Testing the Potential for Predictive Modeling and Mapping and Extending Its Use as a Tool for Evaluating Management Scenarios and Economic Valuation in the Baltic Sea (PREHAB)

We evaluated performance of species distribution models for predictive mapping, and how models can be used to integrate human pressures into ecological and economic assessments. A selection of 77 biological variables (species, groups of species, and measures of biodiversity) across the Baltic Sea were modeled. Differences among methods, areas, predictor, and response variables were evaluated. Several methods successfully predicted abundance and occurrence of vegetation, invertebrates, fish, and functional aspects of biodiversity. Depth and substrate were among the most important predictors. Models incorporating water clarity were used to predict increasing cover of the brown alga bladderwrack Fucus vesiculosus and increasing reproduction area of perch Perca fluviatilis, but decreasing reproduction areas for pikeperch Sander lucioperca following successful implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Despite variability in estimated non-market benefits among countries, such changes were highly valued by citizens in the three Baltic countries investigated. We conclude that predictive models are powerful and useful tools for science-based management of the Baltic Sea.     

乌江中上游水体营养状况底栖硅藻指示性属种的研究

首次对乌江中上游底栖硅藻和水环境因子间关系进行系统定量研究。对底栖硅藻和水环境因子进行主成分分析和相关分析。结果表明,总磷是影响底栖硅藻属种分布的第一显著因子。利用加权平均回归方法,计算出底栖硅藻属种对总磷指标响应的生态最佳值和忍耐值,提取出的Nitzschia frustulum(Kütz.)Grun.、Nitzschia fonticola Grun.、Nitzschiapalea(Kütz.)W.Sminth、Surirella angusta Kütz.Nitzschia amphibia Grun.等17种硅藻是乌江中上游河流富营养化发生的指示性属种。而Achnanthes minutissima Kütz.、Cymbella affinis、Diatoma vulagaris Bory、Navicula protracta(Grun.)Cleve等9种硅藻是乌江中上游中营养化水体的指示性属种,对较低营养水体有一定的指示意义。底栖硅藻指示性属种的提取对富营养化河流的治理和合理利用提供科学依据,为用硅藻监测、评价水质和建立河流水质监测体系提供理论基础。     

Evaluation of zoobenthic assemblages and recovery following petroleum spill in a coastal area of Río de la Plata estuarine system, South America

The objective of this work was to analyse zoobenthic assemblages in the coastal sector of the Río de La Plata, Argentina, after a petroleum spill. Sampling stations were located in representative sites of various landscapes. Structure, composition, physico-chemical parameters and seasonal changes were recorded in order to assess taxocenosis evolution during the period 1999–2003. Recovery signs were estimated by means of biotic indices and the presence of sensitive species. Tolerant species were dominant in heavily polluted sites, with low diversity and water quality values, according to the biotic indices used. In certain zones, sediment quality remains impoverished, with a visible oil film on the surface. However, during the last sampling, some points showed an increase in biotic indices, pointing to a slight improvement in environmental conditions.     

农田对太子河大型底栖动物群落的影响

为研究农田对大型底栖动物的影响,以太子河南、北支为例,应用无度量多维标定分析(NMS)和典范对应分析(CCA),探讨大型底栖动物群落对农田的响应.研究发现:太子河北支物种组成以摇蚊科为主,其次是毛翅目和蜉蝣目,而積翅目相对多度较少;在南支则以蜉蝣目、積翅目和毛翅目物种为主,摇蚊科相对多度有所下降;北支主要的功能摄食类群是直接收集者和过滤收集者,刮食者和捕食者较少,撕食者几乎没有,南支各类功能摄食类群均有出现,直接收集者和刮食者较多.太子河南、北支的水温、pH值、电导、悬浮物(SS)、总溶解性固体(TDS)和总氮(TN)存在显著差异,其中北支的水温、电导和TDS显著高于南支;两条支流的水体均为弱碱性水质,南支的pH平均值高于北支;北支的SS和TN略高于南支.利用CCA开展土地利用因素对水质影响分析的总体结果表明,在河段和河流廊道尺度,农田面积比对第一轴的贡献率最高,分别为-0.76和-0.79,且水质要素-土地利用相关性在河流廊道尺度上为0.84,而在河段尺度上为0.71.对土地利用类型和物种的CCA分析可以看出,农田、河滩、居民用地方向多为耐污和中度耐污类群,且沿农田方向物种分布较少.而与此相反的,和旱田轴相反的第四象限内多为四节蜉科(如B.bicaudatus)等敏感类群.     

Spatial variations of macrozoobenthos and sediment nutrients in Lake Yangcheng: Emphasis on effect of pen culture of Chinese mitten crab

We determined the effect of Chinese mitten crab (CMC) pen culture on the quantified spatial distribution of the macrozoobenthic community and sediment nutrients in Lake Yangcheng. Redundancy analysis indicated that water temperature, macrophyte occurrence, sediment type, and crab culture were the main environmental factors that influence the spatiotemporal macrozoobenthic distribution. Macrozoobenthic assemblages in the lake were characterized by eutrophic indicator species. In the most polluted estuaries, the abundance and diversity indices of the whole community and abundance of chironomids and oligochaetes were significantly depressed, and sediment carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) were significantly enhanced compared with those in the western, middle (MB), and eastern basin (EB). Crab culture in this lake had significant effects on the species composition of the macrozoobenthic community in one of three CMC culture pens (CP), and generally depressed the abundance of most chironomid and oligochaete species. Significantly increased diversity, evenness, sediment carbon and nitrogen content, and sediment C:P ratio in the CP were found compared with those in the three basins. However, no conspicuous difference in sediment P content between the CP and the two basins of MB and EB was detected. Our results showed that the enhanced diversity and evenness of macrozoobenthos might be associated with the joint effect of macrophyte planting and crab predation, and macrophyte planting may modify the effects of CMC culture by leading to disproportional accumulation of C and N in the sediment relative to P in the CP of the lake.     

梯级电站作用下牡丹江底栖动物沿程变化规律

水电站运行影响河流的栖息地环境,进而影响底栖动物群落结构,从而对河流生态健康造成影响.基于牡丹江镜泊湖电站至石岩电站江段的底栖动物采样数据,分析该江段的底栖动物沿程变化规律以及梯级水电站群对水生态环境的影响.结果表明,梯级电站的运行对研究江段的多种生境因子造成了影响,改变了江段内底栖动物的群落结构.在电站的上游和下游,底栖动物群落结构差别明显,其中,电站下游环境敏感种的数量多于上游.相比坝式水电站,引水式水电站对底栖动物的影响较小.空间上来看,电站运行影响沿程逐渐减弱,底栖动物的密度和丰度呈现沿程增加的趋势.     

Testing sediment biological effects with the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca: the gap between laboratory and nature

The freshwater amphipod, Hyalella azteca, is widely used in laboratory sediment toxicity and bioaccumulation tests. However, its responses in the laboratory are probably very different from those in the field. A review of the literature indicates that in its natural habitat this species complex is primarily epibenthic, derives little nutrition from the sediments, and responds primarily to contaminants in the overlying water column (including water and food), not sediment or porewater. In laboratory sediment toxicity tests H. azteca is deprived of natural food sources such as algal communities on or above the sediments, and is subjected to constant light without any cover except that afforded by burial into the sediments. Under these constraining laboratory conditions, H. azteca has been reported to respond to sediment or porewater contamination. In nature, contamination of overlying water from sediment is less likely than in the laboratory because of the large, generally non-static sink of natural surface water. H. azteca does not appear to be the most appropriate test species for direct assessments of the bioavailability and toxicity of sediment contaminants, though it is probably appropriate for testing the toxicity of surface waters. Toxic and non-toxic responses will be highly conservative, though the latter are probably the most persuasive given the exposure constraints. Thus H. azteca is probably a suitable surrogate species for determining sediments that are likely not toxic to field populations; however, it is not suitable for determining sediments that are likely toxic to field populations.     

Characteristics of Resuspension,Settling and Diffusion of Particulate Matter in a Water Column

Experiments were conducted in order to characterize the distributions of concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in water columns of lakes and reservoirs. The experiments, in a reduced model of the water column, used a set of oscillating grids. Runs were done with particles denser than water as well as with light particles. The results were in good agreement with analytical solutions for steady-state, and non-steady-state conditions. An approximate analytical solution was derived and found to be in agreement with the full solution. The threshold for resuspension was measured, and characterized in terms of a modified Shields parameter, which is appropriate to a zero-shear environment. All experiments showed that the distribution of SPM exhibited a layer near the bottom that is thought to be analogous to the benthic nepheloid layer (BNL) observed in larger lakes. The thickness of the nepheloid layer increases with the turbulence intensity.     

漓江大型底栖动物群落时空分布及水质生物评价

于2012年1月(枯水期)和8月(丰水期)在漓江上游甘棠江段、中游大圩江段和下游福利江段采集到大型底栖动物样品共374个,采用均匀度指数、Margalef丰富度指数、Simpson指数和Shannon-Wiener指数分析了漓江大型底栖动物的多样性.结果表明,漓江水系大型底栖动物群落结构的时空分布差异显著,枯水期采集到42个分类单元、8632个底栖动物,物种数和个体数均少于丰水期采集到的46个分类单元、10842个底栖动物,但枯水期主要河段的物种多样性比丰水期要好.漓江中、下游大型底栖动物的功能摄食类群均以刮食者为主,表明中、下游生态系统的初级生产力属性要高于上游.采用BI指数(Biotic Index)对漓江各江段进行水质生物评价,结果显示,漓江水系枯水期的水生态质量要优于丰水期;上游和下游水生态质量相对较好,中游水生态质量较差.因此,建议在丰水期加强漓江中游大圩段的环境保护力度,提高漓江整体水生态质量.     

Impact of aquacultures on the marine ecosystem: Modelling benthic carbon loading over variable depth

In order to be used within Environmental Impact Assessment study, we have developed a three-dimensional particle tracking model for prediction of benthic carbon loading (BCL) caused by fish farms. The model is based on stochastic differential equations for particle transport consistent with the well-known semi-empirical advection/diffusion equation. It requires only easily obtainable input data in the form of measured current record, the source location and a specification of local bathymetry. The model accounts for advection by long-term residual and tidal currents, turbulent diffusion, realistic bathymetry and variations in daily (monthly or yearly) emissions from fish farm.Here, we concentrate on the changes in sedimentation pattern caused by various bathymetric shapes. Examination of idealized cases reveals where and why we can expect the worst impact on benthic communities. For future reference, these results will be included into guidelines for fish farming.