Linkages between Alaskan sockeye salmon abundance, growth at sea, and climate, 1955–2002

We tested the hypothesis that increased growth of salmon during early marine life contributed to greater survival and abundance of salmon following the 1976/1977 climate regime shift and that this, in turn, led to density-dependent reductions in growth during late marine stages. Annual measurements of Bristol Bay (Bering Sea) and Chignik (Gulf of Alaska) sockeye salmon scale growth from 1955 to 2002 were used as indices of body growth. During the first and second years at sea, growth of both stocks tended to be higher after the 1976–1977 climate shift, whereas growth during the third year and homeward migration was often below average. Multiple regression models indicated that return per spawner of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon and adult abundance of western and central Alaska sockeye salmon were positively correlated with growth during the first 2 years at sea and negatively correlated with growth during later life stages. After accounting for competition between Bristol Bay sockeye and Asian pink salmon, age-specific adult length of Bristol Bay salmon increased after the 1976–1977 regime shift, then decreased after the 1989 climate shift. Late marine growth and age-specific adult length of Bristol Bay salmon was exceptionally low after 1989, possibly reducing their reproductive potential. These findings support the hypothesis that greater marine growth during the first 2 years at sea contributed to greater salmon survival and abundance, which in turn led to density-dependent growth during later life stages when size-related mortality was likely lower. Our findings provide new evidence supporting the importance of bottom-up control in marine ecosystems and highlight the complex dynamics of species interactions that continually change as salmon grow and mature in the ocean.     

Competition within the marine microalgae over the polar dark period in the Greenland Sea of high Arctic

Abstract-With the onset of winter, polar marine microalgae would have faced total darkness for aperiod of up to 6 months. A natural autumn community of Arctic sea ice microalgae was collected fordark survival experiments from the Greenland Sea during the ARKTIS-XI/2 Expedition of RV Po-larstern in October 1995. After a dark period of 161 days, species dominance in the algal assemblagehave changed from initially pennate diatoms to small phytoflagellates (<20μm). Over the entire darkperiod, the mean algal growth rate was-0.01 d~(-1). Nearly all diatom species had negative growthrates, while phytoflagellate abundance increased. Resting spore formation during the dark period was ob-served in less than 4.5% of all cells and only for dinoflagellates and the diatom Chaetoceros spp. We as-sume that facultative heterotrophy and energy storage are the main processes enabling survival during thedark Arctic winter. After an increase in light intensity, microalgal cells reacted with fast growth withindays. Phytoffa     

Depth Zonation, Micro habitat, and Morphology of Three Species of Acanthemblemaria (Pisces: Blennioidea) in the Guif of California, Mexico

Abstract. The utilization of the spatial resources of refuge type, size and depth placement is investigated in the three sympatric species of Acanthemblemaria at the cape region of Baja California, Mexico. A. balanorum occupies barnacle testes (Balanus tintinnabulum), A. macrospilus occupies barnacles and mollusk tubes (vermetid gastropods and pholadids), and A. crockeri occupies only mollusk tubes (pholadids). Refuge diameter overlap is higher than overlap in depth. A. crockeri consistently occupies depths below 5m. Competition experiments for barnacle refuges among the three species indicate that A. balanorum is a superior competitor for such refuges. Prior residency of a less superior species changes the outcome of refuge competition in its favor. The morphological specialization of A. balanorum and A. macrospilus is evident in a high correlation between head size and standard length. A. balanorum selects refuges with entrance diameters highly correlated to standard length.     

大型海藻龙须菜与锥状斯氏藻间的营养竞争研究

利用生物和化学方法研究了大型海藻龙须菜（Gracilaria lemaneiformis）与赤潮生物锥状斯氏藻（Scrippsiella trochoidea （Stein） Loeblich Ⅲ）共培养时二者的生长情况,以及二者之间营养盐NO-3、PO3-4竞争的情况.结果显示,两者共培养时,由于龙须菜的影响,锥状斯氏藻的生长周期以及所能达到的最大细胞密度与对照组相比都有所下降,且受抑制程度随龙须菜起始密度的增大而增强;而锥状斯氏藻对于龙须菜的生长不构成明显的影响.当龙须菜起始密度较低时（0.2、0.1gFW/L）,共培养组微藻细胞密度的下降是因为水体中NO-3的耗尽;当龙须菜起始密度较高时（0.5gFW/L）,共培养组微藻细胞密度的下降可能是因为龙须菜与微藻之间的“互荫效应”,或者龙须菜能够分泌出足够浓度的克生物质所致.龙须菜可作为有效吸收营养盐的大型海藻,用以降低近海水域富营养化程度及有害赤潮发生的几率.     

From catfish to organic fish: making distinctions about nature as cultural economic practice

This paper addresses the cultural economy of nature and the material culture of economic practice. Attending to ways that cultural notions about the biophysical world play key roles in political economic conflicts, discussion centers on two recent debates involving the cultural economy of seafood production and trade. The first debate is over whether the label “catfish” should include catfish imported from Vietnam into the United States; the second deals with whether fish and shellfish should be eligible to be certified “organic” under new US regulations. Analysis reveals that the key dynamic in these debates is not necessarily how people think about “nature”, but instead is how people make distinctions about the world. Rather than focusing on what is natural or not, key actors make distinctions among both organisms and environments. The ways that different groups define and enclose the biophysical world works to distinguish places as either appropriate or not for certain kinds of production activities. The overall argument is that significance and meaning of the biophysical become implicated in economic geographies by making distinctions about the world that then become important for how economic activity can work. As such, cultural economic approaches should attend to the ways that the biophysical is involved in relations such as competition and international trade, while nature-society approaches should shift focus from Nature to specific aspects of the biophysical world.     

Alien aquatic plants in a thermally abnormal river and their assembly to neophyte-dominated macrophyte stands (River Erft, Northrhine-Westphalia)

Floristic surveys, vegetation mapping, and detailed transect analyses rendered a macrophyte flora of 14 native and five alien taxa of flowering plants in the River Erft, a contributory of the River Rhine in Northrhine-Westphalia. Water temperatures of this river do not fall below 10 °C all the year round, for reasons of geothermically heated water discharged from nearby opencast mining areas. Macrophyte stand structures, composed of the neophytes Azolla filiculoides and Lemna minuta (floating) and Myriophyllum aquaticum, Egeria densa, and Vallisneria spiralis (rooted in the muddy or sandy ground of the river) are described and the ecological requirements of these taxa are characterized. The alien species can be seen as elements that increase the α-diversity of the aquatic vegetation of the River Erft. They do not replace any of the native species, even if shifts in the competition dynamics occur. The colonization by neophytes of the abnormally warmed River Erft can be appreciated as paradigmatic for trends in the macrophyte vegetation of medium-sized rivers in Central Europe when climate-related or discharge-based heating of the waterbody occurs and propagules of alien plants imported by waterfowl or – more important – plants from aquarium waste will find suitable places of existence and spread.     

The impact of shade on establishment of shrubs adapted to the high light irradiation of semi-arid environments

Light may be an important limiting resource that influences community structure of chenopod shrublands. As part of a larger study that aimed to determine the factors that influence chenopod community structure, the focus of this study was the influence of plant canopy on the growth and establishment of smaller plants. We therefore measured the height and cover of three chenopods (Enchylaena tomentosa, Maireana brevifolia and Maireana georgei) when growing within and outside of the canopy of Atriplex bunburyana under field conditions. All three chenopods had lower cover and E. tomentosa was taller when growing within the canopy of A. bunburyana in comparison to those growing outside of the canopy. The chenopods were then grown under three artificial shade regimes. Plant height, cover, biomass, relative leaf area and photosynthetic surface area measurements showed that each species responded differently to shade. E. tomentosa biomass was facilitated by shade. This was inferred by an increase in total plant biomass. M. brevifolia, in contrast, tolerated shade by increasing above-ground biomass allocation. M. georgei was adversely affected by the shade regimes: root biomass decreased in response to shade. Competition for light is, therefore, likely to influence chenopod community structure of semi-arid and arid environments.     

Evaluation of food competition and resource partitioning of recruiting fish with permanent residents in a seagrass habitat

ABSTRACT

Recruiting King George whiting Sillaginodes punctatus were studied to assess the potential for food competition with permanent resident fish species in a nursery habitat. Marine migrant post larval S. punctatus (<60?mm TL) consumed primarily harpacticoid copepods and had high (>0.6) diet overlap with permanent resident fish species Favonigobius leteralis and Stigmatopora nigra. Food electivity index indicated that S. punctatus juveniles preferred harpacticoid copepods and amphipods, while juvenile Heteroclinus adelaide and Gymnapistes marmoratus migrating to the nursery habitat targeted larger prey such as amphipods. Preference for larger prey by H. adelaide and G. marmoratus species coupled with differences in prey composition in the stomach was due to mouth size and feeding habits, resulting in different food preferences to S. punctatus. The whiting showed an ontogenetic shift in diet with early settlers (>60?mm TL) consuming less copepods and more amphipods, while previous year recruits (>120?mm TL) consumed polychaete worms. This study indicates that competition for food resources between the new recruiting S. punctatus juveniles and permanent resident juveniles is reduced through differences in temporal and spatial feeding behaviours, mouth morphology, and ontogenetic shift in prey consumption.     

欧美的小规模建筑设计事务所

2006年是我国承诺对WTO成员国实行全面开放的最后一年。为提升竞争力，国内上万家中小型建筑设计单位面临着改制的任务。未来的设计机构应以什么模式为主导，值得大家探讨。本文提供欧美一些小规模设计事务所的运作模式和经营状况，供参考。     

尺度转换视角下易武斗茶会的构建与变迁

选取易武斗茶会为研究案例,以尺度转换为理论分析工具,通过参与式观察法和半结构化访谈法,深入分析易武斗茶会的发展历程并展示推动其发展演变的多元社会主体的不同行动与实践。研究发现：① 易武斗茶会的演变过程中存在2种尺度转换的方式,一种是为迎合普洱茶市场细分而进行的尺度下推,另一种是根据地方发展需求而进行的尺度上推。② 易武斗茶会尺度转换是在地方政府的推动、茶企的支持、茶农的配合以及茶客的偏好下共同驱动的。③ 多元主体的行动在推动易武斗茶会尺度转换的过程中满足了各自群体的利益诉求,地方依凭茶叶经济实现了本土发展。从节事的角度对中国茶文化进行深入分析研究,为茶村如何通过地方性节事活动实现本土发展提供理论依据与案例借鉴。