Sedimentation in dryland river waterholes: a threat to aquatic refugia?

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Reid ◽  
Martin C. Thoms ◽  
Stephen Chilcott ◽  
Kathryn Fitzsimmons
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Submerged Macrophytes ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
River System ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Dryland River ◽  
Environmental Histories

In dryland river systems subject to prolonged low and no flow periods, waterholes, or sections of river channel that are deep relative to the rest of the channel and that retain water for longer periods of no flow, provide refugia for aquatic biota and hence are critical to the resilience of aquatic ecosystems. This study examined physical, chemical and bio-stratigraphy in refugial waterholes situated along four distributaries of the Lower Balonne River system in semi-arid Australia. In doing so we reconstructed environmental histories for the waterholes, calculated how sedimentation rates have changed in response to land use change over the past two centuries, and assessed whether they are threatened by increased sedimentation through potential effects on waterhole depth and hence persistence times and habitat quality. Our study found that sedimentation rates have increased substantially since European settlement, most likely in response to removal of groundcover by grazers. The increased sediment accumulation rates are estimated to have reduced persistence times during low and no flow periods of the waterholes by 2–4 months. Despite evidence from other similar systems in Australia that increased influx of sediment coincided with loss of submerged macrophytes, stratigraphic records of preserved pollen and diatoms did not provide consistent evidence of biotic or habitat quality changes within the waterholes associated with European settlement.

scholarly journals Omnivorous Carp (Carassius gibelio) Increase Eutrophication in Part by Preventing Development of Large-Bodied Zooplankton and Submerged Macrophytes

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1497
Author(s):  
Vladimir Razlutskij ◽  
Xueying Mei ◽  
Natallia Maisak ◽  
Elena Sysova ◽  
Dzmitry Lukashanets ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Submerged Macrophytes ◽  
Benthic Algae ◽  
Plankton Community ◽  
Prussian Carp ◽  
Omnivorous Fish ◽  
Outdoor Experiment ◽  
Nitrogen Concentrations ◽  
Lower Biomass

Fish, being an important consumer in aquatic ecosystems, plays a significant role by affecting the key processes of aquatic ecosystems. Omnivorous fish consume a variety of food both from pelagic and benthic habitats and may directly or indirectly affect the plankton community as well as the lake trophic state. We conducted a 72-day outdoor experiment in mesocosms with and without Prussian carp (Carassius auratus) to evaluate the effect of this often-stocked omnivorous fish on the plankton community and water quality. We found that the presence of fish increased the biomass of planktonic algae, total and inorganic suspended solids, leading to decreased light intensity in the water and a lower biomass of benthic algae. Fish also prevented development of submerged macrophytes and the establishment of large-bodied zooplankton. However, the fish did not increase nitrogen concentrations and even was lowered total phosphorus levels, in part due to nutrient storage in the fish. We conclude that stocking of Prussian carp should be avoided, or removed where stocked and abundant, to obtain good ecological quality of shallow lakes, characterized by clear water and high abundance of macrophytes.

Cutting the Vines of the Past: Environmental Histories of the Central African Rainforest

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 689
Author(s):  
Chris Conte ◽  
Tamara Giles-Vernick
Keyword(s):  
The Past ◽  
Environmental Histories

Reflections on the Public Interpretation of Regional Environmental History In Western Pennsylvania

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-69
Author(s):  
Chris J. Magoc
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Public History ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural Resource Extraction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Environmental Histories ◽  
Western Pennsylvania

This essay attempts to counter the scarcity of efforts to address issues of natural resource extraction and environmental exploitation in public history forums. Focused on western Pennsylvania, it argues that the history of industrial development and its deleterious environmental impacts demands a regional vision that not only frames these stories within the ideological and economic context of the past, but also challenges residents and visitors to consider this history in light of the related environmental concerns of our own time. The essay explores some of the difficult issues faced by public historians and practitioners as they seek to produce public environmental histories that do not elude opportunities to link past and present in meaningful ways.

scholarly journals Lake-level variability in Salar de Coipasa, Bolivia during the past ∼40,000 yr

2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 881-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Andrew Nunnery ◽  
Sherilyn C. Fritz ◽  
Paul A. Baker ◽  
Wout Salenbien
Keyword(s):  
Lake Level ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
South American ◽  
Climate History ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diatom Stratigraphy ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractVarious paleoclimatic records have been used to reconstruct the hydrologic history of the Altiplano, relating this history to past variability of the South American summer monsoon. Prior studies of the southern Altiplano, the location of the world’s largest salt flat, the Salar de Uyuni, and its neighbor, the Salar de Coipasa, generally agree in their reconstructions of the climate history of the past ∼24 ka. Some studies, however, have highly divergent climatic records and interpretations of earlier periods. In this study, lake-level variation was reconstructed from a ∼14-m-long sediment core from the Salar de Coipasa. These sediments span the last ∼40 ka. Lacustrine sediment accumulation was apparently continuous in the basin from ∼40 to 6 ka, with dry or very shallow conditions afterward. The fossil diatom stratigraphy and geochemical data (δ13C, δ15N, %Ca, C/N) indicate fluctuations in lake level from shallow to moderately deep, with the deepest conditions correlative with the Heinrich-1 and Younger Dryas events. The stratigraphy shows a continuous lake of variable depth and salinity during the last glacial maximum and latter stages of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 and is consistent with environmental inferences and the original chronology of a drill core from Salar de Uyuni.

Distribution of biogenic silica in the surficial sediments of Lake Michigan

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1442-1449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Conley ◽  
Claire L. Schelske ◽  
Brian G. Dempsey ◽  
Charles D. Campbell ◽  
Teresa L. Newberry
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Biogenic Silica ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Surficial Sediments ◽  
Sediment Samples ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Lake Bottom ◽  
High Concentrations

The spatial distribution of biogenic silica (BSi) in the surficial sediments of Lake Michigan is described from Shipek grab samples collected in 1975 and gravity cores obtained in 1983. Significantly smaller surficial BSi concentrations in the 1975 samples were attributed primarily to the inability of a Shipek grab to collect intact surficial sediment samples. Lower concentrations o.f BSi were found in nondepositional and transitional areas of sediment accumulation than in depositional basins. Therefore, BSi accumulation is restricted primarily to the 40% of the lake bottom where sediments are presently accumulating. High concentrations found in Green Bay surficial sediments are related to high productivity in the bay coupled with inputs of new silica from the Fox River. In the open lake, BSi concentrations of surficial sediments in depositional basins appeared to vary inversely with sedimentation rate in that lower BSi concentrations were found in areas with higher sedimentation rates.

scholarly journals Long- to short-term denudation rates in the southern Apennines: geomorphological markers and chronological constraints

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Gioia ◽  
Claudio Martino ◽  
Marcello Schiattarella
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Southern Apennines ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Small Catchment ◽  
Fluvial Terraces ◽  
Denudation Rates ◽  
Land Surfaces

Long- to short-term denudation rates in the southern Apennines: geomorphological markers and chronological constraints Age constraints of geomorphological markers and consequent estimates of long- to short-term denudation rates from southern Italy are given here. Geomorphic analysis of the valley of the Tanagro River combined with apatite fission track data and radiometric dating provided useful information on the ages and evolution of some significant morphotectonic markers such as regional planated landscapes, erosional land surfaces and fluvial terraces. Reconstruction of paleotopography and estimation of the eroded volumes were perfomed starting from the plano-altimetric distribution of several orders of erosional land surfaces surveyed in the study area. Additional data about denudation rates related to the recent and/or active geomorphological system have been obtained by estimating the amount of suspended sediment yield at the outlet of some catchments using empirical relationships based on the hierarchical arrangement of the drainage network. Denudation rates obtained through these methods have been compared with the sedimentation rates calculated for two adjacent basins (the Pantano di San Gregorio and the Vallo di Diano), on the basis of published tephrochronological constraints. These rates have also been compared with those calculated for the historical sediment accumulation in a small catchment located to the north of the study area, with long-term exhumation data from thermochronometry, and with uplift rates from the study area. Long- and short-term denudation rates are included between 0.1 and 0.2 mm/yr, in good agreement with regional data and long-term sedimentation rates from the Vallo di Diano and the Pantano di San Gregorio Magno basins. On the other hand, higher values of exhumation rates from thermochronometry suggest the existence of past erosional processes faster than the recent and present-day exogenic dismantling. Finally, the comparison between uplift and denudation rates indicates that the fluvial erosion did not match the tectonic uplift during the Quaternary in this sector of the chain. The axial zone of the southern Apennines should therefore be regarded as a landscape in conditions of geomorphological disequilibrium.

scholarly journals Use of Thermodynamic Orientors to Assess the Efficiency of Ecosystems: A Case Study in the Lagoon of Venice

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 255-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Bastianoni
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Fish Farming ◽  
Venice Lagoon ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Lagoon Of Venice ◽  
The Past ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
The One

So-called orientors have been introduced at the interface between ecology and thermodynamics. Two have been chosen here to compare the characteristics of five ecological systems: exergy, which is related to the degree of organization of a system and represents the biogeochemical energy of a system, and emergy, which is defined as the total amount of solar energy directly or indirectly required to generate a product or a service. They represent two complementary aspects of a system: the actual state and the past work needed to reach that state. The ratio of exergy to the emergy flow indicates the efficiency of an ecosystem in producing or maintaining its organization.The main system under study is a portion of the Venice Lagoon, which is used as a fish farming basin. Four other aquatic ecosystems were considered for comparison. Results show that the ecosystem within the Venice Lagoon is the one with the highest efficiency in transforming the available inputs in organization of the system. This fact is due to human intervention, which is very limited but also very effective.

Trends in Chesapeake Bay Sedimentation Rates during the Late Holocene

1990 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relative Sea Level Rise

AbstractTrends are discernible in the estimates of late Holocene rates of sedimentation and sea-level rise for the Chesapeake Bay. During most of the Holocene Epoch sedimentation rates and relative sea-level rise were equal, within the limits of measurement, at approximately 1 mm yr−1. Sedimentation rates measured over the past century, however, are nearly an order of magnitude higher, while the rate of relative sea-level rise for the Chesapeake Bay now averages 3.3 mm yr−1, as measured on long-term tide gauge records. When the acceleration in these rates occurred is uncertain, but it appears to have been confined to the past millennium, and probably to the past few centuries. The rapid sedimentation rates recorded during historic time may be a temporary disequilibrium that has resulted from a recent acceleration in the rate of relative sea-level rise.

Stratigraphic Evidence of Human Disturbance in an Estuary

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace S. Brush ◽  
Frank W. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Cultivated Land ◽  
Dramatic Decrease ◽  
Planktonic Diatoms ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Compositional Changes ◽  
Historical Sequences

Prior to European settlement, oligohaline and mesohaline sections of Chesapeake Bay draining Piedmont saprolite supported diverse and abundant diatom and macrophyte populations. Compositional changes in diatoms and macrophytes in oligohaline sections correspond with 17th- and 19th-century deforestation and increased siltation, while effects on downstream populations were less notable. After deforestation, previously sparse diatom populations in a mesohaline estuary draining sandy Coastal Plain soils became more abundant. Fertilization of cultivated land was accompanied by increased production of both attached and free-floating diatoms. After the discharge of sewage, diatom populations increased enormously in the affected areas, followed by a dramatic decrease. The decrease suggests silica limitation after intense phosphorus enrichment. The loss of macrophytes and increase in planktonic diatoms in oligohaline areas in recent years resemble the historical sequences observed in lakes undergoing eutrophication. However, in the estuary, similar declines have also occurred in macrophyte populations in mesohaline areas where eutrophication is much less severe, but where chlorine and herbicide toxicity during the past 20 yr is similar to upstream areas.

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