Carmel Lagoon Water Quality and Steelhead Soundings: Fall 2007

ESSP 660 Advanced Watershed Science and Policy is a graduate class taught in the Master of Science in Coastal and Watershed Science & Policy program at California State University Monterey Bay. In 2007, the class was taught in four 4-week modules, each focusing on making a small contribution to a local watershed issue. This report describes the results of one of those 4-week modules – on Carmel Lagoon Water Quality and Ecology. The module was lead instructed by Fred Watson (CSUMB) and Kevan Urquhart (MPWMD). (Document contains 54 pages)

The Carr Lake Project: Potential Biophysical Benefits of Conversion to a Multiple-Use Park

The Carr Lake Project aims to convert Carr Lake’s 450 acres of agriculture fields into a regional multi-use park that will benefit flood protection, water quality, and wildlife habitat, while also providing additional recreational areas for the local community. The Project is represented by an informal consortium of interested parties including the Watershed Institute of California State University Monterey Bay, The City of Salinas, 1000 Friends of Carr Lake, and the Big Sur Land Trust. (Document contains 54 pages)

Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project: Water Quality and Aquatic Wildlife Monitoring, 2006-7

This is a report to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. It describes water quality and aquatic invertebrate monitoring after the construction of the Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project. Included are data that have been collected for two years and preliminary assessment of the enhanced ecosystem. This report marks the completion of 3-years of monitoring water quality and aquatic habitat. The report adopts the same format and certain background text from previous years’ reporting by the same research group (e.g. Larson et al., 2005). (Document contains 100 pages)

Wetland Tracker Data Collection Central Coast (Morro Bay Region)

The goal of this project was to gather information on wetland restoration projects in the Moro Bay, California, region. Data provided to the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) will be used to enhance a web-based, public access database, the Bay Area Wetland Project Tracker. Wetland Tracker provides information on the location, size, sponsors, habitats, contact persons, and status of included projects. Its website provides an interactive map of planned and completed wetland projects (http://www.wetlandtracker.org). (Document contains 4 pages)

Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project: Water Quality and Aquatic Wildlife Monitoring, 2005-6

In summer and fall 2004, the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) initiated the Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project. The project involved excavation of a dry remnant Arm of the lagoon and adjacent disused farmland to form a significant new lagoon volume. The intention was to provide habitat, in particular, for two Federally threatened species: the California Red-Legged Frog, and the Steelhead Trout (South Central-Coastal California Evolutionary Significant Unit). DPR contracted with the Foundation of California State University Monterey Bay (Central Coast Watershed Studies Team, Watershed Institute) to monitor water quality and aquatic invertebrates in association with the enhancement, and to attempt to monitor steelhead using novel video techniques. The monitoring objective was to assess whether the enhancement was successful in providing habitat with good water quality, adequate invertebrate food for steelhead, and ultimately the presence of steelhead. (Document contains 102 pages)

Springs of Florida

bulletin which documented the major and important springs in the state (Ferguson et al., 1947). This publication was revised in 1977, with many previously undocumented springs and many new water-quality analyses being added (Rosenau et al., 1977). The Florida Geological Survey's report on first magnitude springs (Scott et al., 2002) was the initial step in once again updating and revising the Springs of Florida bulletin. The new bulletin includes the spring descriptions and water-quality analyses from Scott et al. (2002). Nearly 300 springs were described in 1977. As of 2004, more than 700 springs have been recognized in the state and more are reported each year. To date, 33 first magnitude springs (with a flow greater than 100 cubic feet per second or approximately 64.6 million gallons of water per day) have been recognized in Florida, more than any other state or country (Rosenau et al., 1977). Our springs are a unique and invaluable natural resource. A comprehensive understanding of the spring systems will provide the basis for their protection and wise use. (Document pdf contains 677 pages)

Agricultural Best Management Practices and Treatment Wetlands in the Gabilan Watershed: Project Asessment and Evaluation Plan

Several local groups have come together for this project to addresses water quality concerns in the Gabilan Watershed – also known as the Reclamation Ditch Watershed (Fig. 1.1). These are Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML), the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County (RCDMC), Central Coast Watershed Studies (CCoWS), Return of the Natives (RON), Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), and Coastal Conservation and Research (CC&R). The primary goal is to reduce non-point source pollution – particularly suspended sediment, nutrients, and pesticides – and thereby improve near-shore coastal waters of Moss Landing Harbor and the Monterey Bay. (Document contains 33 pages)

Schooling habits of yellowfin tuna (Neothunnus macropterus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, as indicated by purse seine catch records, 1946-1955

ENGLISH: These aspects of the schooling habits of the yellowfin and skipjack tuna may be investigated by means of the logbook records of the catches of individual sets of the nets of purse-seine vessels. For both purposes it must be assumed that a set is made, in each case, on a single school of fish. The study of school sizes based on these data requires the additional assumption either that the entire school is captured or that each set captures a constant fraction of the school upon which it is made. In this paper we report on the results of such investigations based on logbook records of the purse-seine fleet. SPANISH: Estos aspectos de los hábitos gregarios de los atunes aleta amarilla y barrilete pueden ser investigados a base de los registros de bitácora en que se anotan las pescas resultantes de cada una de las operaciones con la red de encierre que realizan los barcos rederos. Para ambos propósitos hay que suponer que las operaciones se efectúan, en cada caso, en un cardumen independiente. El estudio de los tamaños de los cardúmenes o manchas, a base de estos datos, requiere una suposición adicional: que el cardumen entero es capturado o, en su defecto, que en cada operación con la red se pesca una fracción constante de la mancha objeto de la pesca. En el presente artículo damos cuenta de los resultados de dichas investigaciones basadas en los registros de bitácora que lleva la flota de embarcaciones que utilizan redes de encierre. (PDF contains 47 pages.)

Manual for starch gel electrophoresis: A method for the detection of genetic variation

The procedure to conduct horizontal starch gel electrophoresis on enzymes is described in detail. Areas covered are (I) collection and storage of specimens, (2) preparation of tissues, (3) preparation of a starch gel, (4) application of enzyme extracts to a gel, (5) setting up a gel for electrophoresis, (6) slicing a gel, and (7) staining a gel. Recipes are also included for 47 enzyme stains and 3 selected gel buffers. (PDF file contains 26 pages.)

Recovery and status of shortnose sturgeon in the Hudson River

Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum), an endangered species, has experienced a several-fold increase in abundance in the Hudson River in recent decades. This population growth followed a substantial improvement in water quality during the 1970s to a large portion (c. 40%) of the species' summertime nursery area. Age structure and growth were investigated to evaluate the hypothesis that improvements in water quality stimulated population recovery through increased survival of young of the year juveniles. Specimens were captured using gill nets bi-monthly from November 2003 to November 2004 (n = 596). Annuli in fin spine sections were used to generate estimates of sturgeon age. Based upon a marginal increment analysis, annuli were determined to form at an annual rate. Age determinations yielded a catch composed of age 5-30 years for sizes 49-105cm Total Length (n = 554). Individual growth rate (von Bertalanffy coefficients: TL, = 1045mm, K = 0.07) for the population was similar to previous growth estimates within the Hudson River as well as proximal estuaries. Hindcast year-class strengths, based upon a recent stock assessment (Bain et al. 2000) and corrected for gill net mesh selectivity and cumulative mortality indicated high recruitments (28,000-43,000 yearlings)during 1986-1992, which were preceded and succeeded by c.5-year periods of lower recruitment (5,000-1 5,000 yearlings). Recruitment patterns were corroborated by trends in shortnose sturgeon bycatch from a Hudson utilities-sponsored monitoring program. Results indicated that Hudson River shortnose sturgeon abundance increased due to the formation of several strong year-classes occurring about five years subsequent to improved water quality in important nursery and forage habitats in the upper Hudson River estuary. (PDF contains 108 pages.)

A Geologic Report on the Pacoima Area

The region treated in the following report is a small area of about one square mile near Pacoima, California. It consists of a group of small hills that that form the western abutment of the Hansen Dam. It is underlain by a section of intrusives, sediments, and extrusives, which may be subdivided into four groups.

The oldest rocks form the Dimebere complex of Jurassic (?) plutonic rocks, pegmatites, and schists. Lying uncomformably on this is a series of alternating terrestrial sandstones and bassalts of Tertiary age. These are unconformably overlain in turn by the Hansen Dam formation, a series of marine shales and sandstone correlated with the Temblor by the fossil contact. Finally into these strata was intruded the Munglish andesite.

These strata form a shallow, plunging anticline, whose axis trends slightly east of north and lies in the center of the hills. The unconformities have been offset in several places by a series of faults apparently related to the anticline.

A complete outline of the geologic history is included in the report.

Force chains, friction, and flow: Behavior of granular media across length scales

We study the behavior of granular materials at three length scales. At the smallest length scale, the grain-scale, we study inter-particle forces and "force chains". Inter-particle forces are the natural building blocks of constitutive laws for granular materials. Force chains are a key signature of the heterogeneity of granular systems. Despite their fundamental importance for calibrating grain-scale numerical models and elucidating constitutive laws, inter-particle forces have not been fully quantified in natural granular materials. We present a numerical force inference technique for determining inter-particle forces from experimental data and apply the technique to two-dimensional and three-dimensional systems under quasi-static and dynamic load. These experiments validate the technique and provide insight into the quasi-static and dynamic behavior of granular materials.

At a larger length scale, the mesoscale, we study the emergent frictional behavior of a collection of grains. Properties of granular materials at this intermediate scale are crucial inputs for macro-scale continuum models. We derive friction laws for granular materials at the mesoscale by applying averaging techniques to grain-scale quantities. These laws portray the nature of steady-state frictional strength as a competition between steady-state dilation and grain-scale dissipation rates. The laws also directly link the rate of dilation to the non-steady-state frictional strength.

At the macro-scale, we investigate continuum modeling techniques capable of simulating the distinct solid-like, liquid-like, and gas-like behaviors exhibited by granular materials in a single computational domain. We propose a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) approach for granular materials with a viscoplastic constitutive law. The constitutive law uses a rate-dependent and dilation-dependent friction law. We provide a theoretical basis for a dilation-dependent friction law using similar analysis to that performed at the mesoscale. We provide several qualitative and quantitative validations of the technique and discuss ongoing work aiming to couple the granular flow with gas and fluid flows.

Incidencia de las Revoluciones en los Movimientos Sociales Transnacionales. El Caso de la Revolución Cubana y su Influencia en el Movimiento Antiglobalización

328 p.

Estimates of body sizes at maturation and at sex change, and the spawning seasonality and sex ratio of the endemic Hawaiian grouper (Hyporthodus quernus, F. Epinephelidae)

A case study of the reproductive biology of the endemic Hawaiian grouper or hapu’upu’u (Hyporthodus quernus) is presented as a model for comprehensive future studies of economically important epinephelid groupers. Specimens were collected throughout multiple years (1978–81, 1992–93, and 2005–08) from most reefs and banks of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The absence of small males, presence of atretic oocytes and brown bodies in testes of mature males, and both developed ovarian and testicular tissues in the gonads of five transitional fish provided evidence of protogynous hermaphroditism. No small mature males were collected, indicating that Hawaiian grouper are monandrous (all males are sex-changed females). Complementary microscopic criteria also were used to assign reproductive stage and estimate median body sizes (L50) at female sexual maturity and at adult sex change from female to male. The L50 at maturation and at sex change was 580 ±8 (95% confidence interval [CI]) mm total length (TL) and 895 ±20 mm TL, respectively. The adult sex ratio was strongly female biased (6:1). Spawning seasonality was described by using gonadosomatic indices. Females began ripening in the fall and remained ripe through April. A February–June main spawning period that followed peak ripening was deduced from the proportion of females whose ovaries contained hydrated oocytes, postovulatory follicles, or both. Testes weights were not affected by season; average testes weight was only about 0.2% of body weight—an order of magnitude smaller than that for ovaries that peaked at 1–3% of body weight. The species’ reproductive life history is discussed in relation to its management.