Culture,demography and biogeography of sponge science: From past conferences to strategic research?

Perceived changes in the culture of sponge science and sponge conferences served as motivation for an evaluation of the sponge science community and research, over time and at present. Observed changes included a decrease in proceedings publications on sponge fossils and freshwater sponges, sponges from temperate environments, review papers and data syntheses, frequency of aquarium studies, and number of species investigated per publication. Publications on recent sponges, hexactinellids, calcareans, marine, Indo‐Pacific and warm‐water sponges increased, as well as the number of authors per publication and the proportion of field studies. Studies at the level of specimens and ultrastructure were gradually replaced by molecular approaches, but studies at the community level remained stable. The five sub‐disciplines morphology/taxonomy, phylogeny/evolution, physiology, ecology and faunistics also retained about equal proportions over time. Conference publications related to taxonomy, phylogeny and biodiversity prevailed, whereas those on management and conservation were rare, possibly because studies on sponge recovery, survival and mortality were also scarce. The community of sponge scientists has grown and become more diverse over time, presently representing 72 nations. The gender distribution evened out since the first sponge conference and presently favours women at early and men at late career stages. Although stated research interests are generally dominated by physiology and ecology, taxonomy and evolution are favoured after retirement. Sponge science has become more dynamic, but maybe also more competitive and less inclusive. We now face the dual challenge of safeguarding against the loss of some sub‐disciplines, and fostering the collaborative, helpful culture characteristic of sponge science.     

Bridges to best management: Effects of a voluntary bycatch avoidance program in a mid-water trawl fishery

The catch of non-target species or discarding of target species (bycatch) in commercial fisheries can result in negative species level and ecosystem wide impacts as well as adverse social and economic effects. Bycatch has become one of the foremost, global issues of fishery managers and conservationists, especially when the non-target species is from a protected or threatened population. However, the impact and spatial distribution of bycatch is frequently unknown making it difficult to develop effective, justifiable mitigation regulations. This challenge is exemplified by the bycatch of river herring (alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, and blueback herring, A. aestivalis) and American shad (A. sapidissima) in the northwest Atlantic mid-water trawl fishery targeting Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus). As an alternative to immediate management action, a voluntary bycatch avoidance program was established through an industry, state government, and university partnership. Here the program is described and its impact is evaluated by comparing fleet behavior and bycatch prior to and during the program. The combined results suggest that consistent communication, facilitated by the avoidance program, positively influenced fishing habits and played a role in the approximately 60% decrease in total bycatch and 20% decrease in the bycatch ratio observed during the program. However, the success of small scale move-along strategies to reduce bycatch ratios varied greatly in different areas of the fishery and years. This suggests the program is best viewed as an intermediate or complimentary solution. Overall, this project exemplifies of how collaborative programs can help alleviate difficult management scenarios.     

Research and management priorities for Atlantic marine recreational fisheries in Southern Europe

Marine Recreational Fishing (MRF) is an important activity in Europe, with 9 million fishers and generating annually € 6 billion in direct expenditures. However, there is a lack of data and understanding of MRF in Europe, particularly in Southern countries, which prevents a number of fish stocks from being effectively assessed and managed. In November 2016, a participatory workshop on MRF was held in Vigo (Spain) to identify challenges and opportunities for data collection, and to diagnose key research gaps and management issues for MRF in the Southern European Atlantic. Experts from a wide range of disciplines (researchers, policy makers, fisheries managers and commercial and recreational fishers) highlighted that the management of MRF is a challenge due to complex and dispersed legal frameworks, with multiple administrations involved, and overlapping uses of space with commercial fishing, aquaculture, navigation and tourism, among others. The lack of strong and representative fishing associations hampers research and management initiatives. Effective communication between recreational fishers, researchers and fisheries managers is also lacking. Despite the ecological, social and economic relevance of MRF, there is no systematic and comprehensive collection of information on fishing effort, recreational catches, expenses, social profile and access conditions of European recreational fishers. These data would be useful to avoid biases in the assessment of recreational fisheries due to the great diversity of ecosystems, species and typologies of users. Strategic recommendations and research priorities were also identified to address knowledge gaps and are discussed in the context of the management of MRF across Europe.     

对海洋科学的认识与实践

"热带西太平洋海洋系统物质能量交换及其影响"是中国科学院海洋领域投入最大、参加人员最多的一个海洋科学先导项目,该项目使我们第一次有机会从海洋系统角度研究中国近海到西太平洋的一些海洋前沿问题。来自物理、化学、生物、地质和大气等不同学科的科学家们围绕共同的问题,在同一个区域、从不同方向开展协同研究。目前,海洋先导专项已在深海探索与研究、海洋能力建设、科考平台建设、技术队伍建设、科研与技术有机融合的体系建设和海洋前沿探索方面取得一系列突破,为全面、综合地开展深海资源的探测与近海生态安全研究奠定了重要基础。海洋先导专项更多系统性、有影响力的成果将在未来不断涌现出来。     

Movement patterns of an endangered fishery species,Lithognathus lithognathus (Sparidae), and the role of no-take marine protected areas as a management tool

Understanding movement behaviour is essential for effective management of fishery species. Dart tags were used to study coastal movement patterns of white steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus, an overexploited seabream (Sparidae) in South Africa. In total, 6 962 fish (190–1 080 mm fork length) were tagged throughout the species’ distributional range, in four long-term fish-tagging programmes. The predominant behaviour recorded was residency, with relatively short-ranging movements. More than 60% of the 351 recaptured fish were recaptured within 1 km of their tagging site, some of which were at liberty in excess of three years. Most of the juveniles (93.9%), subadults (71.7%) and adults (64.0%) were recaptured within 10 km. Occasional long-distance movements of up to 800 km were recorded. Recapture distances were positively, but weakly, correlated with fish fork length (n = 257 fish measured at recapture; r² = 0.166, p < 0.001). Low levels of connectivity among coastal areas suggest that large-scale annual spawning migrations, as previously hypothesised for this species, are unlikely, which raises the possibility of multiple spawning sites. Seventy-seven percent of L. lithognathus tagged within three marine protected areas (MPAs) were recaptured within the same MPA, suggesting that area closures provide protection for L. lithognathus through the post-estuarine juvenile, subadult and adult life stages. We confirm that the country’s current network of coastal MPAs plays a vital role in sustaining this species, and suggest that additional closures, or otherwise substantial reductions in catch rates, are necessary for the species’ recovery.     

Phytoplankton,macrophytes and benthic diatoms in lake classification: Consistent,congruent, redundant? Lessons learnt from WFD-compliant monitoring in Poland

The lake monitoring programme compliant with the Water Framework Directive has been implemented in Poland since 2007. Currently, the methods for three biological quality elements (BQEs): phytoplankton (the Phytoplankton Multimetric for Polish Lakes, PMPL), macrophytes (the Ecological State Macrophyte Index, ESMI) and phytobenthos (the Diatom Index for Lakes, IOJ) are officially applied and internationally intercalibrated. Based on the monitoring data from 256 lakes surveyed in 2010–2013 and assessed for all the three BQEs, we tested whether the assessment results obtained by the three biological methods were consistent and we searched for the causes of inconsistencies which we found. The lake classifications obtained from the PMPL and ESMI were highly consistent and the relationship between these metrics was relatively strong (R = 0.66, p < 0.001). Both metrics correlated equally strongly with water quality indicators. However, the PMPL and ESMI indicated systematic dissimilarities in the sensitivity to eutrophication between shallow and deep lakes. In shallow lakes, the alarming symptoms of macrophyte community deterioration (lower values of ESMI) occurred at lower nutrient and Chla concentrations and were accompanied by a better status of phytoplankton (higher values of PMPL) than in deep lakes that can be explained by a synergistic effect of inorganic suspended solids and algal growth on water transparency. As a consequence, the positions of phytoplankton and macrophytes as early warning indicators in the eutrophication gradient in shallow lakes were inverted compared to those in deep lakes. Compared to the PMPL and ESMI, the IOJ method gave the least stringent assessment results, with 22% of lakes failing to meet the environmental objectives. The relationships between IOJ and PMPL, and ESMI were relatively weak (R = 0.17, p = 0.008 and R = 0.17, p = 0.007, respectively). Moreover, the phytobenthos index IOJ correlated significantly more weakly with all the water quality indicators than either PMPL or ESMI did. The poor performance of the phytobenthos method in this study may suggest a limited indicator value of this BQE for lake assessment or inappropriate sampling design.     

农业干旱监测研究进展与展望

本文全面分析了农业干旱的概念内涵及其与其他干旱类型之间的关系,进而从基于站点监测和基于遥感监测两个方面,系统梳理了国内外农业干旱监测的近今进展,对比了不同干旱监测指标的适用范围和局限性;同时,通过文献统计和重要文献引用揭示了国内外农业干旱监测研究的发展历程和最新进展,即农业干旱监测指标从传统的单一气象监测指标逐渐向气象与遥感相结合的综合监测指标转变。最后,在分析农业干旱监测现有挑战和困境的基础上,将农业干旱监测未来发展趋向归纳为5点展望,即进一步明晰农业干旱发生机理和受旱过程、识别农业干旱影响因素及其相互作用关系、构建多时空尺度农业干旱监测模型、耦合农业干旱定性表征与定量评估模型以及提高农业干旱监测模型中遥感数据的应用水平。     

地震科研项目管理系统设计

通过结合Internet/Intranet技术和B/S模式,开发一套地震科研项目管理系统,可实现对科研项目申报、评审、进度跟踪、验收、查询和成果共享的全程信息化管理,有利于提高科技人员、评审专家和项目管理部门执行科研项目申报、评审和管理的工作效率。     

合肥地震台钻孔体应变干扰分析

分析合肥地震台钻孔体应变观测资料干扰因素及特征,发现水位和气压等因素对TJ-Ⅱ型钻孔应变仪影响显著.在该地震台观测优化改造期间,钻孔体应变受到临近钻孔灌水的影响,而降雨和灌水导致的水位变化,对体应变干扰程度不同.     

EQT目录、双差定位及震源机制解输入文件的生成

介绍一个用DELPHI语言编写的用来处理大规模数据的程序,主要用来生成EQT目录文件、双差定位和震源机制解的输入文件.