An ecological characterization of Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, U.S. Virgin Islands

Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (hereafter, SARI or the park) was created in 1992 to preserve, protect, and interpret nationally significant natural, historical, and cultural resources (United States Congress 1992). The diverse ecosystem within it includes a large mangrove forest, a submarine canyon, coral reefs, seagrass beds, coastal forests, and many other natural and developed landscape elements. These ecosystem components are, in turn, utilized by a great diversity of flora and fauna. A comprehensive spatial inventory of these ecosystems is required for successful management. To meet this need, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Biogeography Program, in consultation with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Government of the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (VIDPNR), conducted an ecological characterization. The characterization consists of three complementary components: a text report, digital habitat maps, and a collection of historical aerial photographs. This ecological characterization provides managers with a suite of tools that, when coupled with the excellent pre-existing body of work on SARI resources, enables improved research and monitoring activities within the park (see Appendix F for a list of data products).

An ecological characterization of the marine resources of Vieques, Puerto Rico Part II: Field studies of habitats, nutrients, contaminants, fish, and benthic communities

Since the 1940s, portions of the Island of Vieques, Puerto Rico have been used by the United States Navy (USN) as an ammunition support detachment and bombing and maneuver training range. In April 2001, the USN began phasing out military activities on the island and transferring military property to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Municipality of Vieques, and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust. A small number of studies have been commissioned by the USN in the past few decades to assess selected components of the coral reef ecosystem surrounding the island; however, these studies were generally of limited geographic scope and short duration. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), in consultation with NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) and other local and regional experts, conducted a more comprehensive characterization of coral reef ecosystems, contaminants, and nutrient distribution patterns around Vieques. This work was conducted using many of the same protocols as ongoing monitoring work underway elsewhere in the U.S. Caribbean and has enabled comparisons among coral reef ecosystems in Vieques and other locations in the region. This characterization of Vieques’ marine ecosystems consists of a two part series. First, available information on reefs, fish, birds, seagrasses, turtles, mangroves, climate, geology, currents, and human uses from previous studies was gathered and integrated into a single document comprising Part I of this two part series (Bauer et al. 2008). For Part II of the series, presented in this document, new field studies were conducted to fill data gaps identified in previous studies, to provide an island-wide characterization, and to establish baseline values for the distribution of habitats, nutrients, contaminants, fish, and benthic communities. An important objective underlying this suite of studies was to quantify any differences in the marine areas adjacent to the former and current land-use zoning around Vieques. Specifically of interest was the possibility that either Naval (e.g., practice bombing, munitions storage) or civilian activities (e.g., sewage pollutants, overfishing) could have a negative impact on adjacent marine resources. Measuring conditions at this time and so recently after the land transfer was essential because present conditions are likely to be reflective of past land-use practices. In addition, the assessment will establish benchmark conditions that can be influenced by the potentially dramatic future changes in land-use practices as Vieques considers its development. This report is organized into seven chapters that represent a suite of interrelated studies. Chapter 1 provides a short introduction to the island setting, the former and current land-use zoning, and how the land zoning was used to spatially stratify much of the sampling. Chapter 2 is focused on benthic mapping and provides the methods, accuracy assessment, and results of newly created benthic maps for Vieques. Chapter 3 presents the results of new surveys of fish, marine debris, and reef communities on hardbottom habitats around the island. Chapter 4 presents results of flora and fauna surveys in selected bays and lagoons. Chapter 5 examines the distribution of nutrients in lagoons, inshore, and offshore waters around the island. Chapter 6 is focused on the distribution of chemical contaminants in sediments and corals. Chapter 7 is a brief summary discussion that highlights key findings of the entire suite of studies.

Combining stable isotopes and skeletal growth marks to detect habitat shifts in juvenile loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta

Understanding the phase and timing of ontogenetic habitat shifts underlies the study of a species’ life history and population dynamics. This information is especially critical to the conservation and management of threatened and endangered species, such as the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta. The early life of loggerheads consists of a terrestrial egg and hatchling stage, a posthatchling and juvenile oceanic, pelagic feeding stage, and a juvenile neritic, primarily benthic feeding stage. In the present study, novel approaches were applied to explore the timing of the loggerhead ontogenetic shift from pelagic to benthic habitats. The most recent years of somatic growth are recorded as annual marks in humerus cross sections. A consistent growth mark pattern in benthic juvenile loggerheads was identified, with narrow growth marks in the interior of the bone transitioning to wider growth marks at the exterior, indicative of a sharp increase in growth rates at the transitional growth mark. This increase in annual growth is hypothesized to correlate with the ontogenetic shift from pelagic to benthic habitats. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen just interior and exterior to the transitional growth mark, as well as stable isotopes from pelagic and benthic flora, fauna and loggerhead stomach contents, were analyzed to determine whether this transition related to a diet shift. The results clearly indicate that a dietary shift from oceanic/pelagic to neritic/benthic feeding corresponds to a transitional growth mark. The combination of stable isotope analysis with skeletochronology can elucidate the ecology of cryptic life history stages during loggerhead ontogeny.

Expedición naútica científica Fray Francisco Morillo, río Bermejo, Argentina, 29/09-10/10/1984

El próximo septiembre se cumplen treinta años de la llamada Expedición Naútica-Cientifíca “R. P. Francisco Morillo” realizada en botes neumáticos por un grupo de personas de diferentes orígenes y entre los que se encontraban naturalistas y profesionales de las Ciencias Naturales. A nivel profesional fue una gran experiencia, ya que me permitió transitar por un ámbito geográfico de difícil acceso, con flora y fauna cuya referencia la tenía solo a través de textos. Por otra parte y mirado a la distancia, fue muy interesante el comportamiento humano del grupo. Entiendo que un sociólogo podría dar alguna interpretación, pero he visto de todo, actos de solidaridad, de mezquindad, egoísmo y de cierta locura, como por ejemplo, querer matar un yacaré por el simple hecho de que estaba en la playa tomando sol. En este caso, la suerte estuvo del lado de la noble bestia, ya que los involucrados en las Ciencias Naturales pudimos detener semejante barbaridad y hacer comprender a los de “gatillo fácil” que no había ningún sentido en lo que querían hacer. Irónicamente, entre otras cosas, este viaje tenía dentro de sus objetivos participar en un Congreso de Conservación… Los objetivos del viaje para los naturalistas, sólo se cumplieron en parte, ya que al principio de esta travesía comenzaron a suscitarse problemas, principalmente por las características del río, lo que dificultó, por falta de tiempo, la toma de muestras y las consiguientes observaciones. A nivel personal me queda la riqueza que me dio esta experiencia y el haber conocido a dos personas que me llamaron profundamente la atención. A nuestro baqueano José “Pipo” Marty, un hombre generoso y de una gran sabiduría. El otro fue Exequiel Martínez, al que conocí en el congreso que se realizaba en Resistencia y con quién, a partir de ese momento, me une un lazo afectivo que nace de un profundo respeto y admiración.

Compilaçao de dados sobre fauna acompanhante do camarão em Moçambique

All the data that the Instituto de Investigaçā Pesqueira was able to collect relating to by-catches of shrimps are presented. The by-catches of shrimp are almost entirely comprised of fish with commercial value. In this paper the author analyzes data for areas separated according to yields obtained.

Two genera and species of Isopoda new to the fauna of the northern Arabian Sea

The paper is based on the new records of two genera - Lanocira Hansen and Paranthura Bate and Westwood and species L. gardineri Stebbing and P. latipes Barnard from the rocky intertidal zone of Karachi coast. Synonymes, diagnoses and geographical distribution of the genera are given. A list of known species of the genus Lanocira is provided. Both the species are described and illustrated in detail.