Food utilisation by coastal fish assemblages in rocky and soft bottoms on the Swedish west coast: Inference for identification of essential fish habitats

The concept of essential fish habitats (EFHs) is widely accepted for conservational and management purposes. EFHs are often considered as high quality habitats for fisheries species and subsequently of high values for society. In this study, fish and Substrate-Associated Prey (SAP) were sampled during the productive summer season 1998 (fish) and 2003 and 2004 (SAP) in shallow coastal rocky- and soft-bottom habitats on the Swedish west coast. The aim was to study the spatial and monthly variation of SAP as well as abundance and biomass of fish, and to examine if food items found in the diet of the fish assemblage were derived from SAP. We also examined if the diet of Ctenolabrus rupestris, a resident and abundant fish species in the shallow coastal habitats, and the diet of four seasonally abundant and commercially important fish species (Gadus morhua, Pleuronectes platessa, Salmo trutta and Scomber scombrus) were derived from SAP. There were significantly higher mean species number and abundance of the SAP assemblage on rocky compared to soft bottoms and the highest values were found on the rocky bottoms in August and in the shallowest (0–3 m) depth strata. There were no significant differences in number of fish species caught in the two habitats, although mean number of fish and mean biomass were significantly higher on rocky bottoms. Both habitats showed the same seasonal variation and the highest values of number of fish species, abundance and biomass were observed in June. On rocky bottoms, gastropods and amphipods were the most frequent food items in the diet of the entire fish assemblage and these items were also the most abundant SAP in this habitat. The dominant food items of the soft-bottom fish assemblage were decapods and fish, which were not common SAP. However, except for S. scombrus, the diet of the selected fish species showed a strong association to the SAP availability. Gadus morhua displayed the strongest association to SAP on rocky bottoms and P. platessa and C. rupestris to SAP on soft bottoms. Further, for C. rupestris, multivariate statistical analysis showed a significant association to the SAP assemblage on both rocky and soft bottoms. These results provide vital new information for the management and conservation of Essential Fish Habitats on the Swedish west coast.     

沙漠化遥感监测与定量评价研究综述

土地沙漠化是当今世界最为严重的环境-社会-经济问题之一,遥感技术以其宏观性、综合性、获取信息量大、时间周期短等优势,已成为沙漠化监测与定量评价的重要数据来源和技术手段。本文阐述了国内外运用遥感技术监测与评价沙漠化研究进展,归纳总结了几种常用的定量指标（FVC/NPP、RUE、Albedo、LST、土壤湿度等）和沙漠化信息定量提取方法（专题指数提取法、ANN、混合像元分析法、决策树分类法等）。分析指出目前沙漠化遥感监测与评价指标体系不完善、尺度效应以及沙漠化信息提取方法方面的研究不足,并提出开展沙漠化多指标、多尺度综合监测与评价研究是未来的发展趋势之一。     

Northern Adriatic Rocky Reef Fishes at Low Winter Temperatures

Abstract. The behavioural ecology of certain northern Adriatic fishes was observed from January to April at a water temperature of 7–11 ^oC. The fishes studied here do not migrate to deeper waters. Most of the benthic fishes show a similar distribution over the substrate in winter and in summer; in winter, however, they are very inactive and hide in the substrate. Suprabenthic fishes aggregate in littoral caves where they form dense, inactive, mixed aggregations. Certain hemipelagic and pelagic fishes join to form very dense aggregations at specific sites in the open waters of bays. Littoral predators display high feeding activity at a time when their prey is inactive. I present a hypothesis concerning possible implications of seasonally cyclic environmental temperatures for a sympatric community of non-migrating fishes.     

埃及阿莱曼旅游区海滩养护及硬工程作用

阿莱曼海滩位于埃及尼罗河三角洲西侧,是长约12 km的平直沙坝潟湖岸,在强劲的西向常、强浪的作用下,泥沙沿岸向东运移,引起海岸长期强烈蚀退。1998-2009年分3个阶段整治和抛沙养滩,先后建成13条丁坝组成的丁坝群,丁坝效应稳定了8.5 km的海滩,3个阶段共向滩肩抛沙116×104 m3,但是水下基岩陡斜地形导致严重沙流失,使海滩不能增宽,丁坝群尾闾效应也导致丁坝群下游3.5 km海难侵蚀更加严重,于是先后采取了分段式岸外坝群和岸外连续长潜堤加堤内丁坝格,消除了丁坝群下游岸的侵蚀。结合我国相应案例说明在那些强烈侵蚀和严重沙流失岸段养滩,必须强调丁坝、岸外坝等硬工程的作用。这些构筑物既能消散波能,又能阻拦所抛沙的流失。对于那些水下为基岩陡斜地形的海滩,更应设计一定的硬工程,埃及阿莱曼的连续长潜堤加丁坝格的设计和我国三亚三美湾的连续岸外坝丁坝加人造沙坝的经验都是十分重要的。     

Deja vu? A second mytilid mussel,Semimytilus algosus,invades South Africa's west coast

A second marine mussel is shown to have invaded South Africa's west coast. Molecular techniques, based on intraspecific gene sequence divergences, prove its identity as Semimytilus algosus, a member of the family Mytilidae, native to Chile. The identity of an older introduced population found in Namibia is also confirmed. The present geographic range of S. algosus in South Africa extends some 500 km, from Groenriviersmond in the north to Bloubergstrand in the south. Together with Mytilus galloprovincialis, another previously established invasive mussel, S. algosus has become a dominant intertidal organism on wave-exposed rocky shores across this region. Both species are now much more abundant intertidally than either of the indigenous mussels Aulacomya ater and Choromytilus meridionalis, which have become largely confined to sublittoral and sand-inundated habitats respectively. The two invasive mussels display strong spatial segregation, with M. galloprovincialis dominating the midshore and S. algosus blanketing the lower shore. Through a combination of its small size and high abundance, S. algosus is likely to greatly increase food availability for a range of intertidal predators, many of which cannot consume mussels above a threshold size.     

Horizon scanning for alien predatory crabs: insights from South Africa

Due to the presence of few dominant predators on South African rocky shores, this coastline could be vulnerable to invasion by predatory crabs. This study applied horizon scanning to create an ordered watch list of alien crab species that could establish along this coastline under present-day and future temperature scenarios. This was done by: (i) identifying the species with both an invasion history and a possible pathway to South Africa; (ii) comparing the temperature ranges of the species’ native and introduced distributions to those of each of the four South African ecoregions; and (iii) ranking the species based on their potential ecological impacts. Of the 56 alien predatory crab species known worldwide, 28 species have pathways to South Africa. Incompatible temperature ranges excluded only two species from each ecoregion. Negative ecological impacts in their invaded ranges placed Japanese shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus, brush-clawed shore crab H. takanoi and Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis at the top of the watch list. This study highlights that many alien crab species have the potential to reach South Africa, with most likely to survive. This watch list should be used to support targeted monitoring and so facilitate early detection of these species, should they reach South Africa.     

Qualitative and Quantitative Description of Multibeam Echosounder Systematic Errors on Rocky Areas

This paper deals with the problem of systematic depth errors made in surveying dumped rocks with multibeam echosounder. These errors may induce dangers for navigation in very shallow water areas or huge costs for coastal engineering contractors who perform rock dumping operation and surveying. We analyze results from four different multibeam echosounder systems and compare those data to a reference digital terrain model of a dumped rocks area obtained from a 3D terrestrial laser scanner. The systematic depth errors are statistically described and analysed on local areas. Finally, we propose a look-up table linking the error amplitude with the rock size, resulting from our error analysis.     

基于公共价值的沙漠化治理政策绩效评价研究

首先从分析沙漠化的物理机制入手,将生态建设政策对沙漠化的作用以政策指数PIX来表示,分解为空间广度[PSS]和时间强度[PEF]两个变量,PIX=（PSS+PEF）/2,定量计算政策指数与沙漠化变化的相关性。其次以公共价值为基本框架,构建沙漠化治理政策的执行过程+生态效果的绩效评价体系,从政策过程的“公平性”、对“合作生产”主体的尊重性、政府部门管理的“效率性”、生态效果的“可持续性”、政策对沙漠化变化的相关性等方面提取指标因子,定量评价沙漠化治理政策的绩效。以宁夏盐池县草地禁牧政策为例进行研究。结果表明：禁牧政策与沙漠化面积减少显著相关,草地禁牧政策公共价值绩效得分0.378 3,效果较差。因此,提出的基于公共价值的沙漠化治理政策绩效评价指标和模型都是可行的。     

中国锡林郭勒草原沙漠化的沙源及其地质学成因

从沉积学的角度分析了锡林郭勒草原沙漠化的地质背景和沙源。锡林郭勒草原直接覆盖在早白垩世二连盆地之上。该盆地各凹陷演化的生命周期完整,同沉积期构造演化结束于基底沉降减缓阶段末,而沉积充填演化结束于湖泊萎缩-平原化阶段,随后一直处于缓慢隆升状态。这样的盆地演化史,导致充填序列上部广泛发育了湖退体系域——厚度巨大且固结程度极低的河流-三角洲砂体。人为因素和气象因素破坏了草原植被,使这些规模巨大的砂体露出地表,造成草原沙漠化基础。显然,地质环境的脆弱性是生态环境脆弱性的决定因素。因此从某种意义上说,锡林郭勒草原沙漠化也是一种地质灾害。如果不进行有效的治理,将会出现大规模沙漠化。这种类型的沙漠化在中国华北、西北和东北乃至世界各地具有普遍性。     

Boulder shores in South Africa – a distinct but poorly documented coastal habitat type

This study compares the composition, species richness and biomass of macrofaunal and algal assemblages on intertidal boulder shores as compared with those on adjacent rock-platforms, at six sites along the southwest coast of South Africa. Of 214 species identified, 175 were recorded on boulder shores and 124 on rock-platform shores; of these, 99 species were common to both habitat types, 92 were exclusive to boulders, and 23 were exclusive to rock-platforms. Significant differences in community structure (F_(1,95) = 13.02, p < 0.01) (PERMANOVA test), species richness (F_(1,95) = 14.28, p < 0.01), biomass (F_(1,95) = 9.45, p < 0.01) and diversity (F_(1,95) = 578.83, p < 0.01) (two-way ANOVA) were detected between the two habitat types. Average dissimilarity of community structure between rock-platform and boulder shores was 87.96% (SIMPER analysis). The increased species richness and biomass on boulder shores extended across all tidal levels, but was most marked in the highshore. These results confirm that boulder shores along the southwestern Cape support a distinct biota, richer and very different from that on adjacent rock-platforms, and rich in boulder-dependent species. We propose that boulder shores merit separate management and conservation targets as compared to rock-platforms, though the ecology of boulder shores in the region remains very poorly known and requires further study.