Population biology and recruitment of a vulnerable sea cucumber,Stichopus herrmanni,on a protected reef          下载免费PDF全文

Kennedy Wolfe  Maria Byrne 《Marine Ecology》2017,38(1)

Populations of tropical sea cucumbers, harvested for bêche‐de‐mer, are in a perilous state of conservation, yet there remains a paucity of information on the biology of many harvested species. We examined the population biology of the commercially important curryfish, Stichopus herrmanni, across 2 years on Heron Reef, a protected zone in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park. Stichopus herrmanni, a species recently listed as vulnerable to extinction, is a major target species for the fishery operating in the GBR. The size class distribution and density of S. herrmanni were documented for six sites across Heron Reef. There was distinct spatial variation in the size and density of S. herrmanni across sites, with no significant difference between the 2 years. The smallest individuals found were 10 cm long, some of the only juvenile S. herrmanni documented in nature. Juvenile and sub‐adult populations were found along the leeward reef edge of Heron Reef, a habitat characterized by shallow channels of sand between inter‐tidal coral reef and crustose coralline algae (CCA). Juvenile nurseries of sea cucumbers are rarely observed in nature, making this an important observation for understanding the recruitment and population biology of S. herrmanni. The presence of juveniles in the consolidated CCA habitat each year in autumn following the summer spawning period, and the absence of small individuals several months later in spring, suggests an ontogenetic migration or displacement of these individuals to adult habitat. The distribution of larger S. herrmanni suggests intra‐reef connectivity and migration into deeper lagoon areas. This study contributes to understanding the population dynamics of this vulnerable species, a consideration for fisheries management in light of increasing global harvest.  相似文献   

Genetic stock structure of white steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus (Cuvier, 1829), an overexploited fishery species in South African waters     

RH Bennett  K Reid  G Gouws  P Bloomer  PD Cowley 《African Journal of Marine Science》2017,39(1):27-41

White steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus (Teleostei: Sparidae) is an overexploited marine fish species endemic to South Africa. Overexploitation in recreational, subsistence and commercial fisheries has resulted in stock collapse and the need for improved management of the species. Adults are thought to undertake large-scale annual spawning migrations, yet studies of their movement indicate low levels of connectivity among coastal regions. To address this, mitochondrial DNA sequencing and genotyping of microsatellite loci in the nuclear genome were conducted to determine the genetic stock structure and level of gene flow in this species. Genetic diversity was high throughout the species’ core distribution, with no evidence of isolation by way of distance or localised spawning. Low, non-significant pairwise fixation indices (F_ST, R_ST and Jost’s D_est) indicated low genetic differentiation and high levels of gene flow. The observed results, and agreement between mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA, confirm that white steenbras exists as a single genetic stock with high levels of gene flow throughout its distribution.  相似文献   

First lacustrine varve chronologies from Mexico: impact of droughts,ENSO and human activity since AD 1840 as recorded in maar sediments from Valle de Santiago   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Ulrike Kienel  Sabine Wulf Bowen  Roger Byrne  Jungjae Park  Harald Böhnel  Peter Dulski  James F. Luhr  Lee Siebert  Gerald H. Haug  Jörg F. W. Negendank 《Journal of Paleolimnology》2009,42(4):587-609

We present varve chronologies for sediments from two maar lakes in the Valle de Santiago region (Central Mexico): Hoya La Alberca (AD 1852–1973) and Hoya Rincón de Parangueo (AD 1839–1943). These are the first varve chronologies for Mexican lakes. The varved sections were anchored with tephras from Colima (1913) and Paricutín (1943/1944) and ²¹⁰Pb ages. We compare the sequences using the thickness of seasonal laminae and element counts (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, and Sr) determined by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The formation of the varve sublaminae is attributed to the strongly seasonal climate regime. Limited rainfall and high evaporation rates in winter and spring induce precipitation of carbonates (high Ca, Sr) enriched in ¹³C and ¹⁸O, whereas rainfall in summer increases organic and clastic input (plagioclase, quartz) with high counts of lithogenic elements (K, Al, Ti, and Si). Eolian input of Ti occurs also in the dry season. Moving correlations (5-yr windows) of the Ca and Ti counts show similar development in both sequences until the 1930s. Positive correlations indicate mixing of allochthonous Ti and autochthonous Ca, while negative correlations indicate their separation in sublaminae. Negative excursions in the correlations correspond with historic and reconstructed droughts, El Niño events, and positive SST anomalies. Based on our data, droughts (3–7 year duration) were severe and centred around the following years: the early 1850s, 1865, 1880, 1895, 1905, 1915 and the late 1920s with continuation into the 1930s. The latter dry period brought both lake systems into a critical state making them susceptible to further drying. Groundwater overexploitation due to the expansion of irrigation agriculture in the region after 1940 induced the transition from calcite to aragonite precipitation in Alberca and halite infiltration in Rincón. The proxy data indicate a faster response to increased evaporation for Rincón, the lake with the larger maar dimensions, solar radiation receipt and higher conductivity, whereas the smaller, steeper Alberca maar responded rapidly to increased precipitation.  相似文献   

A 560-Year Record of Santa Ana Fires Reconstructed from Charcoal Deposited in the Santa Barbara Basin, California     

Scott A. Mensing  Joel Michaelsen  Roger Byrne 《Quaternary Research》1999,51(3):295

Microscopic charcoal from varved Santa Barbara Basin sediments was used to reconstruct a 560-yr record (A.D. 1425 to 1985) of Santa Ana fires. Comparison of large (>3750 μm²) charcoal with documented fire records in the Santa Barbara Ranger District shows that high accumulations correspond to large fires (>20,000 ha) that occurred during Santa Ana conditions. The charcoal record reconstructed a minimum of 20 large fires in the Santa Barbara region during the study period. The average time between fires shows no distinct change across three different land use periods: the Chumash period, apparently characterized by frequent burning, the Spanish/Early American period with nominal fire control, and the 20th century with active fire suppression. Pollen data support the conclusion that the fire regime has not dramatically changed during the last 500 yr. Comparison of large charcoal particle accumulation rates and precipitation reconstructed from tree rings show a strong relationship between climate and fire history, with large fires consistently occurring at the end of wet periods and the beginning of droughts.  相似文献   

CMEs in the Heliosphere: I. A Statistical Analysis of the Observational Properties of CMEs Detected in the Heliosphere from 2007 to 2017 by STEREO/HI-1     

R. A. Harrison  J. A. Davies  D. Barnes  J. P. Byrne  C. H. Perry  V. Bothmer  J. P. Eastwood  P. T. Gallagher  E. K. J. Kilpua  C. Möstl  L. Rodriguez  A. P. Rouillard  D. Odstrčil 《Solar physics》2018,293(5):77

We present a statistical analysis of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) imaged by the Heliospheric Imager (HI) instruments on board NASA’s twin-spacecraft STEREO mission between April 2007 and August 2017 for STEREO-A and between April 2007 and September 2014 for STEREO-B. The analysis exploits a catalogue that was generated within the FP7 HELCATS project. Here, we focus on the observational characteristics of CMEs imaged in the heliosphere by the inner (HI-1) cameras, while following papers will present analyses of CME propagation through the entire HI fields of view. More specifically, in this paper we present distributions of the basic observational parameters – namely occurrence frequency, central position angle (PA) and PA span – derived from nearly 2000 detections of CMEs in the heliosphere by HI-1 on STEREO-A or STEREO-B from the minimum between Solar Cycles 23 and 24 to the maximum of Cycle 24; STEREO-A analysis includes a further 158 CME detections from the descending phase of Cycle 24, by which time communication with STEREO-B had been lost. We compare heliospheric CME characteristics with properties of CMEs observed at coronal altitudes, and with sunspot number. As expected, heliospheric CME rates correlate with sunspot number, and are not inconsistent with coronal rates once instrumental factors/differences in cataloguing philosophy are considered. As well as being more abundant, heliospheric CMEs, like their coronal counterparts, tend to be wider during solar maximum. Our results confirm previous coronagraph analyses suggesting that CME launch sites do not simply migrate to higher latitudes with increasing solar activity. At solar minimum, CMEs tend to be launched from equatorial latitudes, while at maximum, CMEs appear to be launched over a much wider latitude range; this has implications for understanding the CME/solar source association. Our analysis provides some supporting evidence for the systematic dragging of CMEs to lower latitude as they propagate outwards.  相似文献   

U-Pb chronology of the Northampton Complex, Western Australia – evidence for Grenvillian sedimentation, metamorphism and deformation and geodynamic implications     

O. Bruguier  D. Bosch  R. T. Pidgeon  D. I. Byrne  L. B. Harris 《Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology》1999,136(3):258-272

Conventional and SHRIMP U-Pb analyses of zircon, monazite, titanite and apatite from the high grade rocks of the Northampton Complex in Western Australia provide constraints on the timing of metamorphic processes and deformation events in the northern Darling Mobile Belt (western margin of the Archean Yilgarn Craton). Paragneisses and mafic volcanics and/or intrusions have undergone granulite facies metamorphism in a probable extensional tectonic setting prior to formation of W- to NW-verging folds and thrusts cut by normal shears (interpreted as late collapse structures) during the main deformation event (D₁). These structures are folded by open to tight folds with NW-striking axial surfaces developed in a second, NE-SW contractional event (D₂). Zircons from a mafic granulite provide an age of 1079 ± 3 Ma attributed to new zircon growth prior to, or at the peak of regional granulite facies metamorphism. Metamorphic monazites extracted from a paragneiss yield an identical age of 1083 ± 3 Ma. The similarity of ages between zircons from the mafic granulite (1079 ± 3 Ma) and monazites from the paragneiss (1083 ± 3 Ma) is interpreted to reflect fast cooling and/or rapid uplift, which is consistent with thrusting of the gneissic units during the first deformation event (D₁) associated with the onset of retrograde metamorphism. Granitic activity at 1068 ± 13 Ma was followed by intrusion of post-D₂ pegmatite (989 ± 2 Ma), which constrains the end of metamorphism and associated deformation. Cooling of the complex to about 500 °C is timed by the apatite age of 921 ± 23 Ma. SHRIMP U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from a paragneiss sample yield a maximum age of 2043 Ma, with no evidence of an Archean Yilgarn signature. A majority of ages between 1.6 and 1.9 Ga are consistent with derivation from the Capricorn Orogen on the northern margin of the Yilgarn Craton. Younger detrital zircons with 1150–1450 Ma ages, however, indicate an additional source that had undergone early Grenvillian igneous or metamorphic event(s) and also places a maximum age constraint upon deposition. The source of this clastic material may have been from within the southern Darling Mobile Belt or from Greater India (adjacent to the Northampton Complex in Rodinia reconstructions). This study documents an extended Grenvillian history, with basin formation, sedimentation, granulite facies metamorphism, contractional tectonics (two periods with orthogonal directions of shortening) and late pegmatite emplacement taking place between 1150–989 Ma on the western margin of the Yilgarn Craton. Ages recorded in this study indicate that the proposed global distribution of Grenvillian belts during assembly of the Rodinia supercontinent should be reassessed to include the Darling Mobile Belt. Received: 7 January 1998 / Accepted: 10 March 1999  相似文献   

Latitudinal gradients and poleward expansion of mangrove ecosystems in South Africa: 50 years after Macnae’s first assessment     

N Peer  A Rajkaran  NAF Miranda  RH Taylor  B Newman  F Porri 《African Journal of Marine Science》2018,40(2):101-120

Mangroves occur in South African estuaries at their poleward distribution limits, extending into temperate habitats. In 1963, William Macnae published the first comprehensive assessment of mangrove swamps in South Africa and made firsthand observations of these mangrove ecosystems. This article reassesses South African mangrove habitats, highlighting changes since Macnae’s assessment, through a literature review of research done in the past 50 years and using the results of a dedicated mangrove survey spanning 2012–2017. Until now, changes have been recorded mostly for mangrove vegetation, including a change in mangrove cover and a poleward shift of mangrove species. While some mangrove-associated fauna have disappeared from most sites (e.g. the gastropod Terebralia palustris), others, such as fiddler crabs, have spread farther south. The effects of decreasing diversity with an increase in latitude were not observed along the South African coast. Instead, habitat quality and estuarine mouth state seem to exert greater influence on species diversity in the mangroves, and a poleward shift in species distribution is now evident not just for the mangrove flora but for the fauna as well. South African mangrove research needs to include a continuous monitoring plan, especially if we are to contribute to global knowledge on blue carbon, the effects of sea-level rise, and the resilience of the mangrove ecosystem.  相似文献   

Quantifying the largest aggregation of giant trevally Caranx ignobilis (Carangidae) on record: implications for management     

R Daly  CAK Daly  RH Bennett  PD Cowley  MAM Pereira  JD Filmalter 《African Journal of Marine Science》2018,40(3):315-321

The giant trevally Caranx ignobilis (Forsskål) is an important apex predatory fish typically associated with coral reef communities. It is prized in recreational and commercial fisheries, yet little is known about its aggregation dynamics and susceptibility to fishing pressure. This study reports on a previously undocumented aggregation of mature giant trevally observed over a period of eight years (2010–2017) at Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve in southern Mozambique. The aggregation is one of the few recorded for this carangid in the western Indian Ocean and represents the first subtropical aggregation of giant trevally. The aggregation is also the largest recorded for this species, with up to 2 413 individuals representing an estimated biomass of approximately 30 tonnes. The size and predictability of this annual aggregation make it vulnerable to overexploitation and point towards the need for an appropriate conservation management strategy.  相似文献   

“Grey swan” storm surges pose a greater coastal flood hazard than climate change     

Horsburgh  Kevin  Haigh  Ivan D.  Williams  Jane  De Dominicis  Michela  Wolf  Judith  Inayatillah  Addina  Byrne  David 《Ocean Dynamics》2021,71(6-7):715-730

Ocean Dynamics - In this paper, we show that over the next few decades, the natural variability of mid-latitude storm systems is likely to be a more important driver of coastal extreme sea levels...  相似文献   

Bridging EUV and White-Light Observations to Inspect the Initiation Phase of a “Two-Stage” Solar Eruptive Event     

J. P. Byrne  H. Morgan  D. B. Seaton  H. M. Bain  S. R. Habbal 《Solar physics》2014,289(12):4545-4562

The initiation phase of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is a very important aspect of solar physics, as these phenomena ultimately drive space weather in the heliosphere. This phase is known to occur between the photosphere and low corona, where many models introduce an instability and/or magnetic reconnection that triggers a CME, often with associated flaring activity. To this end, it is important to obtain a variety of observations of the low corona to build as clear a picture as possible of the dynamics that occur therein. Here, we combine the EUV imagery of the Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing (SWAP) instrument onboard the Project for Onboard Autonomy (PROBA2) with the white-light imagery of the ground-based Mark-IV K-coronameter (Mk4) at Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) to bridge the observational gap that exists between the disk imagery of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the coronal imagery of the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Methods of multiscale image analysis were applied to the observations to better reveal the coronal signal while suppressing noise and other features. This allowed an investigation into the initiation phase of a CME that was driven by a rising flux-rope structure from a “two-stage” flaring event underlying an extended helmet streamer. It was found that the initial outward motion of the erupting loop system in the EUV observations coincided with the first X-ray flare peak and led to a plasma pile-up of the white-light CME core material. The characterized CME core then underwent a strong jerk in its motion, as the early acceleration increased abruptly, simultaneously with the second X-ray flare peak. The overall system expanded into the helmet streamer to become the larger CME structure observed in the LASCO coronagraph images, which later became concave-outward in shape. Theoretical models for the event are discussed in light of these unique observations, and it is concluded that the formation of either a kink-unstable or torus-unstable flux rope may be the likeliest scenario.  相似文献