Occurrence of juvenile Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus in brackish estuaries

Juvenile Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus usually inhabit high salinity inshore sandy areas. In June–August 1997, 25 individuals of juvenile Japanese flounder (33–75 mm total length) were collected in the Natori and Nanakita River estuaries in Sendai Bay, Japan. This is the first record of this species being collected in brackish estuaries in which salinities fluctuate from 0 to 30 over a spring tidal cycle. Factors of rainfall, river flow, or year class strength of Japanese flounder were unable to explain the unusual occurrence of this species in the estuaries. The collected juvenile Japanese flounder were considered to have migrated into the estuaries around the time of the passage of an unusually early typhoon that affected this area, indicating the possibility that this species utilizes estuaries for refuge from strong disturbance in its usual habitats. The juveniles fed mainly upon mysids both in the estuaries and the sandy beach area, indicating that estuaries can be a substitute nursery habitat for this species.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Rabat: Urban Apartheid in Morocco . Janet Abu -Lughod . Marketplaces in a Developing Country: The Case of Western Nigeria . Isaac Ayinde Adalemo . Farming Development and Space: A World Agricultural Geography . Bernd Andreae . Section and Party: A Political Geography of American Presidential Elections, from Andrew Jackson to Ronald Reagan . J. Clark Archer and Peter J. Taylor . Women and Space: Ground Rules and Social Maps . Shirley Ardener , ed. European Progress in Spatial Analysis . R. J. Bennett , ed. The Origins of Academic Geography in the United States . Brian W. Blouet Geographic Perspectives on Global Problems . Ronald Reed Boyce . Seasonal Dimensions to Rural Poverty . Robert Chambers , Richard Longhurst and Arnold Pacey eds. The New Nationalism and the Use of Common Spaces: Issues in Marine Pollution and the Exploitation of Antarctica . Jonathan I. Charney , ed. Communications Tomorrow: The Coming of the Information Society . Edward Cornish , ed. The Design of Suburbia . Arthur Edwards . Explorer on the Northern Plains: Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren's Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nebraska and Dakota in the Years 1855–56–57. With an Introduction by Frank N. Schubert . The Changing Climate: Responses of the Natural Flora and Fauna . Michael J. Ford . Essentials of Physical Geography . Robert E. Gabler , Robert J. Sager , Sheila Brazier , and Daniel L. Wise. The Road to Jaramillo . William Glen . Valued Environments . John R. Gold and Jacquelin Burgess , eds. Proximity and Preference: Problems in the Multidimensional Analysis of Large Data Sets . Reginald G. Golledge and John N. Rayner , eds. A Search for Common Ground . Peter Gould and Gunnar Olsson , eds. Geography: Its History and Concepts . Arild Holt -Jensen . A Population Geography . Huw R. Jones . The Human Mosaic: A Thematic Introduction to Cultural Geography, 3rd ed. Terry G. Jordan and Lester Rowntree . Urban Social Geography: An Introduction . Paul Knox . The Anatomy of Job Loss: The How, Why and Where of Employment Decline . Doreen Massey and Richard Meegan . The Information Society as Post-Industial Society . Yoneji Masuda . Map Librarianship, 2nd ed. Harold Nichols . India: Cultural Patterns and Processes . Allen G. Noble and Ashok K. Dutt , eds. The God that Limps: Science and Technology in the Eighties . Colin Norman . Geography: An Introductory Perspective . Robert E. Norris , Keith D. Harries and John D. Vitek . The Politics of Technology Assessment . David M. O'Brien and Donald A. Marchand . Ethnic Segregation in Cities . Ceri Peach , Vaughan Robinson and Susan Smith , eds. Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1980 . Bernard Quinn , Herman Anderson , Martin Bradley , Paul Goetting and Peggy Shriver . Energy in Australia: Politics and Economics . Hugh Saddler . Development from Above or Below? The Dialectics of Regional Planning in Developing Countries . Walter B. Stóuhr and D. R. Fraser Taylor , eds. Human Impact on the Ecosystem . Joy Tivy and Greg O'Hare . Plants and People: Vegetation Change in North America . Thomas R. Vale . The Mapmakers: The Story of the Great Pioneers in Cartography from Antiquity to the Space Age . John Noble Wilford .     

涠洲岛珊瑚礁近千年的发育过程及其对气候变化的响应*

高纬度珊瑚栖息地能否成为气候变暖背景下热带珊瑚物种的“避难所”仍不明确, 南海北部的相关研究更是稀少。本文以取自涠洲岛的2根珊瑚礁沉积岩心为研究对象, 通过U-Th定年、沉积组分分析以及珊瑚种属鉴定等方法, 探讨近千年以来珊瑚礁的发育过程及其对气候变化的响应。研究结果发现, Core1(石螺口)岩心沉积的3个快速堆积阶段分别与罗马暖期、中世纪暖期和现代暖期大致对应; 而2个缓慢堆积阶段则分别与黑暗时代冷期和小冰期大致对应, 证实了温暖的气候对珊瑚礁发育有促进作用, 而寒冷的气候则不利于珊瑚礁的发育; 此外, 现代强烈的人为干扰可能也导致了涠洲岛珊瑚礁的迅速退化。Core2(南湾)中陆源沉积含量高, 珊瑚年龄主要集中在800AD—950AD和现代这两个时间段内, 其原因可能与环境变化、风暴作用及湾内现代珊瑚分布特征有关。通过对比这两个站位的珊瑚礁沉积特征, 本文进一步提出“完全避难所”和“非完全避难所”的概念, 揭示涠洲岛珊瑚可能同时具有低纬度热带珊瑚礁和高纬度珊瑚群落这两种发育特征和趋势。     

Prey characteristics and dietary composition in intertidal Astrostole scabra (Echinodermata: Asteroidea)

Dietary composition in juvenile Astrostole scabra at Kaikoura, New Zealand (42°25′S, 173°42′E), changed qualitatively with increased seastar size so that food was partitioned amongst starfish size classes according to a combination of prey species and size. Small A. scabra fed more frequently than large specimens. Size‐discriminant feeding was evident as large Turbo smaragdus and Risellopsis varia, small Melagraphia aethiops, and intermediate sized Micrelenchus dilatatus, Ischnochiton maorianus, Onithochiton neglectus, and Amaurochiton glaucus were consumed in proportions greater than those found in the habitat. Major prey species have both spatial and size refuges from predation.     

Influence of rock‐pool characteristics on the distribution and abundance of inter‐tidal fishes

Rock pools can be found in inter‐tidal marine environments worldwide; however, there have been few studies exploring what drives their, fish species composition, especially in Australia. The rock‐pool environment is highly dynamic and offers a unique natural laboratory to study the habitat choices, physiological limitations and adaptations of inter‐tidal fish species. In this study rock pools of the Sydney region were sampled to determine how the physical (volume, depth, rock cover and vertical position) and biological (algal cover and predator presence) parameters of pools influence fish distribution and abundance. A total of 27 fish species representing 14 families was observed in tide pools at the four study locations. The five most abundant species were Bathygobius cocosensis, Centropogon australis, Enneapterygius atrogulare, Lepidoblennius haplodactylus and Microcanthus strigatus, which together represented 71% of the total number of fish recorded. Larger rock pools containing more algal and rock ledge cover hosted a larger and more diverse population of fish. Furthermore, certain species were only found in pools with specific characteristics, such as the presence of loose shells, a variety algae or rock cover, suggesting a high degree of habitat specificity. By contrast, some species were ubiquitous and thus can likely tolerate a wide variety of physical conditions.