Use of Synthetic Aperture Radar for Selecting Alaskan Lakes for Winter Water Use1

Abstract: Water resources are limited in many areas of the North Slope, Alaska, particularly during winter. Water is used by the oil industry for ice road construction and maintenance, drilling and facility operations, and potable water supplies. The coastal plain between Teshekpuk Lake, in the National Petroleum Reserve‐Alaska (NPR‐A) and the Colville River has numerous shallow lakes, but further south in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, and east to the Canning River, lakes are fewer. While many oil and gas lease sales have been conducted, or are proposed, access to the leases may be limited because of the lack of available water for ice road construction. Ice roads are the main means by which exploration is conducted in the Arctic, putting a stress on freshwater bodies that do not freeze to the lakebed in winter. Lakes that do not freeze to the lakebed also serve as overwintering habitat for fish. The purpose of this paper is to report on the potential distribution of water bodies that may provide overwinter water in selected areas from Teshekpuk Lake to the Canning River. The project used synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery to search for the presence of water in lakes in March 2006. In the Kuparuk and Canning SAR images, 52 and 61% of lakes were frozen to their beds by March 2006, accounting for 49 and 57% of the lake area in these study regions. Conversely, only 2% of the lakes in the Teshekpuk region were frozen to the bottom by March 2006. Unfrozen water was more available because of deeper and more numerous lakes in the Teshekpuk Lake region (west) than in the Canning River area (east). While only specific SAR tiles were analyzed herein, the method will be a useful tool for land managers who seek to evaluate the potential for ice road construction across the Arctic.     

Effects of Water Withdrawal From Ice‐Covered Lakes on Oxygen,Temperature, and Fish1

Abstract: In northern regions, large volumes of water are needed for activities such as winter road construction. Such withdrawals, particularly from small lakes, can reduce oxygen concentrations and water levels, potentially affecting aquatic organisms. Withdrawal limits have been developed by regulatory agencies, but are largely theoretical. Water withdrawal thresholds were tested in two small lakes by removing 10% and 20% of their respective under‐ice volumes and comparing oxygen parameters, temperature, over‐wintering habitat, and northern pike (Esox lucius) abundance to reference conditions. Because of a milder winter, oxygen parameters were elevated in reference lakes in the period following withdrawal compared to the prewithdrawal period. The 10% withdrawal resulted in a ?0.2 m shift in the oxygen concentration profile at 4 mg/l in that lake, but had no effect on total volume‐weighted oxygen, or volume of over‐wintering habitat. In contrast, the 20% withdrawal caused 0.7 m reduction in the oxygen concentration profile at 4 mg/l compared to the previous year, a 26% decline in the volume‐weighted oxygen concentration, and a 23% reduction in the volume of over‐wintering habitat compared to prewithdrawal conditions. Water temperatures were slightly (≤ 10%) colder in the upper strata in the year following the withdrawal in both withdrawal and reference lakes. Northern pike abundance was not impacted by water withdrawals in either of the lakes. The results of this study show that the effects of water withdrawal on the parameters investigated reflected the characteristics of the lakes, and would therefore be expected to vary from lake to lake. Policy development to mitigate impacts must therefore reflect the site‐specific nature of water withdrawal.     

Towards Understanding the Impacts of the Pet Food Industry on World Fish and Seafood Supplies

The status of wild capture fisheries has induced many fisheries and conservation scientists to express concerns about the concept of using forage fish after reduction to fishmeal and fish oil, as feed for farmed animals, particularly in aquaculture. However, a very large quantity of forage fish is being also used untransformed (fresh or frozen) globally for other purposes, such as the pet food industry. So far, no attempts have been made to estimate this quantum, and have been omitted in previous fishmeal and fish oil exploitation surveys. On the basis of recently released data on the Australian importation of fresh or frozen fish for the canned cat food industry, here we show that the estimated amount of raw fishery products directly utilized by the cat food industry equates to 2.48 million metric tonnes per year. This estimate, plus the previously reported global fishmeal consumption for the production of dry pet food suggest that 13.5% of the total 39.0 million tonnes of wild caught forage fish is used for purposes other than human food production. This study attempts to bring forth information on the direct use of fresh or frozen forage fish in the pet food sector that appears to have received little attention to this date and that needs to be considered in the global debate on the ethical nature of current practices on the use of forage fish, a limited biological resource.     

几种络合态铜对彩虹方头鱼的生物有效性

通过暴露实验和化学形态计算方法研究了彩虹方头鱼(Ｐａｒａｃｈｅｉｒｏｄｏｎｉｎｎｅｓｉ)对四种铜络合物的吸收．结果表明,络合态铜可被彩虹方头鱼吸收,但对络合态铜的吸收率显著低于对非络合态铜的吸收率,在其它形态铜含量基本恒定的条件下,铜吸收量随络合态铜含量的增加而呈线性增加趋势．不同络合态铜的有效性也有显著差别,条件稳定常数越高,则越不容易被吸收．由于铜暴露导致的粘液分泌量的变化从另一侧面证实了络合态铜的可吸收性．     

Contaminants-Induced Oxidative Damage on the Carp Cyprinus carpio Collected from the Upper Yellow River, China

The Yellow River, the second largest river in China, is the most important resource of water supply in North China. In the last 40 years, even in the upper Yellow River, with the development of industry and agriculture, more and more contaminants have been discharged into this river and greatly polluted the water. Although a routine chemical component analysis has been performed, little is known about the real toxic effects of the polluted water on organisms at environmental level. To explore whether the pollutants induced oxidative stress and damage to aquatic organisms, malondialdehyde (MDA) level and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) in hepatopancreas, kidney and intestine of the field-collected carp Cyprinus carpio from a mixed polluted (Lanzhou Region, LZR) and a relatively unpolluted (Liujiaxia Region, LJXR) sites of the upper Yellow River were measured. The results showed that when the values of LZR compared with those of LJXR, SOD and GST activities increased and GPx activity decreased significantly in all the three organs (P < 0.05–0.01); CAT activity decreased but MDA level increased significantly (P < 0.05–0.01) only in kidney and intestine. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that the pollutants can induce obvious oxidative damage in the carp, and the SOD, GST and GPx might be better indicators for the oxidative damage in aquatic organisms.     

孔雀石绿对三种鱼类细胞急性毒性的初步研究

应用MTT法测定孔雀石绿对鲤鱼上皮癌细胞(EPC)、草鱼肾细胞(CIK)、斑点叉尾鮰鱼卵巢细胞(CCO)的急性毒性。测定孔雀石绿的细胞毒性,发现MTT还原量减少,甲瓒生成量与孔雀石绿浓度存在依赖关系,孔雀石绿浓度越大,活细胞越少,甲瓒生成量也相应减少。以2×104接种量对EPC细胞、CIK细胞、CCO细胞进行24h染毒,发现随着孔雀石绿浓度的增高,细胞存活率减少,并确定孔雀石绿对这三种细胞的安全浓度、半致死浓度和致死浓度。比较这三种细胞对孔雀石绿的敏感性,得出结论CIK细胞对于孔雀石绿的作用最敏感。     

剑尾鱼卵黄蛋白原的ELISA检测

以卵黄脂磷蛋白(lipovitellin,Lv)抗血清为抗体,以纯化的卵黄蛋白原(vitellogenin,Vtg)为抗原,建立了间接酶联免疫吸附反应(ELISA)方法检测剑尾鱼(Xiphophorus helleri)雄鱼整体匀浆液中ρ(Vtg).结果表明,该方法的检测灵敏度为7.8 ng/mL,批内变异系数为5.094%,批间变异系数为5.540%,工作范围为32.5～2 000 ng/mL,在该范围内,标准曲线具有良好的线性和重复性.由于该方法可直接在1块或在不同的酶标板上准确地进行比较,因而可利用ELISA方法测定经诱导雄鱼整体匀浆液中ρ(Vtg)水平.结果显示,50 μg/L 17-β雌二醇(E₂)诱导21 d的雄性剑尾鱼有明显的Vtg产生;10 μg/L E₂诱导剑尾鱼亦有Vtg产生,但较50 μg/L E₂诱导组低;1 μg/L E₂诱导组及对照组剑尾鱼没有Vtg产生,检测孔OD450/对照OD₄₅₀(P/N)值小于2.1.      

Elemental concentrations in air, water, and aquatic biota in two rural provinces in northern Vietnam

The present study on environmental pollution in northern Vietnam investigates elemental concentrations in fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), freshwater, and aquatic biota at two sites with differing levels of industrial activities. An Thin is situated 47 km east of Hanoi in the neighbourhood of a coal combustion power plant, whereas the reference site, Duy Minh, is situated in the agricultural province of Ha Nam, 40 km south of Hanoi. Elemental concentrations were analysed using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence, total reflection X-ray fluorescence, and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectro-metry. All investigated elements in fine particles (PM_2.5) had significantly higher concentrations in An Thin, thus identifying the air at this site as polluted. In contrast to the aerosol samples, elemental concentrations as well as quantitative differences between the sampling sites were low in freshwater and biota, indicating that the impact of atmospheric deposition was limited.     

COARSE WOODY DEBRIS AND CHANNEL MORPHOLOGY: A FLUME STUDY1

ABSTRACT: In recent years, logs and other structures have been added to streams for the purposes of altering channel morphology to improve fish habitat. This flume study was conducted to evaluate the effects of coarse woody debris on local channel morphology. Wooden dowels were used to simulate the effects of individual logs in a stream, and scour depth and surface area were determined at the end of each test run. The maximum scour depth was significantly correlated (90 percent confidence level) with both the vertical orientation of the dowels and the channel opening ratio; the scour surface area was significantly correlated (90 percent confidence level) with both the flow depth and the vertical orientation. Upstream-oriented dowels caused relatively large streambed scour and also deflected flows toward the streambank. Downstream-oriented dowels generally caused less bed scour and appeared to provide better bank protection because flow was generally deflected from the bank. In conjunction with data from field studies, these results provide information on the effects of orientation, hydraulic function, and relative stability of coarse woody debris in streams.