Heavy metal concentrations in surficial sediments from accreting and eroding areas along the coast of Guyana

. Surficial sediments sampled from accreting and eroding areas along the coast of Guyana were examined for concentrations of heavy metals; aluminum, copper, chromium, iron, nickel, lead, vanadium and zinc. Twenty-four samples were collected, 12 from each of the eroding and accreting areas. For granulometric composition determination, samples were separated into particle-size fractions using sieving and hydrometer procedures. The consideration of three grain-size fractions (4.0, 5.0, and greater than 5.0 phi), plus 24 bulk samples less than 4.0 phi in diameter, required analyzing a total of 96 samples for the presence of heavy metals. The analysis employed was aquaregia digestion, followed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. The statistical techniques of discriminant analysis, analysis of variance, and correlation and regression were used to analyze all obtained data. Discriminant analysis revealed that metal concentrations were statistically unique to each area. From the analysis of variance, and correlation and regression, it was discovered that the grain size of the sediment had a pronounced effect on the spatial distribution of heavy metals. The accreting area, with finer sediments, accumulated higher concentrations of heavy metals.     

Ontogenetic Habitat Shifts of the Atlantic Tomcod (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Microgadus tomcod</Emphasis>) Across an Estuarine Transition Zone

Tomcod (Microgadus tomcod) in the St. Lawrence estuarine transition zone (ETZ) undergo an ontogenetic habitat shift. Older age classes, characterised by a male-dominated sex ratio, disperse downstream over the summer months to occupy the colder more saline waters of the estuary. Significant differences in length and mass along the salinity gradient were observed in September with upstream fish of any given age class generally exhibiting greater growth. These differences were not seen in early summer. Benthic amphipod δ ³⁴S signatures were strongly correlated with salinity and served to demonstrate that tomcod δ ³⁴S signatures were not in isotopic equilibrium in the more saline waters of the ETZ. Seasonal distributional patterns, growth dynamics and isotopic disequilibrium all indicate that the observed habitat shift may occur on an annual basis, following winter aggregation in warmer, less saline waters. Tomcod located in the downstream parts of the ETZ, predominantly males, were significantly more sexually developed than upstream tomcod for a given age. On the other hand, greater growth early in life is insured by occupying warmer, upstream waters during the summer months.     

Robust regression based on shrinkage with application to Living Environment Deprivation

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment - A robust estimator is proposed for the parameters that characterize the linear regression problem. It is based on the notion of shrinkages,...