Patterns of succession in benthic infaunal communities following dredging and dredged material disposal in Monterey Bay

This report is the final product of a two-year study conducted for the Office, Chief of Engineers, by the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, under Contract No. DACW39-74-C-OI51 with the Environmental Effects Laboratory (EEL), U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Yicksburg, Mississippi. (PDF contains 192 pages)

Consideraciones sobre las percas (Percichthys colhuapiensis y P.trucha) de la Patagonia norte - Años 1955 a 1957. Comparaciones con material de años recientes.

Este trabajo se basa en los muestreos sobre las percas (Percichthys sp) realizado entre los años 1955 a 1957 por María Luisa Fuster de Plaza y Enrique E. Boschi, ambos investigadores se desempañaban en el Departamento de Investigaciones Pesqueras de la Dirección Nacional de Pesca, dependiente del Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería de la Nación de entonces. Las tareas se llevaron a cabo principalmente en varios cuerpos de agua léntica y lóticas de la región de la Patagonia Norte (Provincias de Río Negro, Neuquen y Chubut), y en la provincia de Mendoza. Consisten en datos morfométricos, desarrollo gonadal, fecundidad, contenidos alimenticios, planillas, dibujos, etc. de 80 ejemplares de percas. La autora tuvo a su cargo el análisis de los datos de esos muestreos y las comparaciones con estudios de material más reciente, correspondiente al lago Pellegrini, a partir de 1981.

Evaluating approaches and technologies for monitoring organic contaminants in the aquatic environment, Ann Arbor, MI, July 21-23, 2006: workshop proceedings

The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) convened a workshop on Evaluating Approaches and Technologies for Monitoring Organic Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment in Ann Arbor, MI on July 21-23, 2006. The primary objectives of this workshop were to: 1) identify the priority management information needs relative to organic contaminant loading; 2) explore the most appropriate approaches to estimating mass loading; and 3) evaluate the current status of the sensor technology. To meet these objectives, a mixture of leading research scientists, resource managers, and industry representatives were brought together for a focused two-day workshop. The workshop featured four plenary talks followed by breakout sessions in which arranged groups of participants where charged to respond to a series of focused discussion questions. At present, there are major concerns about the inadequacies in approaches and technologies for quantifying mass emissions and detection of organic contaminants for protecting municipal water supplies and receiving waters. Managers use estimates of land-based contaminant loadings to rivers, lakes, and oceans to assess relative risk among various contaminant sources, determine compliance with regulatory standards, and define progress in source reduction. However, accurately quantifying contaminant loading remains a major challenge. Loading occurs over a range of hydrologic conditions, requiring measurement technologies that can accommodate a broad range of ambient conditions. In addition, in situ chemical sensors that provide a means for acquiring continuous concentration measurements are still under development, particularly for organic contaminants that typically occur at low concentrations. Better approaches and strategies for estimating contaminant loading, including evaluations of both sampling design and sensor technologies, need to be identified. The following general recommendations were made in an effort to advance future organic contaminant monitoring: 1. Improve the understanding of material balance in aquatic systems and the relationship between potential surrogate measures (e.g., DOC, chlorophyll, particle size distribution) and target constituents. 2. Develop continuous real-time sensors to be used by managers as screening measures and triggers for more intensive monitoring. 3. Pursue surrogate measures and indicators of organic pollutant contamination, such as CDOM, turbidity, or non-equilibrium partitioning. 4. Develop continuous field-deployable sensors for PCBs, PAHs, pyrethroids, and emerging contaminants of concern and develop strategies that couple sampling approaches with tools that incorporate sensor synergy (i.e., measure appropriate surrogates along with the dissolved organics to allow full mass emission estimation).[PDF contains 20 pages]

The extent of the rearrangement of material in Neuwerk/Scharhom flat [Translation from: Hamburger Kuestenforschung 33, 1-24 [p23 only], 1975]

Investigations of the rearrangement of material in Neuwerk/Scharhom flat showed that with the exception of the western border/edge and the parts of the Elbe and Oste shores/banks which lie most seawards, the entire mudflat area is only infrequently exposed to strong hydraulic forces. Only in extreme conditions, which on average occur rarely more than once a year, would the mudflats be severely affected. This partial translation provides the summary of the original article only.

Species-specific effects of four preservative treatments on oocytes and ovarian material of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides)

The lack of information concerning the preservation of ovarian material of fish species inhibits standardization of methods for determining fecundity and measuring oocytes. The effects of four preservatives (10% phosphate-buffered formalin, modified Gilson’s solution, 70% ethanol, and freezing) on ovarian material weight and oocyte size were quantified for prespawning Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides). Effects of preservation were similar between Atlantic cod and haddock but different between Atlantic cod and American plaice for nearly all comparisons. Although all treatments affected the weight of ovarian material, freezing caused the most change and formalin caused the least. Such signif icant species-specific effects should be quantified in the calculation of life history characteristics, such as fecundity, to minimize error. This is one of few studies dedicated to evaluating the effects of preservation on oocytes and ovarian material and is the first to evaluate multiple preservatives on species.

Parameterizing probabilities for estimating age-composition distributions for mixture models

When estimating parameters that constitute a discrete probability distribution {pj}, it is difficult to determine how constraints should be made to guarantee that the estimated parameters { pˆj} constitute a probability distribution (i.e., pˆj>0, Σ pˆj =1). For age distributions estimated from mixtures of length-at-age distributions, the EM (expectationmaximization) algorithm (Hasselblad, 1966; Hoenig and Heisey, 1987; Kimura and Chikuni, 1987), restricted least squares (Clark, 1981), and weak quasisolutions (Troynikov, 2004) have all been used. Each of these methods appears to guarantee that the estimated distribution will be a true probability distribution with all categories greater than or equal to zero and with individual probabilities that sum to one. In addition, all these methods appear to provide a theoretical basis for solutions that will be either maximum-likelihood estimates or at least convergent to a probability distribut

La documentación del material vegetal incompleto o fragmentario en la investigación etnobotánica

Este artículo tiene por finalidad mostrar cómo un grupo de investigación dedicado a la etnobotánica resolvió el problema de conservar, ordenar y organizar una colección de material que no reúne las condiciones para ser incorporada en un herbario. Al mismo tiempo, se hace una breve revisión de varios tópicos y referencias sobre los distintos tipos de colecciones que realiza un etnobotánico y se sugieren ideas de cómo proceder con ellas. En apretada síntesis, el material documental que abarca la investigación etnobotánica compromete varios tipos de elementos, todos ellos habitualmente obtenidos in situ: a) material de herbario, b) órganos vegetales, trozos, fragmentos, material semielaborado (fibras, cordeles, etc.), c) material elaborado (artesanías, artefactos u objetos que conforman la cultura material), d) piezas complejas (tejidos, vestimentas, embarcaciones, mobiliario, adornos ceremoniales, etc. ), e) material de descarte o accesorio (tapones, tizones, envoltorios, parasoles, elementos de sostén o apoyo momentáneo, utensilios efímeros, etc.).

Fichas de material

The main purpose in the preparation of the material cards is to help the supplies concerning UDPPE's and Equipesca's staff in the appraisals of the quantity and quality of the strategic fishing materials ordered to them and in the planning of the distribution of such materials through out their national brokerage network. In the other hand the cards will be also helpful in the knowledge of each of those items utilization

Note on additional material of Neballa dahli Kazmi and Tirmizi, 1989 (Leptostraca: Crustacea) from Karachi (northern Arabian Sea)

The first leptostracans Nebalia dahli (Kazmi & Tirmizi, 1989) from the Arabian Sea in mangrove planktonic collection near Karachi were two males, the sex of the juvenile paratype could not be determined at that time. A brief description is given in this paper.