scholarly journals Crustacean assemblages of coastal wetlands from fragmented and scarcely isolated islands compared with the mainland

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Lucena-Moya ◽  
Stéphanie Gascón ◽  
Daniel Boix ◽  
Isabel Pardo ◽  
Jordi Sala ◽  
...  

The present study compared crustacean assemblages from coastal wetlands between a fragment archipelago and a landmass. The study included four typical crustacean taxonomic groups (i.e. Cladocera, Copepoda, Ostracoda and Malacostraca) from the Balearic Archipelago region as an example of a fragment island (‘Archipelago’) and the Catalonia region as the landmass (‘Mainland’; Spanish Mediterranean coast). We tested null hypotheses based on the expected similarity between Archipelago and Mainland in terms of crustacean assemblages and biodiversity. Similar relationships of those community attributes with environmental variables were also expected in both regions. The results partially met the null hypotheses. We found that crustacean taxonomic composition varied between Archipelago and Mainland, likely due to peculiar biological and biogeographical processes acting in the Archipelago. The relationship between crustacean assemblages and the environmental variables was mostly similar between Archipelago and Mainland, as expected. Both regions also showed similar patterns of species distribution (i.e. Archipelago and Mainland coastal wetlands were characterised by a few dominant species). This result could be masked by the ‘filter’ effect exercised by the harsh conditions of coastal wetlands. Moreover, the total diversity values (gamma biodiversity) in the Archipelago were similar to the values for the Mainland, supporting the hypothesis that fragment islands can be of substantial value for the conservation of global biodiversity.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4277
Author(s):  
Matthias Winfried Kleespies ◽  
Paul Wilhelm Dierkes

The UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs), which aim to solve important economic, social, and environmental problems of humanity, are to be supported by education for sustainable development (ESD). Empirical studies on the success of the implementation of the SDGs in the field of education are still pending. For this reason, using the loss of global biodiversity as an example, this study examined the extent to which high school students, teacher trainees in biology, and biology bachelor students can identify the causes of the global biodiversity loss. A new questioning tool was developed and tested on 889 participants. In addition, the relationship between connection to nature and the personal assessment about biodiversity threats was examined. The factor analysis of the scale used showed that 11 out of 16 items were assigned to the intended factor. The comparison between high school students, teacher trainees in biology, and biology bachelor students showed no significant difference in overall assessment of the reasons for global biodiversity loss. When comparing the three risk levels in which the risk factors for biodiversity could be divided, across the three student groups, only minor differences were found. Therefore, a specific education of prospective teachers is necessary, as they have to pass on the competence as multipliers to their students. No significant difference could be found when examining the relationship between connection to nature and the overall scores of the assessment scale for the reasons of biodiversity loss. However, it was found that people who felt more connected to nature were more capable of assessing the main causes of risk for global biodiversity, while people who felt less connected to nature achieved better scores for the medium factors.


2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Bernal ◽  
Yorgos Stratoudakis ◽  
Simon Wood ◽  
Leire Ibaibarriaga ◽  
Luis Valdés ◽  
...  

Abstract Bernal, M., Stratoudakis, Y., Wood, S., Ibaibarriaga, L., Uriarte, A., Valdés, L., and Borchers, D. 2011. A revision of daily egg production estimation methods, with application to Atlanto-Iberian sardine. 2. Spatially and environmentally explicit estimates of egg production. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: . A spatially and environmentally explicit egg production model is developed to accommodate a number of assumptions about the relationship between egg production and mortality and associated environmental variables. The general model was tested under different assumptions for Atlanto-Iberian sardine. It provides a flexible estimator of egg production, in which a range of assumptions and hypotheses can be tested in a structured manner within a well-defined statistical framework. Application of the model to Atlanto-Iberian sardine increased the precision of the egg production time-series, and allowed improvements to be made in understanding the spatio-temporal variability in egg production, as well as implications for ecology and stock assessment.


2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 609 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Elsdon ◽  
B. M. Gillanders

Elemental concentrations within fish otoliths can track movements and migrations of fish through gradients of environmental variables. Tracking the movements of fish relies on establishing links between environmental variables and otolith chemistry, with links commonly made using laboratory experiments that rear juvenile fish. However, laboratory experiments done on juvenile fish may not accurately reflect changes in wild fish, particularly adults. We tested the hypotheses that: (1) the relationship between ambient (water) and otolith chemistry is similar between laboratory-reared black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) and wild black bream; and (2) ontogeny does not influence otolith chemistry. Field-collected and laboratory-reared fish showed similar effects of ambient strontium : calcium (Sr : Ca) on otolith Sr : Ca concentrations. However, ambient and otolith barium : calcium concentrations (Ba : Ca) differed slightly between laboratory-reared and field-collected fish. Importantly, fish reared in stable environmental variables showed no influence of ontogeny on Sr : Ca or Ba : Ca concentrations. Natural distributions of ambient Sr : Ca showed no clear relationship to salinity, yet, ambient Ba : Ca was inversely related to salinity. The distribution of ambient Sr : Ca and Ba : Ca in estuaries inhabited by black bream, suggest that these elements can answer different questions regarding environmental histories of fish. Reconstructing salinity histories of black bream using otolith Ba : Ca concentrations seems plausible, if adequate knowledge of Ba : Ca gradients within estuaries is obtained.


Author(s):  
Władysława Wojciechowska ◽  
Tomasz Lenard

AbstractThe research was carried out in a mesotrophic and dimictic lake during winters with ice cover. In the last forty years, the development of phytoplankton was analyzed in five extreme winter seasons. The studies of phytoplankton characteristics in the water column took into account values of biomass, concentration of chlorophyll-a and species composition, including dominant species. Differences in the vertical distribution of flagellate and non-flagellate species belonging to cyanobacteria and algae were analyzed in the gradient of light and thermal conditions. The phytoplankton biomass was low and vertically differentiated, with the lowest values at the deeper part of the water column. Flagellate species from the group of Cryptophyceae, Chrysophyceae and Dinophyceae were most abundant. Species biodiversity was low but every winter the dominant species represented different taxonomic groups. In some periods, larger non-motile phytoplankton species from green or blue-green algae dominated. The research proved that the development of phytoplankton under the ice cover was limited mainly by light and, to a lesser extent, by temperature.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bárbara Moguel ◽  
Liseth Pérez ◽  
Luis David Alcaraz ◽  
Socorro Lozano-García ◽  
Luis Herrera-Estrella ◽  
...  

<p>For decades, paleoecological studies in lake sediments have focused on reconstructing the environments of the past and explaining phenomena linked to climatic variations. Recent advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing have allowed access to environmental DNA (eDNA) and ancient sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA) as a new and efficient proxy for past and present biodiversity. The basin of Mexico (BM) is located in the central part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt at 2,200 m a.s.l.; with the southern portion harboring the Chalco sub-basin. Lake Chalco is one of the last remaining natural aquatic ecosystems within the ever-expanding urban area surrounding Mexico City. The paleoenvironmental history of this lake has been previously characterized using sedimentological and geochemical proxies, as well as preserved microfossils (diatoms, pollen) with a temporal framework based on multiple radiocarbon dates. However, information for the remaining taxonomic groups and metabolic pathways remained unexplored. Here, we present the first metagenomics-based study for the Holocene in a high-altitude lake in Central Mexico –Lake Chalco. We explored the relationship between the lake’s paleoenvironmental condition and estimations of taxonomic and metabolic profiles across the sedimentary sequence (2.5 meters long). Multiple biological and abiotic variables revealed three main environmental phases: 1) a cool freshwater lake (FW1: 11,500-11,000 cal years BP), 2) a warm hyposaline lake (HS2: 11,000-6,000 cal years BP), and 3) a temperate, subsaline lake (SS3, <6,000 cal years BP). We describe the structure of the microbiota community and taxonomy richness turnover in the three Holocene paleoenvironmental phases. During the past 12 000 years BP the most abundant domains in Lake Chalco sediments were Bacteria, followed by Archaea, and Eukarya (36,722 genera). The analysis of functional proteins showed high biodiversity with a total of 27,636,243 proteins identified, but it was only possible to annotate 3,227,398 of them. Also, we identified several genes associated with some relevant pathways, such as methanogenesis. Altogether, this study allowed us to reconstruct the natural history of lake Chalco and its surroundings.</p>


2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hortência Maria Pereira Araujo

The spatial and seasonal distribution of the Paracalanidae species were studied in eighteen stations in the continental shelf off Sergipe and Alagoas States, northeast Brazil, in December, 2001 and 2003, and in June, 2002 and 2003. The Paracalanidae family was constituted by coastal and shelf species such as Parvocalanus crassirostris, Paracalanus quasimodo, P. indicus and P. aculeatus and oceanic species, Calocalanus pavo and Acrocalanus longicornis. Density values were higher in stations located at 10 m isobath with respect to those located at 20 and 30 m depths. Paracalanidae abundance presented differences between seasons with values higher in June (2002, 2003) than in December (2001, 2002). All species were more abundant in the rainy season except Parvocalanus crassirostris. Paracalanus quasimodo was the dominant species with average densities of 949, 740 and 41 ind.m-3 in December months and 4231, 2389 and 1185 ind.m-3 in June months, at stations with local depths of 10, 20 and 30 m, respectively. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that salinity and temperature were the environmental variables that presented significant correlation with the distribution of Paracalanidae species, probably because these variables are influenced by the estuarine waters and by the dynamic of oceanic water masses in the continental shelf.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1717-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIANA WOJCIECHOWSKI ◽  
ANDRÉ A. PADIAL

One of the main goals of monitoring cyanobacteria blooms in aquatic environments is to reveal the relationship between cyanobacterial abundance and environmental variables. Studies typically correlate data that were simultaneously sampled. However, samplings occur sparsely over time and may not reveal the short-term responses of cyanobacterial abundance to environmental changes. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that stronger cyanobacteria x environment relationships in monitoring are found when the temporal variability of sampling points is incorporated in the statistical analyses. To this end, we investigated relationships between cyanobacteria and seven environmental variables that were sampled twice yearly for three years across 11 reservoirs, and data from an intensive monitoring in one of these reservoirs. Poor correlations were obtained when correlating data simultaneously sampled. In fact, the 'highly recurrent' role of phosphorus in cyanobacteria blooms is not properly observed in all sampling periods. On the other hand, the strongest correlation values for the total phosphorus x cyanobacteria relationship were observed when we used the variation of sampling points. We have also shown that environment variables better explain cyanobacteria when a time lag is considered. We conclude that, in cyanobacteria monitoring, the best approach to reveal determinants of cyanobacteria blooms is to consider environmental variability.


2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 996-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Rodolfo Siqueira Vendrame ◽  
Robélio Leandro Marchão ◽  
Osmar Rodrigues Brito ◽  
Maria de Fátima Guimarães ◽  
Thierry Becquer

The objective of this work was to assess the relationship between macrofauna, mineralogy and exchangeable calcium and magnesium in Cerrado Oxisols under pasture. Twelve collection points were chosen in the Distrito Federal and in Formosa municipality, Goiás state, Brazil, representing four soil groups with varied levels of calcium + magnesium and kaolinite/(kaolinite + gibbsite) ratios. Soil macrofauna was collected in triplicate at each collection point, and identified at the level of taxonomic groups. Macrofauna density showed correlation with contents of kaolinite, gibbsite and exchangeable Ca + Mg in the soils. Mineralogy and exchangeable Ca + Mg had significant effects on taxonomic groups and relative density of soil macrofauna. The termites (Isoptera) were more abundant in soils with low exchangeable Ca + Mg; earthworms (Oligochaeta), in soils with high levels of kaolinite; and Hemiptera and Coleoptera larvae were more abundant in gibbsitic soils with higher contents of total carbon.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 4106
Author(s):  
Shuai Wang ◽  
Mingyi Zhou ◽  
Qianlai Zhuang ◽  
Liping Guo

Wetland ecosystems contain large amounts of soil organic carbon. Their natural environment is often both at the junction of land and water with good conditions for carbon sequestration. Therefore, the study of accurate prediction of soil organic carbon (SOC) density in coastal wetland ecosystems of flat terrain areas is the key to understanding their carbon cycling. This study used remote sensing data to study SOC density potentials of coastal wetland ecosystems in Northeast China. Eleven environmental variables including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), difference vegetation index (DVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), renormalization difference vegetation index (RDVI), ratio vegetation index (RVI), topographic wetness index (TWI), elevation, slope aspect (SA), slope gradient (SG), mean annual temperature (MAT), and mean annual precipitation (MAP) were selected to predict SOC density. A total of 193 soil samples (0–30 cm) were divided into two parts, 70% of the sampling sites data were used to construct the boosted regression tree (BRT) model containing three different combinations of environmental variables, and the remaining 30% were used to test the predictive performance of the model. The results show that the full variable model is better than the other two models. Adding remote sensing-related variables significantly improved the model prediction. This study revealed that SAVI, NDVI and DVI were the main environmental factors affecting the spatial variation of topsoil SOC density of coastal wetlands in flat terrain areas. The mean (±SD) SOC density of full variable models was 18.78 (±1.95) kg m−2, which gradually decreased from northeast to southwest. We suggest that remote sensing-related environmental variables should be selected as the main environmental variables when predicting topsoil SOC density of coastal wetland ecosystems in flat terrain areas. Accurate prediction of topsoil SOC density distribution will help to formulate soil management policies and enhance soil carbon sequestration.


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