Ten Years of the Relative Risk Model and Regional Scale Ecological Risk Assessment

It has been 10 years since the publication of the relative risk model (RRM) for regional scale ecological risk assessment. The approach has since been used successfully for a variety of freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments in North America, South America, and Australia. During this period the types of stressors have been expanded to include more than contaminants. Invasive species, habitat loss, stream alteration and blockage, temperature, change in land use, and climate have been incorporated into the assessments. Major developments in the RRM have included the extensive use of geographical information systems, uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo techniques, and its application to retrospective assessments to determine causation. The future uses of the RRM include assessments for forestry and conservation management, an increasing use in invasive species evaluation, and in sustainability. Developments in risk communication, the use of Bayesian approaches, and in uncertainty analyses are on the horizon.

Subtropical dipole mode in the Southern Hemisphere: A global view

A global wavenumber-3 dipole SST mode is showed to exist in the Southern Hemisphere subtropical climate variability in austral summer. A positive (negative) phase of the mode is characterized by cool (warm) SST anomalies in the east and warm (cool) SST anomalies in the southwest of the south Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, respectively. This coherent dipole structure is largely a response of ocean mixed layer to the atmospheric forcing characterized by migration and modulation of the subtropical high-pressures, in which the latent heat flux play a leading role through wind-induced evaporation, although ocean dynamics may also be crucial in forming SST anomalies attached to the continents. Exploratory analyses suggest that this mode is strongly damped by the negative heat flux feedback, with a persistence time about three months and no spectral peak at interannual to decadal time scales. As the subtropical dipole mode is linearly independent of ENSO and SAM, whether it represents an additional source of climate predictability should be further studied. Citation: Wang, F. (2010), Subtropical dipole mode in the Southern Hemisphere: A global view, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L10702, doi: 10.1029/2010GL042750.

Variations in the eastern Indian Ocean warm pool and its relation to the dipole in the tropical Indian Ocean

Based on the monthly average SST and 850 hPa monthly average wind data, the seasonal, interannual and long-term variations in the eastern Indian Ocean warm pool (EIWP) and its relationship to the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and its response to the wind over the Indian Ocean are analyzed in this study. The results show that the distribution range, boundary and area of the EIWP exhibited obviously seasonal and interannual variations associated with the ENSO cycles. Further analysis suggests that the EIWP had obvious long-term trend in its bound edge and area, which indicated the EIWP migrated westwards by about 14 longitudes for its west edge, southwards by about 5 latitudes for its south edge and increased by 3.52x10(6) km(2) for its area, respectively, from 1950 to 2002. The correlation and composite analyses show that the anomalous westward and northward displacements of the EIWP caused by the easterly wind anomaly and the southerly wind anomaly over the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean played an important and direct role in the formation of the IOD.

古龙咀周围海区沉积物粒度特征及海底地形变化

对古龙咀周围浅海区沉积物的粒度进行了测试与分析，结合相关的地质水文资料，探讨了海岸形态对沉积物粒度的影响。研究区表层沉积物平均粒径在海湾浅海区呈带状由岸向海变细，中等水深和岬角处分布着细粒区，向外海粒径相对变粗；除险岛湾砂质区外，分选差；偏态多数为正偏或近正态；整体峰形极窄，峰型多样。底质类型以粘土质粉砂和砂质粉砂为主，由东北经古龙咀岬角向西南形成S形粘土质粉砂分布带，险岛湾地区沉积物呈带状由砂逐渐过渡到粉砂。潮汐和波浪是本区沉积物输运的主要水动力，岬角的存在影响了沉积物粒度的分布。粒度趋势分析表明沉积物整体有向岬角汇聚的输运趋势。 对收集到基于1954年、1969年、1982年测量绘成的地形图水深数据进行数字化，结合2005年测量的水深数据，分别建立各时期DEM图，在此基础上分析研究区的地形特征。四个时期海底DEM呈现出大体一致的趋势，在险岛湾及白沙口海湾内为浅水区，水深值在-1～-4 m之间，深水区主要分布在南黄岛南端至古龙咀连线以南区域，呈扇形展布，水深由南黄岛两侧向中间逐渐加深，水深值在-10～ -17 m之间。从整体上看，研究区海底地形呈NW-SE方向逐渐加深。 将数字化后的水深数据统一校正到1956黄海高程系，分别建立DEM，运用GIS的栅格计算分析得出冲淤变化图。相关结果表明：1954～1969年研究区整体近岸为冲（险岛湾除外），离岸海域为淤；1969～1982年研究区总体处于弱淤积状态；1982-2005研究区海域近岸为淤，外海以弱冲刷状态为主。

Descriptions of Protospathidium serpens (Kahl, 1930) and P-fraterculum n. sp (Ciliophora, Haptoria), two species based on different resting cyst morphology

Protospathidium serpens (Kahl, 1930) is frequent in semiterrestrial and terrestrial habitats worldwide. Conventionally, all populations are considered as conspecific because they have very similar overall morphologies and morphometrics. We studied in detail not only the morphology of the vegetative cells but also the resting cysts using live observation, protargol impregnation, and scanning electron microscopy. These revealed a cryptic diversity and biogeographic pattern in details of the dorsal brush and cyst wall morphology. The cyst wall is spiny in the Austrian specimens, while smooth in the South African and Antarctic populations. Accordingly, P. serpens consists of at least two species: P. serpens (with spiny cyst wall) and P. fraterculum n. sp. (with smooth cyst wall); the latter is probably composed of two distinct taxa differing by the absence (South African)/presence (Antarctic) of a monokinetidal bristle tail in brush row 3, the number of dikinetids comprising brush row 1 (seven versus three), and the total number of brush dikinetids (29 versus 17). Protospathidium serpens is neotypitied with the new population from Austria. The significance of resting cyst morphology is discussed with respect to alpha-taxonomy and overall ciliate diversity.

Genetic variation and phylogeographic history of Picea likiangensis revealed by RAPD markers

Repeated cycles of retreat and recolonization during the Quaternary ice ages are thought to have greatly influenced current species distributions and their genetic diversity. It remains unclear how this climatic oscillation has affected the distribution of genetic diversity between populations of wind-pollinated conifers in the Qinghai-Tibetan region. In this study, we investigated the within-species genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Picea likiangensis, a dominant forest species in this region using polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Our results suggest that this species has high overall genetic diversity, with 85.42% of loci being polymorphic and an average expected heterozygosity (H (E)) of 0.239. However, there were relatively low levels of polymorphism at population levels and the differences between populations were not significant, with percentages of polymorphic bands (PPB) ranging from 46.88 to 69.76%, Nei's gene diversity (H (E)) from 0.179 to 0.289 and Shannon's indices (Hpop) from 0.267 to 0.421. In accordance with our proposed hypothesis, a high level of genetic differentiation among populations was detected based on Nei's genetic diversity (G (ST) = 0.256) and AMOVA analysis (Phi (st) = 0.236). Gene flow between populations was found to be limited (Nm = 1.4532) and far lower than reported for other conifer species with wide distribution ranges from other regions. No clusters corresponding to three morphological varieties found in the south, north and west, respectively, were detected in either UPGMA or PCO analyses. Our results suggest that this species may have had different refugia during the glacial stages in the southern region and that the northern variety may have multiple origins from these different refugia.