Photographic analysis of natural and impounded salt marsh in the vicinity of Merritt Island, Florida

Qualitative analyses of available photographs and maps of Merritt Island, Florida provide a large-scale, historical perspective of ecological changes of the marshes in the vicinity. Sites that deserve closer scrutiny can be identified. Secondarily, such an analysis provides a geographical orientation essential for communication not only between newcomers and those familiar with the area, but also among those familiar with the area but who refer to sites by differing methods. Photographs and maps from various sources were examined. Below are listed what we consider to be the most useful subset of these for ecological and geographical assessment of salt marsh impoundments on Merritt Island, Florida. (Document has 25 pages.)

Least Squares Estimation Principle and its Geometrical Interpretation

pdf contains 14 pages)

Guidance for benthic habitat mapping: an aerial photographic approach

This document, Guidance for Benthic Habitat Mapping: An Aerial Photographic Approach, describes proven technology that can be applied in an operational manner by state-level scientists and resource managers. This information is based on the experience gained by NOAA Coastal Services Center staff and state-level cooperators in the production of a series of benthic habitat data sets in Delaware, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, as well as during Center-sponsored workshops on coral remote sensing and seagrass and aquatic habitat assessment. (PDF contains 39 pages) The original benthic habitat document, NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP): Guidance for Regional Implementation (Dobson et al.), was published by the Department of Commerce in 1995. That document summarized procedures that were to be used by scientists throughout the United States to develop consistent and reliable coastal land cover and benthic habitat information. Advances in technology and new methodologies for generating these data created the need for this updated report, which builds upon the foundation of its predecessor.

A Photographic Catalog of Killer Whales, Orcinus orca, frOIll the Central Gulf of Alaska to the Southeastern Bering Sea

In 1992 and 1993, researchers from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory initiated photo-identification studies on Alaskan killer whales, Orcinus orca. Waters from Kodiak Island west to the central and eastern Aleutian Islands and southeastern Bering Sea were surveyed. A total of 289 individual whales were identified. A photographic record of the whales encountered during these surveys is presented. When photographs of the 289 individual whales were compared among various regions in Alaska (Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska) and areas outside Alaska (British Columbia, Washington, and California), 11 matches were found. The count is conservative because the 1992 and 1993 surveys were limited in geographical range, restricted to summer periods, and whales may have been missed along the survey trackline. Future research incorporating both photoidentification studies and line transect surveys will provide reliable abundance estimates of Alaskan killer whales. (PDF file contains 58 pages.)

Photographic database development of Nigerian fisheries: a complementary source of information documentation

The paper traces the history of the different documentation media used for information dissemination. Such early media are clay tablets, papyrus, and vellum or parchment codex. The invention of printing however revolutionized the information industry, enabling the production of books in multiple copies. Photography came into documentation mainly to preserve rare materials and those that easily deteriorate. This paper reports the efforts of National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research (NIFFR) and Kainji Lake Fisheries Promotion Project (KLFPPP), Nigeria, to develop an Object Oriented Database (OOD) using photographs. The photographs are stored in digitized form on commercial computers, using the program ACDSee 32 for classification, description and retrieval. Specifically the paper focuses on photographs in fisheries as visual communication and expression. Presently, the database contains photo documents about the following aspects of Kainji Lake fisheries: fishing gears and crafts, fish preservation methods

A photographic record of a pre- and post-lake creation event from World War II at Valley, Isle of Anglesey, UK

The article compares a recent aerial photograph of the lowlands of the Isle of Anglesey area with a German surveillance photograph from 1941. The authors aim to infer the environmental changes made to this sand dune and lake system as a direct consequence of constructing the airfield. Part of Tywyn Trewan, the extensive sand dune system, was completely destroyed in order to create runways and the technical and domestic accommodation to house a strategic airfield. As part of the dredging, six new water bodies with a combined surface area of approximately 6 ha were created.

Zonation of submerged vegetation in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe and its ecological interpretation

The submerged vegetation of Lake Kariba is described in relation to degree of slope (lake morphometry), depth and light transparency. The direct gradient analysis technique - canonical correspondence analysis and the TWINSPAN classification programs were used to analyse the data set. The western end of the lake with low transparency has a low species diversity (with Vallisneria aethiopica dominating). Species diversity increases with increased transparency in the other parts of the lake. The classification revealed monospecific communities for all species as well as mixed communities with Lagarosiphon as the associate species with the broadest distribution. The ordination revealed a first axis strongly related to the depth and transparency gradients and the second axis related to slope.

A guide to the interpretation of sea trout scales

The overall purpose of this guide is to provide a manual for the collection and interpretation of sea trout scales. A brief introduction considers the advantages and disadvantages of using scales to determine age and growth. To ensure that scales are interpreted in a consistent manner, all major terms are defined and a standard system for age notation is proposed. The methodology for the collection, mounting and interpretation of scales is described in detail, and this is followed by a section on the back-calculation of lengths at different ages. Each topic is discussed critically. The final part of this guide is an atlas illustrating scales from a wide range of sea trout and including not only excellent "type-scales" but also difficult and impossible scales.

A Brief Interpretation of Summer Flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, Movements and Stock Structure with New Tagging Data on Juveniles

Summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, are managed as a single stock along the Atlantic coast from the U.S.– Canada border to the southern border of North Carolina. Justification of the single-stock approach is based on lack of genetic evidence for multiple stocks and the difficulty presented by managing the species from Cape Hatteras to the U.S.–Canada border. In this review, we present an interpretation of various morphometric, meristic, biochemical, and tagging studies, published and unpublished, that indicate the presence of two, or possibly three, distinct stocks in the management area. In addition, we have included new data from a tagging study that was conducted on juveniles from Virginia that aids in defining the stock(s) north of Cape Hatteras. Summer flounder, overfished for the past two decades, is recovering, and reconsideration of proposed stock structure could have direct implications for management policy decisions.

Monitoring of streambank stability and streamside vegetation in a livestock exclosure on the Warm Springs River, Oregon : comparison of ground-based surveys with aerial photographic analysis

The objective of this monitoring project was to determine the baseline condition for a 960-m long stream reach and its associated streamside zone, which terminates at the confluence with the Deschutes River. This stream reach had been damaged heavily in the February 1996 flood and had also received many years of overuse by livestock grazing. The monitoring project was conducted in July 1997 just after installation of riparian exclosure fencing. Future resurvey of the study area will allow determination of progress made in ecological recovery.

Validation and interpretation of annual skeletal marks in loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtles

Numerous studies have applied skeletochronology to sea turtle species. Because many of the studies have lacked validation, the application of this technique to sea turtle age estimation has been called into question. To address this concern, we obtained humeri from 13 known-age Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and two loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtles for the purposes of examining the growth marks and comparing growth mark counts to actual age. We found evidence for annual deposition of growth marks in both these species. Corroborative results were found in Kemp’s ridley sea turtles from a comparison of death date and amount of bone growth following the completion of the last growth mark (n=76). Formation of the lines of arrested growth in Kemp’s ridley sea turtles consistently occurred in the spring for animals that strand dead along the mid- and south U.S. Atlantic coast. For both Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead sea turtles, we also found a proportional allometry between bone growth (humerus dimensions) and somatic growth (straight carapace length), indicating that size-at-age and growth rates can be estimated from dimensions of early growth marks. These results validate skeletochronology as a method for estimating age in Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead sea turtles from the southeast United States.

Snow accumulation time series and their climatic interpretation

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Several snow accumulation time series derived from ice cores and extending over 3 to 5 centuries are examined for spatial and temporal climatic information. ... A significant observation is the widespread depression of net snow accumulation during the latter part of the "Little Ice Age". This initially suggests sea surface temperatures were significantly depressed during the same period. However, prior to this, the available core records indicate generally higher than average precipitation rates. This also implies that influences such as shifted storm tracks or a dustier atmosphere may have been involved. Without additional spatial data coverage, these observations should properly be studied using a coupled (global) ocean/atmosphere GCM.

Effects of observation time on interpretation of climatic time series - a need for consistency

Much of what we know about the climate of the United States is derived from data gathered under the auspices of the cooperative climate network. Particular aspects of the way observations are taken can have significant influences on the values of climate statistics derived from the data. These influences are briefly reviewed. The purpose of this paper is to examine their effects on climatic time series. Two other items discussed are: (1) a comparison of true (24-hour) means with means derived from maximums and minimums only, and (2) preliminary work on the times of day at which maximums and minimums are set.