Effects of pCO2 on physiology and skeletal mineralogy in a tidal pool coralline alga Corallina elongata

Marine organisms inhabiting environments where pCO₂/pH varies naturally are suggested to be relatively resilient to future ocean acidification. To test this hypothesis, the effect of elevated pCO₂ was investigated in the articulated coralline red alga Corallina elongata from an intertidal rock pool on the north coast of Brittany (France), where pCO₂ naturally varied daily between 70 and 1000 μatm. Metabolism was measured on algae in the laboratory after they had been grown for 3 weeks at pCO₂ concentrations of 380, 550, 750 and 1000 μatm. Net and gross primary production, respiration and calcification rates were assessed by measurements of oxygen and total alkalinity fluxes using incubation chambers in the light and dark. Calcite mol % Mg/Ca (mMg/Ca) was analysed in the tips, branches and basal parts of the fronds, as well as in new skeletal structures produced by the algae in the different pCO₂ treatments. Respiration, gross primary production and calcification in light and dark were not significantly affected by increased pCO₂. Algae grown under elevated pCO₂ (550, 750 and 1000 μatm) formed fewer new structures and produced calcite with a lower mMg/Ca ratio relative to those grown under 380 μatm. This study supports the assumption that C. elongata from a tidal pool, where pCO₂ fluctuates over diel and seasonal cycles, is relatively robust to elevated pCO₂ compared to other recently investigated coralline algae.     

Assessing aquaculture sustainability: a comparative methodology

Little work dealing with the evaluation of aquaculture system sustainability has so far been undertaken on a global and comparative basis. Moreover, such work is mostly based on very unbalanced approaches in terms of the dimensions of sustainable development that are taken into account. The approach adopted in this article is designed to encompass all the dimensions of sustainability including the institutional one (governance). The taking into account of this latter, in particular, together with the role played by aquaculture in sustainability at the territorial level gives the approach its original and innovative nature. The process of establishing the checklist of sustainability indicators in aquaculture relies on a hierarchical nesting approach which makes it possible to link indicators with general sustainability criteria and principles. At once multidisciplinary and participatory, the approach compares several countries with highly differentiated types of aquaculture system. An original finding from this work is that the technically most intensive farming model scores better than more extensive systems, which might have been thought to be closer to natural systems in their environmental dimension and therefore intuitively more ‘sustainable’. This result suggests relating sustainability outcomes to the level of control and of devolved responsibilities.     

The link between social network density and rank-order consistency of aggressiveness in juvenile eels

The emergence of an animal’s personality is the result of interactions between genetics, environment and experience. It is known that individuals are able to modulate their behaviour according to the context or the social environment. Many studies have shown for example, that familiarity among conspecifics diminishes aggressiveness, although little is known about the underlying processes. Nevertheless, personality traits have long been determined while ignoring the social context, especially in lower vertebrates such as fish. In the present experiment, we hypothesize that group connections (network density) may be positively correlated to consistency of aggressiveness by avoiding over-aggressive acts in further encounters. To test this hypothesis, we used eels (Anguilla anguilla) as a model species and monitored both aggressiveness and sociability in 64 individuals over their first 7 months of growth from the glass eel stage. As expected, social fish were less aggressive than their non-social counterparts at all times, highlighting the existence of a behavioural syndrome in eels. Additionally, rank-order consistency of aggressiveness was higher in groups of fish with high social connectivity, compared to those in less-connected fish groups. While aggressiveness must be consistent to be considered a personality trait, our results suggest that both aggressiveness and its consistency are influenced by initial social context.     

Risk trading in mating behavior: forgoing anti-predator responses reduces the likelihood of missing terminal mating opportunities

Life history theory predicts that organisms make certain adjustments to their current and future reproductive effort such that fitness is maximized. Moreover, these adjustments may be fine tuned in response to risks of attack by natural enemies. Thus, we may predict that as an organism ages it will accept increasing levels of exposure to predators during mating activities, effectively trading the risk of losing terminal mating opportunities for the risk of predation. We tested this prediction in an acoustic moth, Achroia grisella, in which females orient toward and evaluate males based on their ultrasonic calling song, and both sexes may be vulnerable to predation by insectivorous bats while in flight as well as on the substrate. In the latter situation, singing males and orienting females show silence and arrestment responses, respectively, when presented with synthetic bat echolocation signals broadcast above a threshold amplitude. We found that both males and females become less sensitive to these broadcasts over the course of their brief reproductive periods, 7 and 5 days, respectively. Over the same periods, sensitivity to male song in both males and females remains constant, and relatively little senescence in sexual behavior is observed. These results support the risk trading hypothesis, and they indicate that life history principles may apply over a very short lifespan.     

Influences of Climatic Change on Some Ecological Processes of an Insect Outbreak System in Canada's Boreal Forests and the Implications for Biodiversity

Insect outbreaks are a major disturbance factor in Canadian forests. If global warming occurs, the disturbance patterns caused by insects may change substantially, especially for those insects whose distributions depend largely on climate. In addition, the likelihood of wildfire often increases after insect attack, so the unpredictability of future insect disturbance patterns adds to the general uncertainty of fire regimes. The rates of processes fundamental to energy, nutrient, and biogeochemical cycling are also affected by insect disturbance, and through these effects, potential changes in disturbance patterns indirectly influence biodiversity. A process-level perspective is advanced to describe how the major insect outbreak system in Canadian forests, that of the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana Clem. [Lepidoptera: Tortricidae]), might react to global warming. The resulting scenarios highlight the possible importance of natural selection, extreme weather, phenological relationships, complex feedbacks, historical conditions, and threshold behavior. That global warming already seems to be affecting the lifecycles of some insects points to the timeliness of this discussion. Some implications of this process-level perspective for managing the effects of global warming on biodiversity are discussed. The value of process-level understanding and high-resolution, long-term monitoring in attacking such problems is emphasized. It is argued that a species-level, preservationist approach may have unwanted side-effects, be cost-ineffective, and ecologically unsustainable.     

Colloidal mobilization from soil and transport of uranium in (sub)-surface waters

An analytical methodology was developed to characterize the colloidal distribution of trace elements of interest in environmental waters sampled in a same site and enables the different colloidal distributions from waters to be compared. The purpose was to provide consistent information related to the origin and nature of colloids responsible for the transport of trace element(s). The work was motivated by the observed enhanced mobility of uranium in soil. The colloidal size continuum was investigated by a multi-technique approach involving asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) coupled with ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), multi angle light scattering (MALS), and atomic mass spectrometry (ICPMS). To take into consideration the size and shape variability specific to each sample, the size distributions were established from the gyration radii measured from MALS, also considering the size information from standard nanospheres fractionated by AF4. A new parameter called “shape index” was proposed. It expresses the difference in hydrodynamic behavior between analytes and spherical particles taken as reference. Under AF4 diffusion conditions, it can be considered as an evaluator of the deviation from the sphericity of the fractionated analytes. AF4-UV-MALS-ICPMS enabled the dimensional and chemical characteristics of the colloidal size continuum to be obtained. As a “proof of concept”, the developed methodology was applied at a field scale, in a reference study site. In order to have a “dynamic understanding”, the investigation was based on the joint characterization of colloids from surface waters and soil leachates from static and dynamic processes. In the water samples of the study site, the continuum of gyration radius ranged from a few nanometers up to 200 nm. Colloids containing iron, aluminum, and organic carbon were involved in the uranium transport in the soil column and surface waters. The colloidal uranium concentration in the surface water increased from the upstream location (approximately 13 ng (U) L^?1) to the downstream location (approximately 60 ng (U) L^?1).

     

大九湖泥炭磁化率及腐殖化度记录的18.7 Ka BP气候变化

神农架大九湖泥炭沼泽是中纬度亚热带地区的高山泥炭沼泽,其连续沉积的泥炭剖面蕴含了丰富的气候变化信息,对揭示我国中纬度地区不同时间尺度的气候环境变化有着重要意义。使用碱提取溶液吸光度法对大九湖泥炭吸光度进行测定,以E4/E6比值表征腐殖化度,同时测定了泥炭的磁化率,通过AMS14C测年技术建立了神农架大九湖泥炭地的年代序列,结合区域的其他气候代用指标,分析大九湖泥炭磁化率与腐殖化度E4/E6的古气候意义：大九湖泥炭频率磁化率值高指示气候冷干,降水量小;磁化率值偏低指示气候暖湿,降水量大。E4/E6值高,腐殖化度低,指示气候冷干;值低,腐殖化度高,指示气候暖湿。探讨大九湖地区末次冰消期以来的气候变化,重建该区18.7 Ka BP 的气候演化过程：末次冰期结束期（18.7~11.7 Ka BP）气候比较冷干,期间存在气候冷暖干湿交替波动;全新世（11.7~0 Ka BP）以来,气温开始回升,气候比较暖湿,期间也存在突发性降温事件,其中,全新世早期（11.7~9.3 Ka BP）气候冷暖干湿交替波动,总体冷湿;全新世中期（9.3~3.5 Ka BP）气候暖湿;全新世晚期（3.5~0 Ka BP）气候温干。 关键词： 泥炭;磁化率;E4/E6;大九湖;气候变化     

Future intensification of summer hypoxia in the tidal Garonne River (SW France) simulated by a coupled hydro sedimentary-biogeochemical model

Projections for the next 50 years predict a widespread distribution of hypoxic zones in the open and coastal ocean due to environmental and global changes. The Tidal Garonne River (SW France) has already experienced few episodic hypoxic events. However, predicted future climate and demographic changes suggest that summer hypoxia could become more severe and even permanent near the city of Bordeaux in the next few decades. A 3D model, which couples hydrodynamic, sediment transport, and biogeochemical processes, is applied to assess the impact of factors submitted to global and regional climate changes on oxygenation in the turbidity maximum zone (TMZ) of the Tidal Garonne River during low-discharge periods. The model simulates an intensification of summer hypoxia with an increase in temperature, a decrease in river flow or an increase in the local population, but not with sea level rise, which has a negligible impact on dissolved oxygen. Different scenarios were tested by combining these different factors according to the regional projections for 2050 and 2100. All the simulations showed a trend toward a spatial and temporal extension of summer hypoxia that needs to be considered by local water authorities to impose management strategies to protect the ecosystem.