Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the abundance and size of epibenthic jellyfish Cassiopea spp

Jellyfish blooms in pelagic systems appear to be increasing on a global scale because of anthropogenic impacts, but much less is known about the link between human activities and epibenthic jellyfish abundance. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the epibenthic jellyfish, Cassiopea spp., were found in greater abundance, and attained larger sizes, in coastal habitats adjacent to high human population densities compared to sites adjacent to uninhabited areas on Abaco Island, Bahamas. Cassiopea spp. were found to be significantly more dense and larger in areas with high human population densities. Ambient nutrient levels and nutrient content of seagrass were elevated in high human population density sites, and may be one mechanism driving higher abundance and size of Cassiopea spp. Cassiopea spp. may have important effects on community structure and ecosystem function in critical coastal ecosystems (e.g., seagrass beds), and their impacts warrant further study.     

Eelgrass beds and bare substrata – sparid and mugilid composition in contrasting littoral estuarine habitats

Seagrass beds serve as nursery grounds for many fish species and often play an important role in the juvenile stages of economically and recreationally important fishes. The eelgrass Zostera capensis is the dominant submerged macrophyte in permanently open South African estuaries and occupies large intertidal and subtidal areas within the Knysna system. The primary objective of this study was to compare the occurrence of sparids and mugilids in eelgrass and nearby bare sediment areas using sampling with seine nets. The hypothesis that was tested is that mugilids are dominant in unvegetated areas of the Knysna Estuary littoral whereas sparids predominate within eelgrass beds located in the same zone. The results indicate that the family Mugilidae is better represented at unvegetated sites when compared to members of the family Sparidae, with the exception of Lithognathus lithognathus, but that the dominant three sparids and dominant two mugilids were most abundant in sparse eelgrass beds that included both bare and vegetated areas within this habitat type. The main fish species responsible for the separation of fish assemblages associated with unvegetated sites versus those associated with vegetated areas were Rhabdosargus holubi, Liza dumerili, Liza richardsonii, Lithognathus lithognathus, Sarpa salpa and Diplodus capensis, with R. holubi, S. salpa and D. capensis being mainly attracted to eelgrass habitats and L. dumerili, L. richardsonii and L. lithognathus having a stronger affinity for bare areas. This finding confirms a previous estuarine study in the nearby Swartvlei lake littoral, which found that sparids dominated areas where aquatic macrophytes were extensive and that mugilids became more prevalent at those same sites when the macrophytes underwent complete senescence. The length-frequency distributions of some sparid and mugilid species differed considerably between eelgrass and bare sediment areas, whereas those of other species showed little or no difference between these two habitat types.     

河北承德黑山铁矿床热液成矿特征及流体包裹体研究

黑山大型钒钛磁铁矿矿床产于大庙斜长岩杂岩体中,是承德地区最重要的"大庙式"岩浆型铁矿床。笔者在矿区野外地质观察过程中发现,穿插于斜长岩中的铁磷矿脉、磁铁矿硫化物矿脉有热液成矿作用的显示,表明黑山铁矿床成因除传统认为的岩浆期结晶、熔离、矿浆贯入成矿作用外,还有热液期的成矿作用发生。本文对热液成矿期铁磷矿石中磷灰石和矿化蚀变石英中的流体包裹体进行了显微测温和激光拉曼光谱分析。结果表明,磷灰石中原生包裹体可以分为气液两相包裹体、含子矿物包裹体、含液态CO2三相包裹体、单液相、单气相包裹体5类,均一温度主要集中于180～420℃,盐度主要集中于6.2%～38.9%NaCleq,流体包裹体气相成分主要为CO2、N2和CH4,液相成分主要为H2O,固相成分主要为方解石、石盐、白云石及铁氧化物子矿物。石英中流体包裹体类型和成分与磷灰石中的类似,但固相成分未发现石盐和不透明金属子矿物,均一温度变化于149～422℃,盐度变化于5.7%～22.9%NaCleq。成矿流体为CaCl2-NaCl-H2O-CO2体系,均一温度和盐度呈现正相关连续渐变的特征。铁磷矿石的磷灰石中原生包裹体为流体包裹体,盐度高,子矿物种类复杂,组成中富含CO2和CH4等,这些特征显示成矿流体以岩浆热液为主;成矿机理可能与大气降水对岩浆热液的稀释有关。     

江西铜坑嶂钼矿和红山铜矿含矿斑岩锆石U-Pb定年及其地质意义

江西铜坑嶂钼矿和红山铜矿是在武夷山成矿带中最近发现的两个斑岩型矿床。本文利用LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年方法对铜坑嶂花岗斑岩和红山含矿花岗斑岩分别进行了年代学研究,获得铜坑嶂岩体中花岗斑岩的锆石年龄为138±1Ma,代表斑岩体侵位的年龄;红山矿区含矿斑岩的锆石年龄,分作两期,分别为99Ma和49Ma,两期不同的年龄可能代表了两期热事件。研究表明,铜坑嶂钼矿的成岩成矿时代均发生在白垩纪,其岩浆作用与成矿作用基本吻合。综合前人资料,认为铜坑嶂钼矿区的斑岩和红山铜矿区的斑岩可能分别形成于大陆弧后伸展带和岩石圈伸展环境。     

Power function decay of hydraulic conductivity for a TOPMODEL‐based infiltration routine

TOPMODEL rainfall‐runoff hydrologic concepts are based on soil saturation processes, where soil controls on hydrograph recession have been represented by linear, exponential, and power function decay with soil depth. Although these decay formulations have been incorporated into baseflow decay and topographic index computations, only the linear and exponential forms have been incorporated into infiltration subroutines. This study develops a power function formulation of the Green and Ampt infiltration equation for the case where the power n = 1 and 2. This new function was created to represent field measurements in the New York City, USA, Ward Pound Ridge drinking water supply area, and provide support for similar sites reported by other researchers. Derivation of the power‐function‐based Green and Ampt model begins with the Green and Ampt formulation used by Beven in deriving an exponential decay model. Differences between the linear, exponential, and power function infiltration scenarios are sensitive to the relative difference between rainfall rates and hydraulic conductivity. Using a low‐frequency 30 min design storm with 4·8 cm h^?1 rain, the n = 2 power function formulation allows for a faster decay of infiltration and more rapid generation of runoff. Infiltration excess runoff is rare in most forested watersheds, and advantages of the power function infiltration routine may primarily include replication of field‐observed processes in urbanized areas and numerical consistency with power function decay of baseflow and topographic index distributions. Equation development is presented within a TOPMODEL‐based Ward Pound Ridge rainfall‐runoff simulation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suitability of monosaccharides as markers for particle identification in carbonate sediments*†

The identification of the remains of organisms contributing to carbonate sediments by means of scanning electron-microscopy is limited to particles of the 2–20 μm size class. Mineralogy and the content of Mg, Sr and trace elements alone are usually insufficient to solve the problem of identification, especially in the differentiation between algal and coral aragonite. The organic matrix of calcareous organisms consists of stable biopolymers such as polysaccharides and glycoproteins which are intimately associated with the carbonate skeleton. Analysis of these hydrolysed compounds gives rise to characteristic arrays of monosaccharides which provide independent criteria for producer identification. The calcareous green algae Halimeda, Penicillus and Udotea show high xylose and low fucose levels. Xylose and fucose levels are elevated in the red algae Amphiroa but only fucose is prominent in the brown algae Padina. The corals Oculina, Porites, Millipora and Montastrea are relatively rich in fucose and show little or no xylose. In the bivalves Arca, Codakia and in Argopecten mannose may be characteristic. Analysis of artificial and natural sediments demonstrates that coral and algal aragonite can be distinguished on the basis of the total sugar concentration and respective xylose and fucose levels. The applicability of the technique in comparison to geochemical and mineralogical methods has been demonstrated for surface sediments from varying water depths of Harrington Sound, Bermuda.     

20th-CENTURY CHANGES OF TEMPERATURE IN THE MOUNTAIN REGIONS OF CENTRAL EUROPE

Daily maximum and minimum temperatures from 29 low-lying and mountain stations of 7 countries in Central Europe were analyzed. The analysis of the annual variation of diurnal temperature range helps to distinguish unique climatic characteristics of high and low altitude stations. A comparison of the time series of extreme daily temperatures as well as mean temperature shows a good agreement between the low-lying stations and the mountain stations. Many of the pronounced warm and cold periods are present in all time series and are therefore representative for the whole region. A linear trend analysis of the station data for the period 1901–1990 (19 stations) and 1951–1990 (all 29 stations) shows spatial patterns of similar changes in maximum and minimum daily temperatures and diurnal temperature range. Mountain stations show only small changes of the diurnal temperature range over the 1901–1990 period, whereas the low-lying stations in the western part of the Alps show a significant decrease of diurnal temperature range, caused by strong increase of the minimum temperature. For the shorter period 1951–1990, the diurnal temperature range decreases at the western low-lying stations, mainly in spring, whereas it remains roughly constant at the mountain stations. The decrease of diurnal temperature range is stronger in the western part than in the eastern part of the Alps.