Rehabilitation and Flood Management Planning in a Steep,Boulder-Bedded Stream

This study demonstrates the integration of rehabilitation and flood management planning in a steep, boulder-bedded stream in a coastal urban catchment on the South Island of New Zealand. The Water of Leith, the primary stream flowing through the city of Dunedin, is used as a case study. The catchment is steep, with a short time of concentration and rapid hydrologic response, and the lower stream reaches are highly channelized with floodplain encroachment, a high potential for debris flows, significant flood risks, and severely degraded aquatic habitat. Because the objectives for rehabilitation and flood management in urban catchments are often conflicting, a number of types of analyses at both the catchment and the reach scales and careful planning with stakeholder consultation were needed for successful rehabilitation efforts. This included modeling and analysis of catchment hydrology, fluvial geomorphologic assessment, analysis of water quality and aquatic ecology, hydraulic modeling and flood risk evaluation, detailed feasibility studies, and preliminary design to optimize multiple rehabilitation and flood management objectives. The study showed that all of these analyses were needed for integrated rehabilitation and flood management and that some incremental improvements in stream ecological health, aesthetics, and public recreational opportunities could be achieved in this challenging environment. These methods should be considered in a range of types of stream rehabilitation projects.     

Solar and Tidal Modulations of Fecal Indicator Bacteria in Coastal Waters at Huntington Beach,California

The coastal waters at many beaches in California and the United States are afflicted with fecal pollution, which poses a health risk for people exposed to the water through recreational activities such as swimming, surfing, and diving. Identifying sources of pollution is complicated by oceanographic transport/mixing processes and the nonconservative behavior of microorganisms exposed to sunlight and hostile marine conditions. This article investigates the variation of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) concentrations in the surf zone and the adjacent coastal marsh by applying autocorrelation and cross-correlation analyses that illustrate solar and tidal modulations. A steady state bioreactor model was developed to explain solar inactivation in the surf zone, whereas a dynamic model was applied to explain tidally influenced disturbances in the coastal marsh. These models applied to intensive monitoring datasets on FIB and environmental variables have provided insights into the biologic and physical processes controlling coastal water quality, specifically the influence of sunlight and tides on bacterial levels.     

Overcoming environmental deterioration through defensive expenditures: field evidence from Bahía del Tóbari (Sonora, México) and implications for coastal impact assessment

The costs of the maneuvers that fishermen and shrimp farmers have to undertake in a coastal scenario where both the access to navigable waters and water quality have decreased were interpreted as defensive expenditures. Maneuvers were prompted by profound changes in water circulation and siltation mode imposed by major shifts in regional and local land-use patterns. In coastal scenarios under heavy land-based discharges and local geomorphic modifications, local users with little chance to move away may modify their routines in order to maintain existing levels of utility. The concept of defensive expenditures could be used to assess social responses to adverse changes in environmental and resource conditions, as a means to distinguish stages in which local sectors respond individually from qualitatively different stages in which intersectoral events are more conspicuous.     

Productivity of mosses and organic matter accumulation in the litter of sphagnum larch forest in the permafrost zone

Productivity of the moss cover and necromass accumulation in the litter of a sphagnum larch forest have been estimated on the basis of tree age. It has been shown that the total carbon stock in the litter of a 100-year-old stand, including organic matter not destroyed by fire, exceeds the corresponding value for the tree stand itself by more than an order of magnitude. The accumulation of organic matter on the soil surface inhibits the growth of larch. In particular, this factor impairs hydrothermal conditions in the soil and causes a rise of the permafrost table; as a consequence, lower layers of the root system die off.     

Productive science–policy interactions for sustainable coastal management: Conclusions from the Wadden Sea area

In this paper we synthesise the findings from the papers in this special issue on Organising productive science-policy interactions for sustainable coastal management. Lessons from the Wadden Sea. We first briefly discuss some relevant theoretical debates, and then present our main insights and lessons from the empirical evidence reported in the papers. We conclude the paper with suggestions for further research.     

Integrated biomonitoring assessment of the Lesina Lagoon (Southern Adriatic Coast, Italy): preliminary results

An integrated biomonitoring program for marine and coastal ecosystems quality assessment combines the chemical characterization of a site with the evaluation of the possible structure alterations of its living communities. This can be considered an useful tool for better identifying the summarized effects of all the components interacting with the biota. Such an integrated procedure was carried out for the assessment of the quality of the Lesina Lagoon (Southern Adriatic Coast, Italy). The water parameters levels showed a high primary production (2-6 μg l^-1); the sediment and pore water toxicity bioassays recorded a low or moderate diffused toxicity. Besides, the benthic meiofauna community structure was characterized by prevalent Nematoda taxa with a homogeneous spatial distribution. On these basis, the Lesina Lagoon seems to be characterized by a prevalent organic pollution mainly related to agricultural and zootechnical activities which, due to the lagoon's conformation, presents a homogeneous spatial distribution.     

Reaction zone structures and propagation mechanisms of flames in stearic acid particle clouds

Reaction zone structures and propagation mechanisms of two representative flames established in stearic acid (CH₃(CH₂)₁₆CO₂H) particle clouds have been investigated. The reacting zone structure was examined by using a micro-electrostatic probe and a high-speed schlieren system. A distinct difference was observed in the ion current fluctuations recorded across the two representative flames propagating through the clouds of the same total mass density of particles and different mass densities of the particles smaller than 60 μm in diameter. When the mass density of smaller particles was high, a single peak was recorded in the ion current fluctuation. On the other hand, when the mass density of smaller particles was low, multi-peaks of various heights and widths were recorded. In the former case, the single peak was considered to be attributable to a unitary and a relatively thin flame started burning in vapor generated by the evaporation of smaller particles in the preheat zone. The flame propagation mechanism in this case was inferred to be similar to that of a usual hydrocarbon–air premixed flame, although the reaction zone thickness is much larger than that of the premixed flame. In the latter case, the multi peaks of various shapes were considered to be attributable to strong combustion at blue spots far behind the schlieren front. The flame propagation in this case was inferred to be supported by the heat release due to combustion at the blue spots.     

江西生态环境现状与建设生态经济区的可行性分析

江西具有比较封闭的生态环境系统，目前全省环境总体质量尚好，但局部地区污染仍较严重。同周边地区相比，江西总体经济发展比较滞后。要尽快改变这种状况、实现江西跨越式发展，进行生态经济区的建设是可行途径。从可持续发展的基本原理出发，对在江西生态环境现状进行评价后，分析了江西建设生态区的必要性、基础与条件、指出了应当重点关注的主要问题。     

Assessing the relation between the distribution of salt-marsh communities and the sediment budget of the North Norfolk coast

Very high resolution imagery from an airborne multi-spectrål scanner has been used to estimate the distribution of different salt-marsh communities along a 30-km stretch of the North Norfolk coast. Field observations have been used to develop a mathematical relationship between the vegetation, physical environment and sediment accumulation. This relationship has been used to produce provisional sediment accretion maps for the north Norfolk coast.     

Daphne: a new multimetric benthic index for the quality assessment of marine coastal environment in the Northern Adriatic Sea

A new benthic index, named Daphne, is proposed for the Northern Adriatic coastal area, near the Po river delta. It is based on six characteristics of the community that do not require in-depth taxonomic expertise: number of mollusc species, % of bivalves, % of polychaetes, abundance of the opportunistic species Corbula gibba, % of amphipods and number of 'typical mollusc species' that are individuated by multivariate analysis. The application of the index in selected stations along a gradient of decreasing disturbance shows that it is simple to use in regular monitoring campaigns and that the results are consistent with environmental quality data in the special conditions of this area subjected to considerable river runoff. The index can be used in addition and as a complement to more widespread indices (such as M-AMBI); a comparison of the two indices performance is discussed.