Coral Recruitment and Regeneration on a Maldivian Reef 21 Months after the Coral Bleaching Event of 1998

Abstract. This paper describes the quantitative inventory of stony corals on a Maldivian reef after the bleaching event of 1998. The detailed data, collected in March 1999 and March 2000, comprise survival, new recruitment and regenerates. They were obtained in 6 transects laid out randomly on the reef flat, on 22 Acropora tables on 6 sites at the reef edge and on 39 Porites lobata blocks and 1 Diploastrea heliopora colony. The present cover of living zooxanthellate corals is reduced to ca. 2 – 5 % of its previous state. Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae were practically wiped out, while Poritidae survived partly and Agariciidae (esp. Pavona) are now the dominant group. New settlements on dead Acropora tables were mainly Agariciidae, followed by Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae. Regenerates on Porites were pronounced and the apparent yearly increase in mass was about threefold that of Diploastrea, which is 3 – 4 mm per year. The influence on reef ecology in terms of coral substrate and species, possible sources of larvae, change of guilds in reef builders, other species and the prospect for further development of the reef, with respect to growth versus erosion, is discussed.     

非均匀陆面条件下区域蒸散量计算的遥感模型

非均匀陆面条件下的区域蒸散计算是一个复杂的问题。文中首先在利用遥感资料求取地表特征参数 (如植被覆盖度、地表反照率等 )的基础上 ,建立了裸露地表条件下的裸土蒸发和全植被覆盖条件下植被蒸腾计算模型 ,然后结合植被覆盖度 (植被的垂直投影面积与单位面积之比 )给出非均匀陆面条件下的区域蒸散计算方法。实测资料验算表明该模型具有较高的计算精度。文章最后利用该模型对中国北方地区的蒸散量进行了计算 ,并对该研究区蒸散的特点进行了分析     

计算非均匀地表通量的一种简化PDF及其应用

提出描述地表非均匀特性的简化概率密度函数（PDF），它可代替各种具体的PDF用于求解次网格尺度平均通量而不影响其精度，这种简化PDF可直接加入陆面过程模式方程组中进行陆－气通量交换的数值试验。它对非均匀地表陆面过程参数化具有一定的普适性。本文仅讨论了对称分布的简化计算（非对称分布另文讨论），列举了非均匀分布的观测事实，并以地表净红外辐射通量计算为例，详细验证了应用这种简化PDF的可行性和可靠性。     

国外漂白粘土和澄清粘土的产销现状综述

漂白粘土和澄清粘土应具有较大的表面积、较高的吸附性能及褪色能力,多由膨润土经活化(酸化)处理后制成。当前,德国、美国在世界漂白土生产中占据重要地位。漂白粘土和澄清粘土世界市场销量约86万t/a,其中70％～80％用于食用油和油脂工业。漂白粘土的发展受食用油工业发展的影响最大,亚洲还有较大的发展空间。澄清粘土多用作葡萄酒、果汁等的澄清剂,也有一定的发展前景。漂白土再利用的途径,仍在探索中。     

Signatures in flowing fluid electric conductivity logs

Flowing fluid electric conductivity logging provides a means to determine hydrologic properties of fractures, fracture zones, or other permeable layers intersecting a borehole in saturated rock. The method involves analyzing the time-evolution of fluid electric conductivity (FEC) logs obtained while the well is being pumped and yields information on the location, hydraulic transmissivity, and salinity of permeable layers. The original analysis method was restricted to the case in which flows from the permeable layers or fractures were directed into the borehole (inflow). Recently, the method was adapted to permit treatment of both inflow and outflow, including analysis of natural regional flow in the permeable layer. A numerical model simulates flow and transport in the wellbore during flowing FEC logging, and fracture properties are determined by optimizing the match between simulation results and observed FEC logs. This can be a laborious trial-and-error procedure, especially when both inflow and outflow points are present. Improved analyses methods are needed. One possible tactic would be to develop an automated inverse method, but this paper takes a more elementary approach and focuses on identifying the signatures that various inflow and outflow features create in flowing FEC logs. The physical insight obtained provides a basis for more efficient analysis of these logs, both for the present trial and error approach and for a potential future automated inverse approach. Inflow points produce distinctive signatures in the FEC logs themselves, enabling the determination of location, inflow rate, and ion concentration. Identifying outflow locations and flow rates typically requires a more complicated integral method, which is also presented in this paper.     

Sublittoral seaweed communities on natural and artificial substrata in a high-latitude coral community in South Africa

Coral mortality may result in macroalgal proliferation or a phase shift into an alga-dominated state. Subtidal, high-latitude western Indian Ocean coral communities at Sodwana Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa, have experienced some mortality because of warm-water anomalies, storms and other causes, but the response of the macroalgae is unknown. We investigated the abundance and diversity of benthic algae on different hard natural substrata (dead digitate, brain and plate corals and beach rock) on Two-Mile Reef, Sodwana Bay. We also compared algal communities colonising ceramic, marble and pretreated ceramic tiles placed on the reef for six months. We identified 95 algae (14 Chlorophyta, 11 Phaeophyceae, 69 Rhodophyta and one cyanobacterium). Assemblages on natural and artificial substrata were dominated by the brown alga Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley ex Oliveira and non-geniculate corallines (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae). Cluster and ordination analyses revealed that the algae showed no affinity for particular substrata, whether natural or artificial. Algal cover was occasionally higher on rougher tiles and crustose corallines were significantly more abundant on marble than ceramic tiles. Two-Mile Reef had 23.1% dead and 48.4% live scleractinian coral cover, where dead corals were colonised indiscriminately by many small algal species, but there was no evidence of algal proliferation. The results provide a baseline for monitoring this high-latitude reef system.     

非均匀介质热蠕变流动的数值求解

针对非均匀介质中热蠕变流动问题,给出了有限单元方法与网格－粒子方法联合求解新技术,即有限单元方法求解欧拉网格节点上的未知量,分布于单元内部作为物质成分标记的粒子反映变形过程.有限元法求解动量方程和连续性方程时引入了速度场和压力场等阶插值的压力场稳定的Petrov Galerkin方法,求解能量方程时采用了流线迎风Petrov Galerkin方法,网格－粒子算法中采用双线性插值与有限单元插值函数对应.有限单元计算与网格－粒子计算相对独立,两种方法计算的数据通过有限单元节点传递.同时,实现了三角形单元的算法和程序,解决了复杂结构条件下不规则网格计算的问题.通过经典方腔热对流问题验证了程序,给出了不规则形态块体沉降算例,并分析了数值解的稳定性.     

Monitoring of coral communities in the inner Gulf of Thailand influenced by the elevated seawater temperature and flooding

There were two severe coral bleaching events at Ko Khang Khao, the inner Gulf of Thailand, occurred during the prolonged period of the elevated sea surface temperature (SST) in 2010 and low salinity as well as turbidity due to heavy flooding in 2011. The bleaching index (BI) and mortality index (MI) are calculated to compare the susceptibilities of coral species in the two bleaching events. The BI and MI vary significantly among the study sites and bleaching events. The most susceptible corals during both bleaching events are Acropora millepora, Pocillopora damicornis and Pavona decussate, while the most resistant species were Galaxea fascicularis, Fungia fungites, Pavona frondifera, Oulastrea crispate, and Symphyllia recta. The corals Favia favus, Goniopora columna, Platygyra pini, Symphyllia agaricia were relatively more tolerant to high SST but they are relatively more susceptible to low salinity. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that the dissociation stress of the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and their cnidarian host results in the reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentration. Among stressors, both prolonged exposure of high SST and low salinity, above and below their thresholds, respectively. The long-term resilience of coral communities at Ko Khang Khao and other coral communities close to the mouth of large rivers may depend on the frequency and duration of the exposure on the elevated SST due to atmospheric heating and low salinity due to river flooding.     

A study of coral reef resilience and implications of adaptive management and rehabilitation in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam

The Province of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam, is located in the western South China Sea and boasts a shoreline of 385 km and many islands. Previous studies have indicated the extreme diversity and abundance of coral reefs in its waters as compared with other coastal provinces of Vietnam. A study on the resilience of coral reefs against increased surface water temperature and anthropogenic impact is conducted at 19 reef sites in 2015. At each site, a series of parameters (e.g., coral covers, genus diversity, and coral recruitment, substratum heterogeneity, depth, water exchange level, and sediment deposit and water temperature) are measured quantitatively or semi-quantitatively. The measured data are rated based on the relationship between the parameter values and coral susceptibility; the consideration that reef health reflects the biological capability to adapt to environmental changes and the recruitment potential if bleached; and positive or negative influences of physical factors in the mitigation of thermal stress and protecting corals from bleaching. A cumulative analysis enables researchers to divide the studied reefs into four categories based on varying levels of reef health to support resilience, recovery, and vulnerability in the case of increased water temperature. Relevant management interventions for each category and other supporting activities are suggested to enhance management effectiveness and to plan the rehabilitation of coral reefs for biodiversity conservation and touristic development, taking into account the involvement of related stakeholders.     

Climate change and coral reef bleaching: An ecological assessment of long-term impacts,recovery trends and future outlook

Since the early 1980s, episodes of coral reef bleaching and mortality, due primarily to climate-induced ocean warming, have occurred almost annually in one or more of the world's tropical or subtropical seas. Bleaching is episodic, with the most severe events typically accompanying coupled ocean–atmosphere phenomena, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which result in sustained regional elevations of ocean temperature. Using this extended dataset (25+ years), we review the short- and long-term ecological impacts of coral bleaching on reef ecosystems, and quantitatively synthesize recovery data worldwide. Bleaching episodes have resulted in catastrophic loss of coral cover in some locations, and have changed coral community structure in many others, with a potentially critical influence on the maintenance of biodiversity in the marine tropics. Bleaching has also set the stage for other declines in reef health, such as increases in coral diseases, the breakdown of reef framework by bioeroders, and the loss of critical habitat for associated reef fishes and other biota. Secondary ecological effects, such as the concentration of predators on remnant surviving coral populations, have also accelerated the pace of decline in some areas. Although bleaching severity and recovery have been variable across all spatial scales, some reefs have experienced relatively rapid recovery from severe bleaching impacts. There has been a significant overall recovery of coral cover in the Indian Ocean, where many reefs were devastated by a single large bleaching event in 1998. In contrast, coral cover on western Atlantic reefs has generally continued to decline in response to multiple smaller bleaching events and a diverse set of chronic secondary stressors. No clear trends are apparent in the eastern Pacific, the central-southern-western Pacific or the Arabian Gulf, where some reefs are recovering and others are not. The majority of survivors and new recruits on regenerating and recovering coral reefs have originated from broadcast spawning taxa with a potential for asexual growth, relatively long distance dispersal, successful settlement, rapid growth and a capacity for framework construction. Whether or not affected reefs can continue to function as before will depend on: (1) how much coral cover is lost, and which species are locally extirpated; (2) the ability of remnant and recovering coral communities to adapt or acclimatize to higher temperatures and other climatic factors such as reductions in aragonite saturation state; (3) the changing balance between reef accumulation and bioerosion; and (4) our ability to maintain ecosystem resilience by restoring healthy levels of herbivory, macroalgal cover, and coral recruitment. Bleaching disturbances are likely to become a chronic stress in many reef areas in the coming decades, and coral communities, if they cannot recover quickly enough, are likely to be reduced to their most hardy or adaptable constituents. Some degraded reefs may already be approaching this ecological asymptote, although to date there have not been any global extinctions of individual coral species as a result of bleaching events. Since human populations inhabiting tropical coastal areas derive great value from coral reefs, the degradation of these ecosystems as a result of coral bleaching and its associated impacts is of considerable societal, as well as biological concern. Coral reef conservation strategies now recognize climate change as a principal threat, and are engaged in efforts to allocate conservation activity according to geographic-, taxonomic-, and habitat-specific priorities to maximize coral reef survival. Efforts to forecast and monitor bleaching, involving both remote sensed observations and coupled ocean–atmosphere climate models, are also underway. In addition to these efforts, attempts to minimize and mitigate bleaching impacts on reefs are immediately required. If significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved within the next two to three decades, maximizing coral survivorship during this time may be critical to ensuring healthy reefs can recover in the long term.