Ediacaran biota from Sonora, Mexico.

The Ediacaran biota is the earliest diverse community of macroscopic animals and protoctists. Body and trace fossils in the Clemente Formation of northwestern Sonora extend downward the geologic range of Ediacaran forms. Taxa present in the Clemente Formation include cf. Cyclomedusa plana, Sekwia sp., an erniettid (bearing an air mattress-like "pneu" body construction), and the trace fossils Lockeia ichnosp. and Palaeophycus tubularis. The trace fossils confirm the presence of sediment-dwelling animals in this shallow marine community. The body fossils are headless, tailless, and appendageless. Some may be body fossils of animals but others may be fossils of large protoctists. These body and trace fossils, recovered from thinly bedded sandstones and siltstones, occur 75 meters lower in the Sonoran stratigraphic section than a distinctive Clemente Formation oolite. The stratigraphic position of the fossils below this oolite permits long-distance correlation between fossiliferous Proterozoic strata of Mexico and the United States. Correlations utilizing both the Clemente Formation oolite and a trace fossil (Vermiforma antiqua) confirm the antiquity (600 million years or more) of this body fossil-rich community of macroscopic eukaryotes. The recently discovered body fossils are the oldest known remains of the Ediacaran biota.

Activity and biomass of small benthic biota in the central Arctic Ocean

Sediment samples collected during the expedition "Arctic Ocean '96" with the Swedish ice-breaker ODEN were investigated to estimate for the first time heterotrophic activity and total microbial biomass (size range from bacteria to small metazoans) from the perennially ice-covered central Arctic Ocean. Benthic activities and biomass were evaluated analysing a series of biogenic sediment compounds (i.e. bacterial exoenzymes, total adenylates, DNA, phospholipids, particulate proteins). In contrast to the very time-consuming sorting, enumeration and weight determination, analyses of biochemical sediment parameters may represent a useful method for obtaining rapid information on the ecological situation in a given benthic system. Bacterial cell numbers and biomass were estimated for comparison with biochemically determined biomass data, to evaluate the contribution of the bacterial biomass to the total microbial biomass. It appeared that bacterial biomass made up only 8-31% (average of all stations = 20%) of the total microbial biomass, suggesting a large fraction of other small infaunal organisms within the sediment samples (most probably fungi, yeasts, protozoans such as flagellates, ciliates or amoebae, as well as a fraction of small metazoans). Activity and biomass values determined within this study were generally extremely low, and often even slightly lower than those given for other deep oceanic regions, thus characterizing the seafloor of the central Arctic Ocean as a "benthic desert". Nevertheless, some clear trends in the data could be found, e.g. generally sharply decreasing values within the sediment column, a vague tendency for declining values with increasing water depth of sampling stations, and also differences between various Arctic deep-sea regions.

Table 1: Main characteristics of the BIOTA observatories included in this study & Table 3: Occurrence of termite taxa at the observatories

Termites are the most important soil ecosystem engineers of semi-arid and arid habitats. They enhance decomposition processes as well as the subsequent mineralisation of nutrients by bacteria and fungi. Through their construction of galleries, nests and mounds, they promote soil turnover and influence the distribution of nutrients and also alter texture and hydrological properties of soils, thereby affecting the heterogeneity of their ecosystem. The main aim of the present thesis was to define the impact of termites on ecosys-tem functioning in a semi-arid ecosystem. In a baseline study, I assessed the diversity of termite taxa in relation to the amount of precipitation, the vegetation patterns and the land use systems at several sites in Namibia. Subsequently, I focussed on a species that is highly abundant in many African savannas, the fungus growing and mound building species Macro-termes michaelseni (Sjöstedt, 1914). I asked how this species influences the spatial hetero-geneity of soil and vegetation patterns. From repeated samplings at 13 sites in Namibia, I obtained 17 termite taxa of 15 genera. While the type of land use seems to have a minor effect on the termite fauna, the mean annual precipitation explained 96% and the Simpson index of vascular plant diversity 81% of the variation in taxa diversity. The number of termite taxa increased with both of these explanation variables. In contrast to former studies on Macrotermes mounds in several regions of Africa that I reviewed, soil analyses from M. michaelseni mounds in the central Namibian savanna revealed that they contain much higher nitrogen contents when compared to their parent material. Further analyses revealed that nitrate forms a major component of the nitrogen content in termite mounds. As nitrate solves easily in water, evaporation processes are most probably responsible for the transport of solved nitrates to the mound surface and their accumulation there. The analysed mounds in central Namibia contained higher sand propor-tions compared to the mounds of the former studies. Through the higher percentage of coarse and middle sized pores, water moves more easily in sandy soils compared to more clayey soils. In consequence, evaporation-driven nitrate accumulation can occur in the studied mounds at high rates. ff...

Impacts of sediment and nutrients on biota in surface waters of the United States /

"Grant no. R804868020."

Detailed study of water quality, bottom sediment, and biota associated with irrigation drainage in the Klamath basin, California and Oregon, 1990-92 /

Mode of access: Internet.

Relative effects of chlorine and ammonia from wastewater treatment facilities on stream biota /

Project no.: 83/2002.

Relative effects on stream biota of chlorine and ammonia occurring in secondary sewage /

"Project no. 20./32."

The effects of hydrologic modifications on aquatic biota, stream hydrology and water quality : a literature review /

"IEPA/WPC/84-001."-- Cover.

The terrestrial Miocene biota of southern New Zealand

Known Early-Middle Miocene terrestrial strata of southern New Zealand are represented by alluvial plain and lacustrine sediments. A vertebrate fauna including fish, ducks, and crocodiles populated Lake Manuherikia, with abundant mussels, gastropods, and stromatolites occupying the near-shore areas of the lake. A diverse vegetation covered the surrounding broad fluvial plains that extended to the coastal margins. Initially this was largely rainforest, which varied according to habitat and to changing climate. In particular, the climate and ecology appear to have fluctuated across the two major thresholds of fire/no-fire and of peat accumulation and no-peat. A major climate change, possibly the sharp global deterioration in conditions at about 14 Ma, profoundly changed the vegetation. Rainforest continuity fragmented, and herblands became widespread. Leaf fossils effectively disappear from the record at this time.