Can dynamite-blasted reefs recover? A novel, low-tech approach to stimulating natural recovery in fish and coral populations     

Raymundo LJ  Maypa AP  Gomez ED  Cadiz P 《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(7):1009-1019

Throughout Southeast Asia, blast fishing creates persistent rubble fields with low coral cover and depauperate fish communities. We stabilized a 20-year-old rubble field in a Marine Protected Area in the Philippines, using plastic mesh and rock piles in replicated 17.5m(2) plots, thereby increasing topographic complexity, fish habitat, and recruitment substrate surface area. Multivariate analysis revealed fish community shifts within the rehabilitated area from that characteristic of rubble fields to one similar to the adjacent healthy reef within three years, as measured by changes in fish abundance and body size. Coral recruitment and percent cover increased over time, with 63.5% recruit survivorship within plots, compared with 6% on rubble. Our low-cost approach created a stable substrate favoring natural recovery processes. Both rehabilitation and the elimination of poaching were integral to success, emphasizing the synergism between the two and the need to incorporate both when considering mitigation.  相似文献   

Chemical contamination of a coral reef by the grounding of a cruise ship in Bermuda   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Jones RJ 《Marine pollution bulletin》2007,54(7):905-911

Bulk metal analyses of surficial sediments collected around the Norwegian Crown cruise ship grounding site in Bermuda indicated significant but localized contamination of reef sediments by copper and zinc, caused by the stripping of the tri-butyltin (TBT)-free antifouling (AF) paint (Intersmooth 460) from the underside of the hull. Highest copper and zinc values were found in heavily compacted and red-pigmented sediments inside the impact scar and were comparable to levels found close to slip ways of local boat yards where AF paints from hull stripping and cleaning processes are washed into the sea. The re-distribution of AF contaminated sediments by storms and deposition on nearby reefs constitutes a significant ecological risk that could delay recovery processes and reduce the effectiveness of remediation efforts. Whilst the ecotoxicological effects of AF paint particles interspersed with sediment is unknown, and in need of further study, it is argued that the significance of AF paint contamination of grounding sites has been overlooked.  相似文献   

Tagging-the-triangle algorithm for partitioning features with inconsistent boundaries     

Sunghwan Cho  M. Xavier Punithan  Jonggun Gim 《International journal of geographical information science》2014,28(12):2533-2550

In spatial data sets, gaps or overlaps among features are frequently found in spatial tessellations due to the non-abutting edges with adjacent features. These non-abutting edges in loose tessellations are also called inconsistent boundaries or slivers; polygons containing at least one inconsistent boundary are called inconsistent polygons or sliver polygons. The existing algorithms to solve topological inconsistencies in sliver polygons suffer from one or more of three major issues, namely determination of tolerances, excessive CPU processing time for large data sets and loss of vertex history. In this article, we introduce a new algorithm that mitigates these three issues. Our algorithm efficiently searches the features with inconsistent polygons in a given spatial data set and logically partitions them among adjacent features. The proposed algorithm employs the constrained Delaunay triangulation technique to generate labelled triangles from which inconsistent polygons with gaps and overlaps are identified using label counts. These inconsistent polygons are then partitioned using the straight skeleton method. Moreover, each of these partitioned gaps or overlaps is distributed among the adjacent features to improve the topological consistency of the spatial data sets. We experimentally verified our algorithm using the real land cadastre data set. The comparison results show that the proposed algorithm is four times faster than the existing algorithm for data sets with 200,000 edges.  相似文献   

What makes a “successful” marine protected area? The unique context of Hawaii′s fish replenishment areas     

《Marine Policy》2014

In 1998, in order to combat the degradation of yellow tang populations on the west coast of Hawaii Island, fish replenishment areas (FRAs) were established prohibiting aquarium fishing along more than thirty percent of the coastline. Unlike other marine management approaches in Hawaii, which have largely been controversial, fraught with confusion over regulations, inadequately enforced, and lacking public support, these FRAs have been lauded as a marine conservation success, with wide-ranging support and evidence of rapid replenishment of the yellow tang population. In order to better understand the contextual factors contributing to the success of the West Hawaii FRAs, this research explores the following questions: (1) What factors documented in the literature on marine protected areas (MPAs) have been demonstrated to contribute to or inhibit MPA success internationally; (2) which of these factors do the FRAs of West Hawaii exhibit; and (3) are there additional factors that may have contributed to their wide acceptance and success? Common factors contributing to MPA success are determined through a synthesis of the literature. These include: level of community engagement, socioeconomic characteristics, ecological factors, MPA design, governance, and enforcement. The outcomes of West Hawaii′s FRAs are examined in the context of these factors. While the common factors agreed upon in the literature were key to the success of the FRAs, additional contextual factors such as the unique nature of the aquarium fishery and its social marginalization also played a vital role.  相似文献   

Constraints and solutions for managing Pacific Island sea cucumber fisheries with an ecosystem approach     

《Marine Policy》2014

The ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is a holistic paradigm that considers stocks of exploitable species, marine ecosystems and stakeholders. Management agencies must strike a balance between their capacity constraints and the requisites of management measures. Most small-scale sea cucumber fisheries of Pacific Islands have been plundered while others are being opened to commercial exploitation. Data from fishery managers and a regional workshop were used to assess the current problems, institutional constraints and solutions to the management of sea cucumber fisheries in 13 Pacific Island countries (PICs). Technical capacity was often strong for some management actions such as developing marine reserves but weak for others, such as enforcement. Using multi-disciplinary indicators, half of the fisheries were diagnosed by their managers as being overfished or depleted, despite evidence of optimistic bias. Fishery governance varied greatly among the PICs, and co-management frameworks were not typical of any cultural region. Management objectives were prioritised differently among managers but most highly ranked was to protect ecological resilience. The fishery managers proposed different sets of regulatory measures and various management actions, such as surveys to collect socio-economic and fishery-dependent data, support for local governance and strong enforcement – all widely under-practised. Pacific sea cucumber fisheries exemplify how the transition to an EAF by management institutions must involve reorganisation of their technical and human-resource capacities among management tasks. Levies on exports need to be internalised to fund improved management. Management agencies should consider a shift in resources from developing marine reserves, conducting underwater surveys and aquaculture-based restocking to strengthening enforcement capacity, stakeholder involvement and communication with fishers. In concert with these actions, short fishing seasons, shortlists of allowable species and tighter enforcement at export points may serve to turn the tide on boom-and-bust exploitation and safeguard biodiversity.  相似文献   

Emergence of co-management governance for Hawai‘i coral reef fisheries     

《Global Environmental Change》2014

Governance failures associated with top-down management have spawned a myriad of institutional arrangements to engage resource users in decision-making through co-management. Although co-management can take many forms and may not always lead to positive outcomes, it has emerged as a promising governance option available to meet social and ecological goals. Recent research on co-management of small-scale fisheries has used comparative approaches to test factors associated with social and ecological success. Less is known however, about how co-management institutional arrangements emerge and persist in the face of socioeconomic and environmental change. Here, we examine the emergence of co-management governance using a case study from coral reef fisheries in the Hawaiian Islands. We used a mixed methods approach, combining a robust policy analysis and a set of key respondent interviews to trace the evolution of this co-management arrangement. Our research uncovers a set of linked drivers and social responses, which together comprise the emergence phase for the evolution of co-management in this case study. Drivers include resource depletion and conflict, and social responses comprise self-organization, consensus building, and collective action. We share insights on key factors that affect these phases of emergence, drawing on empirical findings from our policy review and key respondent interviews. We conclude by describing ways that our findings can directly inform policy and planning in practice, including the importance of documenting the ‘creation story’ that spawned the new institutional arrangement, ensuring that enabling conditions are present, the complexity of defining community, the connection between process legitimacy and outcomes, and understanding the costs and timelines associated with co-management governance transitions.  相似文献   

Studies on the Coral Reefs of the South China Sea: From Global Change to Oil-Gas Exploration     

Yu Kefu  Zhang Guangxue  Wang Ren 《地球科学进展》2014,29(11):1287-1293

Studies on the coral reefs of the South China Sea (SCS) was the theme of the 6th Session of the 3rd Conference on Earth System Science (CESS) in Shanghai, 2014. This session discussed the most recent study developments on the SCS coral reefs, including coral reefs’ responses to global changes, coral reefs’ records on past climatic variations, and the activities about constructions and oil gas explorations in the coral reefs areas of the SCS. Disturbed by intensive anthropogenic activities and global climate warming, coral reefs in the SCS have declined dramatically, reflecting the up to 80% decrease of living coral cover and many areas having less than 20% of living coral cover. Geochemical data of SCS coral skeletons clearly show that since the Industry Revolution, the pollution situation of the SCS have dramatically increased and the seawater pH values have been continuously lowering, i.e. oceanic acidification. All these environmental phenomenon are further stressing the healthy development of the coral reef ecosystem in the SCS. Meanwhile, the poor coral reef ecosystems in the SCS are facing more anthropogenic disturbances such as coastal developments and engineering constructions. Obviously, the SCS coral reefs will be faced with more environmental challenges in the coming future. We therefore suggest that the policy makers should realize the extreme importance and the fragile of the coral reef ecosystems, and scientifically and with great cautions design construction project when in coral reef areas. We initiated the concept of “green engineering” for future developments in coral reef areas. Coral reefs are widely spreading in the whole SCS, and most of them developed since Miocene. Variations in coral reef structures provide good future oil-gas exploration. Because the SCS coral reefs have a long-developing history and a wide spatial distribution, they provide great potential in recording past environmental changes.  相似文献   

多孔黏弹介质平面波理论及波场数值模拟     

高晗  韩立国  凌云  张盼  宋超  孙慧秋 《世界地质》2015,34(4):1098-1105

本文将黏弹固体骨架与各向异性多孔弹性模型相结合,并将地层黏弹性的特性考虑其中,更好地刻画了快P波和横波在地震频带的衰减现象。将多孔黏弹模型模拟结果同传统弹性模型模拟结果对比显示,多孔黏弹模型在模拟真实储层方面更具优势。  相似文献   

基于点云数据构建树木骨架的方法     

周广宇  徐毅  陈楠  蔡军 《测绘与空间地理信息》2015,(9):174-176

树木骨架在树木三维建模及林业研究中具有重要意义。基于地面三维激光扫描系统获取的树木点云数据,提出了一种利用体素空间转换方法而快速构建树木骨架的方法。首先,根据树木的点云数据构建特定的体素空间;然后,对投影变换的每层体素进行连通成分分析,解算出每个体素层所包含的骨架结点;最后,利用单源最短路径算法构建树木的骨架。实验证明,文中提出的方法是可行且有效的。  相似文献   

Differential survival of coral transplants on various substrates under elevated water temperatures   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Yap HT 《Marine pollution bulletin》2004,49(4):306-312

Closely related scleractinian coral species that exhibited similar survival patterns under relatively normal field conditions responded very differently to the occurrence of an environmental disturbance. The two species studied were Porites cylindrica and Porites rus which occur in the same reef zones in shallow reef flats. Transplants of both species were evenly distributed and attached to three different types of substrate: live coral colonies of P. cylindrica, dead coral colonies (also of P. cylindrica), and epoxy coated metal grids that were raised above the sandy substrate. With the onset of above-normal water temperatures due to the El Ni?o episode of 1998, P. cylindrica transplants immediately showed signs of bleaching stress and tissue necrosis, followed by algal overgrowth and mortality soon afterwards. In contrast, transplants of P. rus bleached more slowly and suffered less mortality, with a few actually showing signs of recovery at the end of the experimental period which covered a total of 14 weeks. These differences in responses could be attributed to properties of the symbiotic zooxanthellae, of the host coral tissue itself, or both. Over-all, survival was good on the metal grids (average of 35%), and on the live coral (average of 22%). It was poor on the dead coral (average of 6%). The metal grids as well as live coral tissue apparently provided a favorable substrate for the attached coral fragments, even for those of a different species. Under the conditions of this particular study, attachment of live coral fragments on already dead colonies for the purpose of increasing live coral cover on the reef did not yield favorable results. This is an area that requires further investigation.  相似文献