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1.
Maturity index(MI), based on nematode life strategies, has been proposed in 1990 to assess the possible variations of the terrestrial and freshwater nematode assemblages induced by anthropogenic activities. It was subsequently applied also to marine ecosystems and, even if comparatively not yet very popular, it offers a good method to assess the ecological quality in relation to a wide range of anthropogenic drivers. However, few data are available on its response to physical stress, a key factor especially in the coastal areas. In this study, marine nematode genera from two study cases carried out in Maldives are used to test both MI and life strategy traits(i.e., c-p classes) for detecting the effects of physical disturbance. The results confirm that nematodes are well adapted to physical stress showing a general high rate of recovery. C-p scaling and MI did not seem to be appropriate for revealing this disturbance type probably because there are no empirical evidences on the life strategy of several genera, and a possible differential response to various disturbance types may be hypothesized.  相似文献   

2.
Many marine ecosystems exhibit a characteristic “wasp-waist” structure, where a single species, or at most several species, of small planktivorous fishes entirely dominate their trophic level. These species have complex life histories that result in radical variability that may propagate to both higher and lower trophic levels of the ecosystem. In addition, these populations have two key attributes: (1) they represent the lowest trophic level that is mobile, so they are capable of relocating their area of operation according to their own internal dynamics; (2) they may prey upon the early life stages of their predators, forming an unstable feedback loop in the trophic system that may, for example, precipitate abrupt regime shifts. Experience with the typical “boom-bust” dynamics of this type of population, and with populations that interact trophically with them, suggests a “predator pit” type of dynamics. This features a refuge from predation when abundance is very low, very destructive predation between an abundance level sufficient to attract interest from predators and an abundance level sufficient to satiate available predators, and, as abundance increases beyond this satiation point, decreasing specific predation mortality and population breakout. A simple formalism is developed to describe these dynamics. Examples of its application include (a) a hypothetical mechanism for progressive geographical habitat expansion at high biomass, (b) an explanation for the out-of-phase alternations of abundances of anchovies and sardines in many regional systems that appear to occur without substantial adverse interactions between the two species groups, and (c) an account of an interaction of environmental processes and fishery exploitation that caused a regime shift. The last is the example of the Baltic Sea, where the cod resource collapsed in concert with establishment of dominance of that ecosystem by the cod’s ‘wasp-waist” prey, herring and sprat.  相似文献   

3.
Regime shifts: Can ecological theory illuminate the mechanisms?   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
“Regime shifts” are considered here to be low-frequency, high-amplitude changes in oceanic conditions that may be especially pronounced in biological variables and propagate through several trophic levels. Three different types of regime shift (smooth, abrupt and discontinuous) are identified on the basis of different patterns in the relationship between the response of an ecosystem variable (usually biotic) and some external forcing or condition (control variable). The smooth regime shift is represented by a quasi-linear relationship between the response and control variables. The abrupt regime shift exhibits a nonlinear relationship between the response and control variables, and the discontinuous regime shift is characterized by the trajectory of the response variable differing when the forcing variable increases compared to when it decreases (i.e., the occurrence of alternative “stable” states). Most often, oceanic regime shifts are identified from time series of biotic variables (often commercial fish), but this approach does not allow the identification of discontinuous regime shifts. Recognizing discontinuous regime shifts is, however, particularly important as evidence from terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems suggests that such regime shifts may not be immediately reversible. Based on a review of various generic classes of mathematical models, we conclude that regime shifts arise from the interaction between population processes and external forcing variables. The shift between ecosystem states can be caused by gradual, cumulative changes in the forcing variable(s) or it can be triggered by acute disturbances, either anthropogenic or natural. A protocol for diagnosing the type of regime shift encountered is described and applied to a data set on Georges Bank haddock, from which it is concluded that a discontinuous regime shift in the abundance of haddock may have occurred. It is acknowledged that few, if any, marine data are available to confirm the occurrence of discontinuous regime shifts in the ocean. Nevertheless, we argue that there is good theoretical evidence for their occurrence as well as some anecdotal evidence from data collection campaigns and that the possibility of their occurrence should be recognized in the development of natural resource management strategies.  相似文献   

4.
No explicit “integrated coastal and ocean management” policy or program has been formally instituted to manage coastal and marine issues in México. Nevertheless two existing environmental policy tools: ecological zoning programs and coastal and marine protected areas, which have incorporated interagency and multi-stakeholder participation within their design, are currently being used in lieu of such strategy. Coastal and marine protected areas in México are the result of independent initiatives taken over the last 75 years and as a group cannot be characterized as the result of a systematic approach. Nevertheless México's 55 coastal and marine protected areas currently with a valid legal decree, occupy 11,791,824 ha which represents 69% of Mexico's total protected area surface. Only 46% of these include marine ecosystems with a total of 3,577,527 ha with the remaining 8,216,194 ha consisting of coastal ecosystems. (See In press update.)  相似文献   

5.
Islands are often considered to be a priority for conservation, because of their relatively high levels of biodiversity and their vulnerability to a range of natural and anthropogenic threats. However, the capacity of islands to conserve and manage biodiversity may depend upon their governance structures. Many island states are affiliated to other countries through an ‘overseas territory’ status, which may provide them with access to resources and support mechanisms, but which may also influence the capacity for local-scale management of environmental issues. The United Kingdom has 12 island Overseas Territories (UKOTs), most of which support biodiversity of high conservation concern. This study investigates perceptions of current and future threats to marine ecosystems and constraints to environmental protection on the six Caribbean UKOTs, through semi-structured interviews with officials from UK and UKOT government departments and non-governmental organisations. Coastal development, pollution and over-fishing were perceived as threats of most concern for the next decade, but climate change was perceived as by far the greatest future threat to the islands' marine ecosystems. However, a series of common institutional limitations that currently constrain mitigation and conservation efforts were also identified, including insufficient personnel and financial support, a lack of long-term, sustainable projects for persistent environmental problems and inadequate environmental legislation. These findings highlight the need for regional cooperation and capacity-building throughout the Caribbean and a more concerted approach to an UKOT environmental management by the UK and UKOTs' governments.  相似文献   

6.
The results of several recent isolated investigations in planing theory are consolidated in this paper, together with new insights generated by a recent numerical solution of the vertically impacting wedge problem by Zhao and Faltinsen [(1992), Water entry of two-dimensional bodies. J. Fluid Mech. 246, 593–612]. As a result, in contrast to some earlier studies, it is found that the “wetted width” associated with the added mass is not that of the intersection of the wedge with the undisturbed water surface, but the wetted width of the splashed-up water, as originally proposed by Wagner [(1932), Uber Stoss-und Gleitvorgange an der Oberflache von Flussig-Keiten, Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, Band 12, Heft 4 (August)]. However, the splash-up ratio is not the value of (π/2–1) which he proposed, but a value which decreases with increasing deadrise, originally proposed in the late-1940s by Pierson (“Pierson's hypothesis” in the paper). For 30° deadrise, for example, Pierson's splash-up ratio is two-thirds that of Wagner's.The new equations are employed to determine the increase in the “added mass” of prismatic hull sections due to chine immersion, using experimental data. If mo is the added amss of the hull section whose chines are just wetted, Payne [(1988), Design of High-speed Boats. Volume 1: Planing. Fishergate, Inc., Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.A.] postulated that the increase in added mass due to a chine submergence (zc) would be
where b is the chine beam and k is a constant which Payne [(1988), Design of High-speed Boats. Volume 1: Planing. Fishergate, Inc., Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.A.] gave as .The present analysis includes the “one-sided flow” correction introduced in Payne [(1990), Planing and impacting forces at large trim angels. Ocean Engng 17, 201–234]. Partly for that reason and partly because of the more precise analysis of the experimental data, the present paper revises the value to k = 2 for wetted length to beam ratios normally employed. For deadrise angles in excess of 40° and wetted keel to beam ratios in excess of 2.0, there is some evidence that k < 2.0.The revised theoretical formulation is compared with eight different sets of experimental data for flat plate and prismatic hull forms and is found to be in excellent agreement when the speed is high enough for “dynamic suction” (a loss of buoyancy at low speeds and low wetted lenghts) to be unimportant. This is true for “chines-dry” operation with deadrise angles up to 50° and chines-wet operation at length to beam ratios far in excess of the most extreme conventional practice.The research involved in performing this analysis led to the realization that different towing tanks measure different wetted chine lengths for the same hulls and test conditions. Some consistently measure more splash-up than “theory” (based on Pierson's splash-up hypothesis) predicts and others measure somewhat less than the theory. Some examples are given in Appendix B. The reason for this is not understood.  相似文献   

7.
Numerical simulations using a physiologically-based model of marine ecosystem size spectrum are conducted to study the influence of primary production and temperature on energy flux through marine ecosystems. In stable environmental conditions, the model converges toward a stationary linear log–log size-spectrum. In very productive ecosystems, the model predicts that small size classes are depleted by predation, leading to a curved size-spectrum.It is shown that the absolute level of primary production does not affect the slope of the stationary size-spectrum but has a nonlinear effect on its intercept and hence on the total biomass of consumer organisms (the carrying capacity). Three domains are distinguished: at low primary production, total biomass is independent from production changes because loss processes dominate dissipative processes (biological work); at high production, ecosystem biomass is proportional to primary production because dissipation dominates losses; an intermediate transition domain characterizes mid-production ecosystems. Our results enlighten the paradox of the very high ecosystem biomass/primary production ratios which are observed in poor oceanic regions. Thus, maximal dissipation (least action and low ecosystem biomass/primary production ratios) is reached at high primary production levels when the ecosystem is efficient in transferring energy from small sizes to large sizes. Conversely, least dissipation (most action and high ecosystem biomass/primary production ratios) characterizes the simulated ecosystem at low primary production levels when it is not efficient in dissipating energy.Increasing temperature causes enhanced predation mortality and decreases the intercept of the stationary size spectrum, i.e., the total ecosystem biomass. Total biomass varies as the inverse of the Arrhenius coefficient in the loss domain. This approximation is no longer true in the dissipation domain where nonlinear dissipation processes dominate over linear loss processes. Our results suggest that in a global warming context, at constant primary production, a 2–4 °C warming would lead to a 20–43% decrease of ecosystem biomass in oligotrophic regions and to a 15–32% decrease of biomass in eutrophic regions.Oscillations of primary production or temperature induce waves which propagate along the size-spectrum and which amplify until a “resonant range” which depends on the period of the environmental oscillations. Small organisms oscillate in phase with producers and are bottom-up controlled by primary production oscillations. In the “resonant range”, prey and predators oscillate out of phase with alternating periods of top-down and bottom-up controls. Large organisms are not influenced by bottom-up effects of high frequency phytoplankton variability or by oscillations of temperature.  相似文献   

8.
Ocean policies around the world increasingly emphasize the importance of maintaining resilient ocean ecosystems, communities, and economies. To maintain and restore the resilience of healthy marine ecosystems in practice, specific management objectives with metrics and a policy framework for how to apply them will be needed. Here we present a concept for doing this, based on evidence that marine ecosystems transition from desirable to less desirable states in response to a number of physical, chemical, and biological drivers. More empirical and synthesis research will be necessary to develop quantitative metrics of resilience and thresholds between ecosystem states for specific ecosystems; however, suggestions are provided here for how to manage for resilience when insufficient data and knowledge are available for quantification. A summary of thresholds for biotic and abiotic drivers of ecosystem state drawn from the literature is also provided as a guide to management.  相似文献   

9.
The seas in North-East Asia, the Yellow/East China Sea and the East Sea, which are semi-enclosed seas constituting unitary ecosystems are now facing many problems such as depletion of fish stocks, poor fishery management policies, and large-scale deterioration of the marine environment. The fishery resources of the region have long been subject to heavy fishing pressures, and many stocks are now believed to be seriously depleted and may be in danger of extinction because of overfishing. In addition, poor fishery management policies have accelerated overfishing and the rapid depletion of fish stocks. Considering this rapidly deteriorating situation, regional co-operation based on the 1982 UN Convention among coastal states should be given top priority. Most fish stocks in the region migrate beyond the jurisdiction of any one country. Indeed, one state by itself can easily destroy fishery resources because semi-enclosed seas, particularly those such as the Yellow/East China Sea and the East Sea, cannot be managed effectively without close co-operation among the coastal states.  相似文献   

10.
工业革命以来,人类活动导致的以二氧化碳为代表的温室气体持续排放,被认为与全球气候变化密切相关,引发诸多极端气候事件,导致海平面上升、海水酸化、海水暖化等一系列环境负面效应。海洋是地球最大的活跃碳库,增汇潜力巨大。为应对全球气候变化,人为干预海洋生态系统、促进其对大气二氧化碳额外吸收封存的海洋负排放技术体系成为国际研究热点。根据负排放技术的应用场景,目前海洋负排放技术体系涵盖侧重于生态保护和修复的滨海湿地蓝碳、侧重于环境友好型养殖产业的海水养殖环境碳汇和借助生态工程技术手段的负排放工程增汇。海洋负排放技术在实现人为增汇的同时,有望通过促进海洋生物的生长和繁殖、提高海洋生态系统的稳定性和抗干扰能力、促进海洋生态系统内部及其与陆地生态系统之间的资源循环利用,发挥其生态治理功能,从而应对海洋环流改变、海水酸化脱氧等全球海洋环境恶化以及人类活动污染的局部胁迫。  相似文献   

11.
Deep-sea ecosystems are fragile yet diverse habitats that are sensitive to disturbance. In the northern Gulf of Mexico deepwater extraction of hydrocarbons led to the accidental release of four million barrels of oil from the Macondo wellhead in 2010. The release of oil combined with the addition of dispersant at depth and the resulting delivery of oiled “marine snow” led to dramatic disruptions of diversity and ecosystem services within the near field deep-sea benthic communities. Analysis of the biological trait diversity of the surrounding megabenthos reveals notable loss of traits that may explain the stunted recovery of communities within 2 km of the wellhead. The present megafauna show complete loss of some traits relating to tier, motility, and feeding mechanisms. Functional evenness was higher than in surveyed unaffected sites, highlighting some loss of trait space, reflecting increasing abundances of scavengers and the loss of sessile invertebrates. Loss of biological traits that aid in ecosystem resilience has impeded recovery of benthic communities severely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  相似文献   

12.
Managers of marine protected areas (MPAs) are constantly challenged to encourage positive user behaviour to minimise impacts on marine ecosystems while allowing recreational use. Yet, some marine users continue to act in ways that diminish conservation values of the area. Drawing on social psychological theories, this paper presents a case for informed behaviour change strategies to reduce problem behaviours in MPAs and contribute to conservation efforts. Social psychological drivers of behaviour are explained and applied to an MPA context to demonstrate how they can inform strategies for predicting and changing behaviour using persuasive communication. As behavioural and persuasive communication theories are seldom invoked and almost never rigorously applied to MPAs, the review offers new theoretical and practical insights into how they can assist MPA management to target and shift specific behaviours that ultimately support marine park values.  相似文献   

13.
Multiple hypotheses have emerged to explain the apparent paradox of high diversity of the deep‐sea benthos when the environmental conditions are often predicted to inhibit rather than promote diversity. Many fundamental facets of these paradigms remain incompletely understood despite being central to understanding how deep‐sea ecosystems, and more generally all ecosystems, function. Here, we examine nine major paradigms of deep‐sea diversity that deserve, in our opinion, a fresh research impetus. We purposely challenge many of these ideas to generate dialogue and encourage further research. Some of the axiomatic predictions of these paradigms are: (i) the deep sea is highly diverse; (ii) stable environments reduce competition; (iii) species have finely partitioned niches; (iv) biological cropping promotes diversity; (v) disturbance controls diversity; (vi) patch mosaics structure assemblages; (vii) productivity controls diversity; (viii) recovery from disturbance is slow; and (ix) the deep sea is notoriously under‐sampled. We critically examine the evidence for each of these predictions and highlight areas where knowledge gaps exist and linkages to general ecological theory should occur. We conclude each section with ideas about questions and hypotheses that may fruitfully be tackled in future projects.  相似文献   

14.
Informing the management of coastal marine habitats at broad spatial scales is difficult because of the costs associated with collecting and analyzing ecological data at that scale. Spatially explicit assessments of the risk to coastal marine habitats from cumulative threats provide an alternative approach by identifying sites that are exposed to multiple anthropogenic threats at broad scales. In this study, qualitative measures of vulnerability were combined with geospatial data to evaluate the risk to coastal seagrasses at the scale of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region (∼26,000 km2) of Queensland, Australia. The risk assessment outputs identified agricultural, urban and industrial runoff, and urban and port developments as the major anthropogenic activities threatening coastal seagrasses. ‘Hot spots’ with multiple threat exposure were all in industrial port locations and the southern two-thirds of the GBR. There is a distinct discontinuity in threat exposure along the GBR coast with 98% of seagrass meadows in the northern third exposed to only low levels of anthropogenic risk. The clustering of threat exposure is discussed in terms of coastal management policy. The approach outlined in this study provides management agencies a method of achieving maximum return for minimal investment in data collection at broad spatial scales by identifying sites where management intervention would be best targeted.  相似文献   

15.
Brazilian legislation defines coastal zone as a national patrimony – the geographic space of interaction of air, sea and land formed by the counties directly influenced, but not necessarily by those located in the coastline; also included are those distant until 50 km from the coastline, holding activities of great impact for the coastal zone or its ecosystems. The definition includes also the territorial sea of 12 nautical miles. Coastal management is conducted by a national plan legally enforced, complemented by states and counties plans, and a coastal ecologic-economic zoning limited to small portions of the coastal zone. A resolution of the “Environmental National Council” defines as “permanent preservation areas”, of very restricted use, coastal ecosystems as mangroves, sand dunes, and reproduction sites of wild fauna. One could expect that the Brazilian coast should be more protected and properly managed than other countries where a national management plan is lacking (Argentina) or where the guidelines exist but are not yet legally enforced (South Africa). Notwithstanding, we note today in Brazil an intensification of conflicts opposing small-scale vs. industrial fishermen; shrimp farming vs. mangrove crab harvesting; resorts installation vs. native communities; oil and gas activities vs. NGOs; and conflicts on environmental permit between federal and state governmental agencies. This paper evaluates the possible reasons for the failure of the complex legal suite available in Brazil and suggests that participatory management and concerted actions with relevant stakeholders are the key elements for the successful cases.  相似文献   

16.
We propose a new information technology aimed at modeling of biochemical processes in marine ecosystems and based on the use of logical operators of control (intelligent agents) in the dynamic equations of the models. We develop a conceptual model of an ecosystem reflecting the interaction of 17 biochemical processes and 5 external factors. The equations of the model are obtained by the method of adaptive balance of causes (ABC method), which enables one to simulate complex scenarios of the processes running in the investigated systems and guarantees the possibility of robust calculations. Some examples of the behavior of ecosystems under the conditions of deficiency of oxygen caused by the action of natural and anthropogenic factors are presented. As a result, it is possible to make a conclusion that the combined application of the ABC-equations and intelligent agents of control in models of marine ecosystems is quite promising.  相似文献   

17.
Marine sediments in continental shelf ecosystems harbor a rich biodiversity of benthic communities. In this study, the spatial and temporal diversity and community assemblages of free‐living marine nematodes were studied by sampling at six depths and over 3 years from the southwest continental shelf off Bay of Bengal, one of the least explored tropical shelf ecosystems. The dominant marine nematode species were related with abiotic variables as part of this study. The effects of sediment granulometry generally decreased with increasing depth and the highest nematode density and species diversity were recorded on coarse sand (shallower depths). Multivariate analysis of the nematode community data showed that community structure differed significantly among depths as well as among years. Statistical analyses showed significant correlations between the nematode community and abiotic variables. Sediment texture, organic matter, water pressure and depth profile were crucial factors for determining diversity, vertical profile and feeding types of the nematode community. Other environmental factors, including anthropogenic pressure, did not have an effect on nematode diversity except for the presence of some tolerant species (Metachromadora spp., Sabatieria spp. and Siplophorella sp.). This study represents a baseline of knowledge of free‐living marine nematode communities that can be used in the future to compare nematode assemblages from temperate shelf ecosystems.  相似文献   

18.
Xueying Han 《Marine Ecology》2016,37(6):1179-1189
Alternate attractors have been shown to exist in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic systems, e.g. temperate forests, savannas, shallow lakes, wetlands, coral reefs, kelp forests. The shift from one attractor to another, also referred to as a regime shift, is thought to occur when a system passes some critical threshold such that the trajectory of the system changes direction. Alternate attractors in population dynamics can also exist, leading to alternate stable states in the population abundance of a species. This study explored alternate attractors in the population dynamics of the Indo‐Pacific sea urchin Diadema savignyi and the potential underlying mechanisms that promote its bi‐stability. In Moorea, French Polynesia, the local abundance of D. savignyi, a functionally important herbivore in lagoon habitats, occurs in two states: (i) solitary individuals that occupy crevices in low densities and (ii) aggregations of tens to hundreds of individuals. These different states are temporally stable and are not explained by spatial differences in recruitment rates of juveniles. A field experiment revealed that the per capita mortality rate of adult D. savignyi was substantially lower at sites where urchins occurred in aggregations compared with sites at which they were solitary individuals. An additional experiment showed that per capita mortality decreased with increasing aggregation size. Individuals in high‐density aggregations, however, had significantly smaller test diameters than solitary individuals, indicating that individuals in aggregations may be food limited. Collectively, the evidence suggests that the two different local abundance states of D. savignyi result from negative feedback loops where high local density can be maintained by aggregative behavior that greatly reduces per capita risk of predation when the local number of adult sea urchins is sufficiently large; sites with few sea urchins remain at low density because individuals are more susceptible to predation when crevices are occupied but there are not enough individuals to form large aggregations. Thus, there may be alternate attractors in the population dynamics of D. savignyi that can produce either persistently low or high local population densities.  相似文献   

19.
20.
Management of the coastal zone often focuses on “islands” of high value ecosystems, in terms of economic value or conservation. However, integrated management requires landscape-level analysis of all ecosystem values. The biodiversity portfolio analysis (BPA) method is derived from the logic used in share (equity) portfolio management in terms of balancing within a portfolio the returns with the risks. Optimising the returns from a share portfolio, or a suite of ecosystems in a landscape, is dependent on the relationship between the units in terms of risk and return. Three case studies are then presented to test the applicability of the BPA method at the international (North West Europe), regional (Durham Heritage Coast, UK) and local (part of South Uist, Outer Hebrides, UK) spatial scale. The Biodiversity Portfolio Analysis for NW Europe showed that risk and return were highly correlated in the studied Member States. The ranking of risk and return, with the highest first, was Ireland > UK > France=Netherlands > Belgium. For these Member States the risks to ecosystem service provision were positively correlated with GNI (r=0.97, P<0.01); suggesting that the higher the economic importance of coastal and marine resources in a Member State the more at risk the resources are. The regional and local case studies were more focussed on providing information on which to base Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) decision making; both case studies used stakeholder participation to determine risks and returns. The conclusions from these two case studies show how the BPA method can be useful in terms of setting ICZM priorities and in addressing local coastal issues. The BPA involves making a number of assumptions, however, it does provide coastal managers with a potential tool to strategically plan due to increased awareness of the interaction between the ecosystems in the portfolio.There is a need for such techniques, which involve stakeholder participation and which create objective outcomes, to support the implementation of ICZM.  相似文献   

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