scholarly journals Review of Methods to Repair and Maintain Lithophilic Fish Spawning Habitat

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2501
Author(s):  
Audrey Baetz ◽  
Taaja Tucker ◽  
Robin DeBruyne ◽  
Alex Gatch ◽  
Tomas Höök ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Anthropogenic Effects ◽  
Spawning Habitat ◽  
Rocky Reefs ◽  
Treasure Hunting ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
Fish Spawning ◽  
Cleaning Methods ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Spawning Habitats

Rocky reefs provide important spawning and refuge habitats for lithophilic spawning fishes. However, many reefs have been lost or severely degraded through anthropogenic effects like dredging, channelization, or sedimentation. Constructed reefs have been used to mitigate these effects in some systems, but these reefs are also subject to degradation which may warrant custodial maintenance. Monitoring and maintenance of natural or constructed spawning reefs are not common practices; therefore, few methodologies have been created to test the effectiveness of such tools. We conducted a literature review to assess available information on maintenance of rocky spawning habitats used by lithophilic fishes. We identified 54 rocky spawning habitat maintenance projects, most of which aimed to improve fish spawning habitats through the addition of spawning substrate (n = 33) or cleaning of substrate (n = 23). In comparison to shallow riverine studies focused on salmonids, we found little information on deep-water reefs, marine reefs, or other fish species. We discuss the possible application of potential spawning habitat cleaning methods from other disciplines (e.g., treasure hunting; archeology) that may provide effective means of reef maintenance that can be used by restoration practitioners.

scholarly journals Evolutionary and ecological constraints of fish spawning habitats

2014 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Ciannelli ◽  
Kevin Bailey ◽  
Esben Moland Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Fish Habitat ◽  
Evolutionary Constraints ◽  
Spawning Habitat ◽  
Ecological Constraints ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Fish Spawning ◽  
Developmental Phases ◽  
Plastic Responses ◽  
Spawning Habitats

Abstract For marine fish, the choice of the spawning location may be the only means to fulfil the dual needs of surviving from the egg to juvenile stage and dispersing across different habitats while minimizing predation and maximizing food intake. In this article, we review the factors that affect the choice of fish spawning habitats and propose a framework to distinguish between ecological and evolutionary constraints. We define the former as the boundaries for phenotypically plastic responses to environmental change, in this case the ability of specific genotypes to change their spawning habitat. Processes such as predation, starvation, or aberrant dispersal typically limit the amount of variability in spawning habitat that fish may undergo from 1 year to the next, and thus regulate the intensity of ecological constraints. Evolutionary constraints, on the other hand, refer to aspects of the genetic make-up that limit the rate and direction of adaptive genetic changes in a population across generations; that is, the potential for micro-evolutionary change. Thus, their intensity is inversely related to the level of genetic diversity associated with traits that regulate spawning and developmental phases. We argue that fisheries oceanographers are well aware of, and more deeply focused on, the former set of constraints, while evolutionary biologists are more deeply focused on the latter set of constraints. Our proposed framework merges these two viewpoints and provides new insight to study fish habitat selection and adaptability to environmental changes.

Generic Issues Program Overview and Update

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack W. Foster ◽  
John V. Kauffman
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Body ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Potential Safety ◽  
Construction Operation ◽  
Regulatory Commission ◽  
Available Information

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has a Generic Issues Program (GIP) to address Generic Issues (GI). A GI is defined as “a regulatory matter involving the design, construction, operation, or decommissioning of several, or a class of, NRC licensees or certificate holders that is not sufficiently addressed by existing rules, guidance, or programs.” This rather legalistic definition has several practical corollaries: First, a GI must involve safety. Second, the issue must involve at least two plants, or it would be a plant-specific issue rather than a GI. Third, the potential safety question must not be covered by existing regulations and guidance (compliance). Thus, the effect of a GI is to potentially change the body of regulations and associated guidance (e.g., regulatory guides). The GIP was started in 1976, thus it is a relatively mature program. There have been approximately 850 issues processed by the program to date. More importantly, even after 30 years, new GIs continue to be proposed. The entire set of Generic Issues (GIs) is updated annually in NUREG-0933, “A Prioritization of Generic Safety Issues.” GIs tend to involve complex questions of safety and regulation. The efficient and effective means of addressing these issues is very important for regulatory effectiveness. If an issue proves to pose a genuine, significant safety question, then swift, effective, enforceable, and cost-effective action needs to be taken. Conversely, if an issue is of little safety significance, the issue should be dismissed in an expeditious manner, avoiding unnecessary expenditure of resources and regulatory burden or uncertainty. This paper provides an overview of the 5-stage program, from identification through the regulatory assessment stage. The paper also includes a discussion of the program’s seven criteria, sources of proposed GIs, recent improvements, publicly available information, historical performance, and status of current GIs.

scholarly journals Hydrogeochemical controls on brook trout spawning habitats in a coastal stream

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6383-6398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin A. Briggs ◽  
Judson W. Harvey ◽  
Stephen T. Hurley ◽  
Donald O. Rosenberry ◽  
Timothy McCobb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Brook Trout ◽  
Groundwater Discharge ◽  
Cape Cod ◽  
Valley Bottom ◽  
Groundwater Flux ◽  
Peat Deposits ◽  
Fish Spawning ◽  
Meander Bends ◽  
Spawning Habitats

Abstract. Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) spawn in fall and overwintering egg development can benefit from stable, relatively warm temperatures in groundwater-seepage zones. However, eggs are also sensitive to dissolved oxygen concentration, which may be reduced in discharging groundwater (i.e., seepage). We investigated a 2 km reach of the coastal Quashnet River in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, to relate preferred fish spawning habitats to geology, geomorphology, and discharging groundwater geochemistry. Thermal reconnaissance methods were used to locate zones of rapid groundwater discharge, which were predominantly found along the central channel of a wider stream valley section. Pore-water chemistry and temporal vertical groundwater flux were measured at a subset of these zones during field campaigns over several seasons. Seepage zones in open-valley sub-reaches generally showed suboxic conditions and higher dissolved solutes compared to the underlying glacial outwash aquifer. These discharge zones were cross-referenced with preferred brook trout redds and evaluated during 10 years of observation, all of which were associated with discrete alcove features in steep cutbanks, where stream meander bends intersect the glacial valley walls. Seepage in these repeat spawning zones was generally stronger and more variable than in open-valley sites, with higher dissolved oxygen and reduced solute concentrations. The combined evidence indicates that regional groundwater discharge along the broader valley bottom is predominantly suboxic due to the influence of near-stream organic deposits; trout show no obvious preference for these zones when spawning. However, the meander bends that cut into sandy deposits near the valley walls generate strong oxic seepage zones that are utilized routinely for redd construction and the overwintering of trout eggs. Stable water isotopic data support the conclusion that repeat spawning zones are located directly on preferential discharges of more localized groundwater. In similar coastal systems with extensive valley peat deposits, the specific use of groundwater-discharge points by brook trout may be limited to morphologies such as cutbanks, where groundwater flow paths do not encounter substantial buried organic material and remain oxygen-rich.

scholarly journals Why Are Radar Data so Difficult to Assimilate Skillfully?

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (7) ◽  
pp. 2819-2836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Fabry ◽  
Véronique Meunier
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
State Variables ◽  
New Information ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
Radar Measurements ◽  
The Common ◽  
Statistical Relationships ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Abstract Although radar is our most useful tool for monitoring severe weather, the benefits of assimilating its data are often short lived. To understand why, we documented the assimilation requirements, the data characteristics, and the common practices that could hinder optimum data assimilation by traditional approaches. Within storms, radars provide dense measurements of a few highly variable storm outcomes (precipitation and wind) in atmospherically unstable conditions. However, statistical relationships between errors of observed and unobserved quantities often become nonlinear because the errors in these areas tend to become large rapidly. Beyond precipitating areas lie large regions for which radars provide limited new information, yet whose properties will soon shape the outcome of future storms. For those areas, any innovation must consequently be projected from sometimes distant precipitating areas. Thus, radar data assimilation must contend with a double need at odds with many traditional assimilation implementations: correcting in-storm properties with complex errors while projecting information at unusually far distances outside precipitating areas. To further complicate the issue, other data properties and practices, such as assimilating reflectivity in logarithmic units, are not optimal to correct all state variables. Therefore, many characteristics of radar measurements and common practices of their assimilation are incompatible with necessary conditions for successful data assimilation. Facing these dataset-specific challenges may force us to consider new approaches that use the available information differently.

Hemorrhagic fevers of viral nature. State of the problem and directions for creating effective means of prevention and treatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-187
Author(s):  
A. V. Stepanov ◽  
A. L. Buzmakova ◽  
A. V. Potapova ◽  
M. A. Yudin ◽  
V. Ya. Apchel
Keyword(s):  
Effective Means ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Molecular Virology ◽  
Hemorrhagic Fevers ◽  
Prevention And Treatment ◽  
Causative Agents ◽  
Viral Nature ◽  
Information Materials ◽  
Available Information

Abstract. An attempt to summarize the data of available information materials on epidemiological aspects, the state and prospects of prevention and treatment of hemorrhagic fevers was. Hemorrhagic fevers of viral nature-zoonotic diseases caused by viruses containing ribonucleic acid are classified into 4 families: Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Filoviridae and Flaviviridae. They are spread all over the world, and their pathogens are easily transmitted from person to person, thereby spreading quickly enough beyond the main focus of biological infection. That is why the causative agents of hemorrhagic fevers are regarded as highly contagious biological agents, and agents bioterrorism. Unfortunately, there are currently no effective means of specific prevention and treatment of these infections, and therapeutic measures are limited to the use of symptomatic means. In this regard, the search for substances with pronounced antiviral activity against pathogens of hemorrhagic fevers that can effectively protect against these infections, as well as prevent their occurrence and spread is one of the priority areas of research in modern Infectology, and with the involvement of modern achievements in the field of molecular Virology and genetic engineering. The data obtained in this regard allow a more in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of hemorrhagic fevers, the mechanisms of interaction of the pathogen with the host at the cellular level, the mechanisms of intracellular replication of viruses, the formation of the hosts response to viral invasion and clinical manifestations of diseases.

scholarly journals Transforming the relationship between staff and students to effect change

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Hassan ◽  
Sarah Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Meaningful Change ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship

This opinion piece argues for the necessity of student-staff partnerships that go beyond the common rhetoric of ‘student engagement’, achieving a richer student and staff dialogue which results in more meaningful change in policy and practice. In particular, attention is drawn to the need for such partnerships when determining technology applications that are often missed out from, or treated in isolation from, the curriculum design process. This piece cites, as an example, a student-led taught day on the Post Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching at Aston University in July 2015. There was clear evidence that the staff participants designed their assessments with student partners in mind. It is therefore proposed that a partnership relationship offers an effective means of moving forward from common practices where technology simply replicates, or supplements, traditional activities.

scholarly journals Protected area effectiveness for fish spawning habitat in relation to earthquake-induced landscape change

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Orchard ◽  
Michael J. H. Hickford
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Habitat Model ◽  
Spawning Habitat ◽  
Adaptive Planning ◽  
Potential Habitat ◽  
Galaxias Maculatus ◽  
Fish Spawning ◽  
Protection Mechanisms ◽  
Planning Methods ◽  
Spawning Sites

AbstractWe studied the effectiveness of conservation planning methods for Galaxias maculatus, a riparian spawning fish, following earthquake-induced habitat shift in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Mapping and GIS overlay techniques were used to evaluate three protection mechanisms in operative or proposed plans in two study catchments over two years. Method 1 utilised a network of small protected areas around known spawning sites. It was the least resilient to change with only 3.9% of post-quake habitat remaining protected in the worst performing scenario. Method 2, based on mapped reaches of potential habitat, remained effective in one catchment (98%) but not in the other (52.5%). Method 3, based on a habitat model, achieved near 100% protection in both catchments but used planning areas far larger than the area of habitat actually used. This example illustrates resilience considerations for protected area design. Redundancy can help maintain effectiveness in face of dynamics and may be a pragmatic choice if planning area boundaries lack in-built adaptive capacity or require lengthy processes for amendment. However, an adaptive planning area coupled with monitoring offers high effectiveness from a smaller protected area. Incorporating elements of both strategies provides a promising conceptual basis for adaptation to major perturbations or responding to slow change.

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