不确定性源等方面的问题,并提出未来石漠化遥感监测的重点研究内容.     

中国西北地区石羊河流域农业生态系统能值评价

通过能值方法分析了石羊河流域农业生态系统的资源环境基础和经济特征。结果表明,石羊河流域中下游凉州区和民勤绿洲的能值总投入呈降低趋势,能值投资率都偏高,生产成本较大;能值产出率低,对购买能值的利用效率不高;但能值自给率有所提高;环境载荷率高,农业生态环境所受压力较大,系统可持续发展指标表明两个绿洲经济系统极为不发达,属于消费型经济系统,并且人均可用能值和能值密度都呈降低趋势。     

Differential herbivory of invasive algae by native fish in the Mediterranean Sea

The potential role of generalist herbivores to serve as a source of biotic resistance against algal invasion in marine ecosystems has been poorly examined. The present study investigates the capacity of Mediterranean herbivorous fishes to consume three of the most invasive seaweeds of the Western Mediterranean (Caulerpa racemosa, Lophocladia lallemandii and Womersleyella setacea) and examines vertical and temporal variations of such consumption. Our results show that although fish feed throughout the depth gradient examined (5–35 m), they concentrate in shallow waters, and can consume high amounts of C. racemosa. Such high ingestion of C. racemosa does not appear to be random, since this alga is consistently chosen when offered in pairs with several native species. Conversely, L. lallemandii and W. setacea are barely eaten by fish even though they can be very abundant in the field throughout the year. Our results suggest that fish could be an important controlling agent that has been overlooked in temperate marine invasions, and they may be able to provide certain resistance to C. racemosa invasion. In contrast, they are unlikely to exert any important control effects on L. lallemandii or W. setacea.     

Spatial analysis of morphometric indices: the case of Bolu pull-apart basin,western section of North Anatolian Fault System,Turkey

Advances in quality, acquisition and processing of high-resolution digital topography over the past decade have enabled geomorphologists to interpret topography in terms of tectonic processes in a quantitative and more objective way. This study defines the tectonic impact of the North Anatolian fault system (NAFS) on the evaluation and activity of the Bolu pull-apart basin using morphometric indices based on topographic maps. In this study, three different indices including valley floor width to height ratio (Vf), asymmetry factor (Af), and Stream Length Gradient Index (SL) are applied to the tectonic basin area. To detect the deviation from spatial randomness of applied indices, the weighted correlation coefficient Moran’s I is used, and results are interpreted at 99% confidence interval. According to the results, the tectonic impact of NAFS on the northern and western sides of the basin distinctly differs from one another. Clustered distribution of Vf and Af values on the southern side of the basin margin reveals that this side of the basin margin is tectonically more deformed compared with the northern side. The applied methodology reveals that the spatial analysis of the morphometric indices proved to be the effective tool in analyzing tectonic influence of the fault system on the opposite side of the basin margins.     

Developing environmental indices using fuzzy numbers ordered weighted averaging (FN-OWA) operators

Environmental indices (EI) constitute a common communication tool that is often used to describe the overall status of environmental systems (air, water and soil). EI development entails the use of mathematical operators to aggregate various non-commensurate input parameters in a logical manner. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator is a general mean type operator that provides flexibility in the aggregation process such that the aggregated value is bounded between minimum and maximum values of the input parameters. This flexibility of the OWA operator is realized through the concept of orness, which is a surrogate for decision maker’s attitude. The type of input parameters also affects the choice of aggregation operators. If the input parameters are linguistic or fuzzy, the aggregation through OWA operators is not possible, and the use of fuzzy arithmetic is warranted. The concept of fuzzy number OWA (FN-OWA) operators is explored to handle situations in which one or more input parameter has fuzzy (or linguistic) values. The proposed approach is demonstrated using data provided in an earlier study by Swamee and Tyagi (ASCE J Environ Eng 126(5):451–455, 2000) for establishing water quality indices. Multiple hypothetical scenarios are also generated to highlight the utility and sensitivity of the proposed approach.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地几种植物根系分形特征

在塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地采用全根挖掘法挖掘河西菊(Hexinia polydichowma(Ostenf.)H.L.Yang)、沙拐枣(Calligonuin roborovskii A.Los.)、罗布麻(Apocynum venetum L.)、阿克苏牛皮消(Cynanchum amplexicaule Hemsl)根系.运用分形理论对其分形特征进行研究,分析根系分支状况以及根系分形特征与拓扑特征之间的关系.研究发现:(1)在塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地,四种植物根系具有很好的分形特征,分形维数大小与拓扑参数连接总数、外部连接数之间具有较好的相关关系.(2)根丰度是描述根系在土层中扩展能力的有效指标,与根系长度、平均连接长度之间具有很好的指数关系分别可以用以下方程表示:y1=2.7 694e1.5496x,y2=0.0369e2.0 267x(其中y1、y2分别为总根长、平均连接长度,R2分别为:0.9 353、0.9 832),根丰度直接反映了根系空间占有能力与营养物质的吸收效率.通过对塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地四种植物根系分支状况与分形特征的研究表明.分形理论可以很好的反映根系空间占有能力与资源吸收效率,所以说分形理论是对根系几何、功能特征进行定量化研究的有效方法.     

高分子材料SH固沙性能与微结构相关性研究

SH作为一种环保型、节约型有机高分子固化材料,用于沙漠治理具有广阔的应用前景。采用不同浓度SH、不同加固方式对沙体进行加固,加固后沙体微结构会发生变化,其物理力学性能也会出现显著变化。通过图形处理软件对固化后沙体的SEM图像进行计算分析;利用多元逐步回归分析方法对其性能参数与微结构参数之间的相关性进行计算,并对其相关性进行分析评价。计算结果表明,二者之间存在着良好的相关关系,各向异性、等效直径、扁圆度、充填比和面积比是对固化沙土力学性质影响较为显著的5个微结构参数。从微观角度证明了SH是一种较为理想的高分子固沙材料。