Incidence of marine debris and its relationships with benthic features in Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Southeast USA     

Bauer LJ  Kendall MS  Jeffrey CF 《Marine pollution bulletin》2008,56(3):402-413

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) is an increasingly popular site for recreational fishing and diving in the South Atlantic Bight (SAB). As a result, there has been heightened concern about potential accumulation of marine debris and its consequent effects on sanctuary resources. Field surveys were conducted at GRNMS in 2004 and 2005 to provide a spatially comprehensive characterization of benthic communities and to quantify the distribution and abundance of marine debris in relation to bottom features. The spatial distribution of debris was concentrated in the center of the sanctuary and was most frequently associated with ledges rather than other bottom types. On ledges, the presence and abundance of debris was significantly related to observed boating activity and physiographic features including ledge height, ledge area, and percent cover of benthic organisms. The results from this study will aid managers in optimizing cleanup efforts and long-term monitoring of debris accumulation patterns at GRNMS and other hard bottom areas in the SAB.  相似文献   

Predicting spatio-temporal concentrations of PM<Subscript>2.5</Subscript> using land use and meteorological data in Yangtze River Delta,China     

Dongyang?Yang  Debin?Lu  Jianhua?XuEmail author  Chao?Ye  Jianan?Zhao  Guanghui?Tian  Xinge?Wang  Nina?Zhu 《Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment (SERRA)》2018,32(8):2445-2456

The prediction of PM_2.5 concentrations with high spatiotemporal resolution has been suggested as a potential method for data collection to assess the health effects of exposure. This work predicted the weekly average PM_2.5 concentrations in the Yangtze River Delta, China, by using a spatio-temporal model. Integrating land use data, including the areas of cultivated land, construction land, and forest land, and meteorological data, including precipitation, air pressure, relative humidity, temperature, and wind speed, we used the model to estimate the weekly average PM_2.5 concentrations. We validated the estimated effects by using the cross-validated R² and Root mean square error (RMSE); the results showed that the model performed well in capturing the spatiotemporal variability of PM_2.5 concentration, with a reasonably large R² of 0.86 and a small RMSE of 8.15 (μg/m³). In addition, the predicted values covered 94% of the observed data at the 95% confidence interval. This work provided a dataset of PM_2.5 concentration predictions with a spatiotemporal resolution of 3 km × week, which would contribute to accurately assessing the potential health effects of air pollution.  相似文献   

Extreme storm surge modelling in the North Sea     

Nina Ridder  Hylke de Vries  Sybren Drijfhout  Henk van den Brink  Erik van Meijgaard  Hans de Vries 《Ocean Dynamics》2018,68(2):255-272

This study shows that storm surge model performance in the North Sea is mostly unaffected by the application of temporal variations of surface drag due to changes in sea state provided the choice of a suitable constant Charnock parameter in the sea-state-independent case. Including essential meteorological features on smaller scales and minimising interpolation errors by increasing forcing data resolution are shown to be more important for the improvement of model performance particularly at the high tail of the probability distribution. This is found in a modelling study using WAQUA/DCSMv5 by evaluating the influence of a realistic air-sea momentum transfer parameterization and comparing it to the influence of changes in the spatial and temporal resolution of the applied forcing fields in an effort to support the improvement of impact and climate analysis studies. Particular attention is given to the representation of extreme water levels over the past decades based on the example of the Netherlands. For this, WAQUA/DCSMv5 is forced with ERA-Interim reanalysis data. Model results are obtained from a set of different forcing fields, which either (i) include a wave-state-dependent Charnock parameter or (ii) apply a constant Charnock parameter (α _{C h} =?0.032) tuned for young sea states in the North Sea, but differ in their spatial and/or temporal resolution. Increasing forcing field resolution from roughly 79 to 12 km through dynamically downscaling can reduce the modelled low bias, depending on coastal station, by up to 0.25 m for the modelled extreme water levels with a 1-year return period and between 0.1 m and 0.5 m for extreme surge heights.  相似文献   

Relationship between shell weight and cadmium content in whole digestive gland of the Japanese scallop Patinopecten yessoensis (Jay)     

Belcheva NN  Zakhartsev M  Silina AV  Slinko EN  Chelomin VP 《Marine environmental research》2006,61(4):396-409

Seasonal and age-specific variations of cadmium (Cd) concentration in the digestive gland were investigated in the Japanese scallop Patinopecten yessoensis from Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan, with different degrees of Cd pollution. The seasonal changes in Cd concentrations of the digestive gland were inversely proportional to the dry weight of the gland. Concentrations of Cd and total Cd content (mug Cd per organ) increased with age (age-specific) to the same extent in contaminated and uncontaminated areas. There was also a strong positive correlation between Cd content in the whole digestive gland and shell weight and it is proposed that this relationship can be used as a new criterion for comparative evaluation of Cd levels in scallops from different areas We hypothesize that Cd is uptaken into scallops in proportion to the amount of calcium that absorbed through ion channels, and in addition, Cd in the digestive gland is in immobile forms (e.g. metal-rich granules) that accumulate with age. Moderate environmental pollution has no effect on the relationship between Cd content and shell size and the observed decrease in growth performance of the scallops from polluted areas may be due to other factors.  相似文献   

Cyclic shakedown of piles subjected to two‐dimensional lateral loading     

Nina H. Levy  Itai Einav  Tim Hull 《国际地质力学数值与分析法杂志》2009,33(10):1339-1361

Pile foundations are frequently subjected to cyclic lateral loads. Wave and wind loads on offshore structures will be applied in different directions and times during the design life of a structure. Therefore, the magnitude and direction of these loads in conjunction with the dead loads should be considered. This paper investigates a loading scenario where a monotonic lateral load is applied to a pile, followed by two‐way cycling in a direction perpendicular to the initial loading. This configuration is indicative of the complexity of loading that may be considered and is referred to in the paper as ‘T‐shaped’ loading. The energy‐based numerical model employed considers two‐dimensional lateral loading in an elasto‐plastic soil, with coupled behaviour between the two perpendicular directions by local yield surfaces along the length of the pile. The behaviour of the soil–pile system subjected to different loading combinations has been divided into four categories of shakedown previously proposed for cyclic loading of structures and soils. A design chart has been created to illustrate the type of pile behaviour for a given two‐dimensional loading scenario. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Bathymetric patterns of megafaunal assemblages from the arctic deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN     

Thomas Soltwedel  Nina Jaeckisch  Nikolaus Ritter  Christiane Hasemann  Melanie Bergmann  Michael Klages 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2009,56(10):1856-1872

Five photographic transects, covering some 830 m² of seafloor in total, were analyzed to characterize the megabenthic community along a bathymetric gradient covering water depths from 1200 to 5500 m in the eastern Fram Strait. Megafaunal densities ranged between 11 and 38 ind. m⁻². The highest densities were found at 1650 m and the lowest densities occurred at 3000 m depth. The number of taxa and morphotypes ranged between 4 at 5500 m and 27 at 1650 m water depth. Ophiocten gracilis, a small white unidentified amphipod, Kolga hyalina, and Bathycrinus carpenteri were the dominant and characteristic species on the slope and continental rise. Elpidia heckeri dominated in the Molloy Hole, the deepest depression known in the Arctic Ocean. Megafaunal zonation patterns appeared to be mainly controlled by food availability, as indicated by phytodetrital matter measured at the seafloor, and by benthic biomass in the sediments, as indicated by sediment-bound particulate proteins and phospholipids. By contrast, physical factors, including water depth and seabed properties such as sediment porosity and hard substrata (e.g., dropstones), appear to play a secondary role in determining megabenthic zonation patterns along the bathymetric HAUSGARTEN gradient.  相似文献   

Artificial mouth opening fosters anoxic conditions that kill small estuarine fish     

Alistair Becker  Laurie J.B. Laurenson  Kylie Bishop   《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2009,82(4):566-572

Fish kills are not uncommon within estuaries in many regions of the world. In seasonally open systems, which are common in temperate areas, they are often associated with mouth openings. Such a kill occurred in July 2005 in the Surrey Estuary following a closed mouth period of seven months resulting in the loss of many thousands of fish. At the time the fish community within the estuary was under investigation which provided comprehensive data of this population prior to the kill. Monthly water quality monitoring was also being conducted prior to the kill and also carried out on a daily basis following the mouth opening. The Surrey was stratified during the closed mouth phase, isolated waters below the halocline had stagnated and become anoxic. As a result only waters above the halocline contained oxygen concentrations capable of sustaining most fish. It appears that if a mouth opening happens under low flow conditions, a shearing effect occurs within the water column where surface waters flow out to sea leaving deeper waters behind. This resulted in only anoxic waters being present for in excess of six days and was responsible for the fish kill. Fish sampling of the Surrey Estuary was conducted three and six months following the kill and those data were compared to that collected in the 12 months prior to the event. Three months after the kill few fish were collected within the estuary and included marine opportunists near the mouth and estuarine resident species in the far upper reaches of the system. However six months following the kill large numbers of estuarine resident species were collected throughout the Surrey Estuary. As many species were euryhaline, it is believed that some individuals migrated into freshwater reaches of the Surrey to escape the anoxic conditions within the estuary. As conditions improved they recolonised the Surrey Estuary. The high fecundity and rapid growth of these small, short lived species probably aided in their re-establishing populations within the estuary. It is clear from this research that artificial openings of estuaries should be avoided during low flow periods when oxygen concentrations are low. It also appears that many of the small estuarine resident species common in seasonally open estuaries are capable of recolonising estuaries following fish kills. The effects on larger, longer lived resident species are not known but likely to be more detrimental due to longer time required for them to reach sexual maturity.  相似文献   

Lost and found     

Svetlana Nikolaeva  & Nina Morgan 《Geology Today》2010,26(1):16-20

Consulting type specimens is a necessary element of taxonomic research in palaeontology. Every taxonomist from time to time has to examine the types to make sure that the identifications are correct. This can be a difficult proposition when the fossils in question were collected in the early nineteenth century. But just because a historical fossil collection is said to be 'lost', doesn't mean it cannot be found.  相似文献   

Cirque infills in the Khibiny Mountains,Kola Peninsula,Russia — palaeoglaciological interpretations and modern analogues in East Antarctica     

Clas Hättestrand  Vasili Kolka  Nina Johansen 《第四纪科学杂志》2008,23(2):165-174

We report here on cirque infills mapped in the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Russia. Cirque infills are morainic deposits located near the headwalls of valleys and cirques. Their location and shape, often with concave margins towards the valley side, indicate that they were deposited by ice flowing up‐valley, into the mountains, rather than by local glaciers. We suggest that they formed during the last deglaciation, when Khibiny was a nunatak and Fennoscandian ice sheet lobes extended into valleys and cirques of the massif. The formation of cirque infills is probably more related to ice sheet dynamic factors, occurring when the ice margin retreated from the cirques, than to climate‐driven interruption in the ice‐marginal retreat. Glacial conditions similar to those prevalent when the Khibiny cirque infills were formed, occur today in Antarctica where the ice sheets engulf nunatak ranges. In Heimefrontfjella, Antarctica, the formation of supraglacial moraines at the head of cirques are linked to blue‐ice conditions, indicating locally low accumulation rates, a dry continental climate and sublimation dominated ablation. We suggest that these Antarctic moraines are modern analogues of cirque infills on the Kola Peninsula, and possibly, that the cirque infills may be used as palaeoenvironmental indicators. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Microbial diversity in contaminated soils along the T22 trench of the Chernobyl experimental platform     

Virginie Chapon  Laurie Piette  Marie-Hélène Vesvres  Frédéric Coppin  Claire Le Marrec  Richard Christen  Nicolas Theodorakopoulos  Laureline Février  Sviatoslav Levchuk  Arnaud Martin-Garin  Catherine Berthomieu  Claire Sergeant 《Applied Geochemistry》2012

The diversity of bacterial communities exposed to radioactive contamination in Chernobyl soils was examined by a combination of molecular and culture-based approaches. A set of six radioactive soil samples, exhibiting high levels of ¹³⁷Cs contamination, were collected from the T22 trench. Three samples were also collected in nearby soils with low contamination. Complex bacterial community structures were observed in both highly and weakly contaminated samples, using a molecular approach targeting the 16S rRNA gene. However, the presence of specific populations within samples from highly contaminated soils could not be revealed by statistical analysis of the DGGE profiles. More than 200 culturable isolates, representative of dominant morphotypes, were grouped into 83 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and affiliated to Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma-Proteobacteria and Bacteroïdetes. No specific pattern linked to contamination was observed for these culturable bacteria. The results show that both highly and weakly contaminated soils host a wide diversity of bacteria, suggesting that long term exposure to radionuclides does not lead to the extinction of bacterial diversity.  相似文献