Juvenile Red Rockfish, Sebastes sp., Associations with Sponges in the Gulf of Alaska

In 2001, a research submersible was used to survey seafloor habitat and associated benthos in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska. One inspected site had a uniform sand-silt substrate, punctuated by widely spaced (10–20 m apart) boulders. Two-thirds of the boulders had sponge, Aphrocallistes sp., colonies. Eighty-two juvenile (5–10 cm) red rockfish (Sebastes sp.) were also observed during the dive, and all of these fish were closely associated with the sponges. No juvenile red rockfish were seen in proximity to boulders without sponges, nor were any observed on the sand-silt substrate between boulders.

Beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, Habitat Associations in Cook Inlet, Alaska

A review of available information describing habitat associations for belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet was undertaken to complement population assessment surveys from 1993-2000. Available data for physical, biological, and anthropogenic factors in Cook Inlet are summarized followed by a provisional description of seasonal habitat associations. To summarize habitat preferences, the beluga summer distribution pattern was used to partition Cook Inlet into three regions. In general, belugas congregate in shallow, relatively warm, low-salinity water near major river outflows in upper Cook Inlet during summer (defined as their primary habitat), where prey availability is comparatively high and predator occurrence relatively low. In winter, belugas are seen in the central inlet, but sightings are fewer in number, and whales more dispersed compared to summer. Belugas are associated with a range of ice conditions in winter, from ice-free to 60% ice-covered water. Natural catastrophic events, such as fires, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, have had no reported effect on beluga habitat, although such events likely affect water quality and, potentially, prey availability. Similarly, although sewage effluent and discharges from industrial and military activities along Cook Inlet negatively affect water quality, analyses of organochlorines and heavy metal burdens indicate that Cook Inlet belugas are not assimilating contaminant loads greater than any other Alaska beluga stocks. Offshore oil and gas activities and vessel traffic are high in the central inlet compared with other Alaska waters, although belugas in Cook Inlet seem habituated to these anthropogenic factors. Anthropogenic factors that have the highest potential negative impacts on belugas include subsistence hunts (not discussed in this report), noise from transportation and offshore oil and gas extraction (ship transits and aircraft overflights), and water quality degradation (from urban runoff and sewage treatment facilities). Although significant impacts from anthropogenic factors other than hunting are not yet apparent, assessment of potential impacts from human activities, especially those that may effect prey availability, are needed.

O direito do agronegócio e o regime do direito da cidade (cidade-média): o seu impacto na integração e no desenvolvimento sustentável dos espaços rural e urbano análise sob a perspectiva do estatuto da cidade

Neoconstitucionalismo. Pós-modernidade. Eficácia da dignidade da pessoa humana. Efetividade dos direitos fundamentais sociais e políticas públicas. Diálogo entre o direito agário, direito ambiental e direito urbanístico na Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Histórico legislativo, competência e princípios informadores. Princípios constitucionais como elementos de conexão para a adequada harmonização entre o Meio Ambiente, a Política Agrária e Política Urbana Constitucional. Princípio federativo e autonomia municipal. Neofederalismo cooperativo compensatório subsidiário. Tipicidade aberta do recorte territorial das unidades federativas. A cidade-média agrária (agronegócio) como técnica urbanística para integração e sustentabilidade entre os espaços urbano e rural e na cooperação / associação entre municípios. Direito Agrário e o Direito do Agronegócio. Autonomia e evolução dogmática. O Direito do Agronegócio como a nova dimensão do Direito Agrário Pós-Moderno. O patriotismo agroambiental unificador dos interesses cosmopolitas e locais. Agropolis: a cidade-média feliz do agronegócio, política nacional de agricultura rural-urbano e os desafios da integração dos espaços rural e urbana na cidade. Direito do Agronegócio e o regime do direito da cidade. Os instrumentos específicos e inespecíficos da ordenação territorial da cidade.

Autonomous adaptation to climate change by shrimp and catfish farmers in Vietnam’s Mekong River delta

The Mekong River delta of Vietnam supports a thriving aquaculture industry but is exposed to the impacts of climate change. In particular, sea level rise and attendant increased flooding (both coastal and riverine) and coastal salinity intrusion threaten the long-term viability of this important industry. This working paper summarizes an analysis of the economics of aquaculture adaptation in the delta, focusing on the grow-out of two exported aquaculture species—the freshwater striped catfish and the brackish-water tiger shrimp. The analysis was conducted for four pond-based production systems: catfish in the inland and coastal provinces and improved extensive and semi-intensive/intensive shrimp culture.

Movimentos sociais como produtores de conhecimento: a Soberania Alimentar no Movimento de Pequenos Agricultores (MPA).

A presente tese adota uma perspectiva cognitiva e epistêmica para o estudo dos movimentos sociais, tendo como objeto de estudo a Soberania Alimentar no Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores: MPA. Defendemos a ideia que, através de sua atuação prática e discursiva, os movimentos sociais estão travando uma luta que, além de política e cultural, é também cognitiva e epistêmica e que essa dinâmica social é geradora de novas formas de conhecimento, como a Soberania Alimentar. Neste trabalho, a Soberania Alimentar é entendida como um programa social de conhecimento que vem sendo desenvolvido pela rede transnacional de movimentos sociais Via Campesina e as suas organizações constituintes (dentre as quais o MPA), articulados com entidades parceiras em redes de solidariedade transnacionais e transculturais e em oposição aos seus adversários, em relação a distintos contextos e escalas de ação. Apoiados nessa ideia e na perspectiva adotada, pretendemos revelar aspectos da multidimensionalidade e da multiespacialidade da dinâmica constitutiva da Soberania Alimentar, a partir do estudo das correlações entre o local e o global, o particular e o geral e as dimensões prática e intelectual da produção de conhecimento por movimentos sociais.

A Região Noroeste Fluminense e o Projeto Rio Rural: Tendências e problemas da agricultura familiar

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar o processo de regionalização do noroeste fluminense através das ações verticalidade sob controle do Estado. Verifica-se especificamente, o posicionamento da sociedade civil organizada e as relações de poder envolvidas diante de tais inferencias racionalizadoras do espaço, e de que forma esse posicionamento pode redimencionar o ordenamento espacial que se impõe através das hegemonias de poder. Entre as abordagens ao tema, o trabalho considera, primeiramente, o processo de regionalização do noroeste fluminense por meio de relações socioespaciais pretéritas a fundação da região enquanto unidade administrativa. Para além das atuais fronteiras da região em questão, o trabalho destaca o controle do Estado pelas frentes catequizadoras e colonizadoras, sobre o território dos Puri, Coroado e Coropó. A segunda intermediação do trabalho ao tema diz respeito à ação de atores locais, ligados principalmente a grandes pecuaristas, na luta por autonomia econômica em relação a Campos dos Goytacazes; que em suas relações de poder com o Estado do Rio de Janeiro desencadeiam a instituição político-administrativa do noroeste fluminense. Sucessivamente o trabalho grifa a atribuição de características regionais a área de estudo como: pobreza rural e representatividade da agricultura familiar, relacionadas a ações de intelectuais orgânicos locais para direcionar verbas do Governo Federal ao setor agropecuário. A terceira parte do trabalho incorpora ao tema a descentralização da gestão municipal/regional por parte de políticas de planejamento territorial como o Rio Rural. Visto que ações de verticalidade do Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, através do Projeto Rio Rural, intervém no ordenamento sócio-econômico-espacial da região principalmente através do modo de produção da agricultura familiar, a problemática se estenderia ao posicionamento político dessa categoria, enquanto sociedade civil organizada; para consideração final das tendências estabelecidas pela agricultura familiar ao ordenamento espacial regional

Associations among chlorophyll concentration and climatic variables for Suisun Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): The recent changes in phytoplankton production and community composition within the Suisun Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta may be related to climate. Chlorophyll a concentration, decreased by 42% (spring-summer) and 29% (fall) between 1972 through 1976 and 1977 through 1981. The decrease in biomass was characterized by a shift in phytoplankton community dominance from Skeletonema spp., Cyclotella spp. and Coscinodiscus spp. to Melosira granulata. The possible influence of climate on phytoplankton abundance was suggested by multivariate statistical analyses that demonstrated an association between changes in phytoplankton community composition and abundance between 1975 and 1982 and the climate related variables wind velocity, precipitation, river flow and water temperature.

Establishing species–habitat associations for 4 eteline snappers with the use of a baited stereo-video camera system

With the use of a baited stereo-video camera system, this study semiquantitatively defined the habitat associations of 4 species of Lutjanidae: Opakapaka (Pristipomoides filamentosus), Kalekale (P. sieboldii), Onaga (Etelis coruscans), and Ehu (E. carbunculus). Fish abundance and length data from 6 locations in the main Hawaiian Islands were evaluated for species-specific and size-specific differences between regions and habitat types. Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter were used to classify habitats into 4 types on the basis of substrate (hard or soft) and slope (high or low). Depth was a major influence on bottomfish distributions. Opakapaka occurred at depths shallower than the depths at which other species were observed, and this species showed an ontogenetic shift to deeper water with increasing size. Opakapaka and Ehu had an overall preference for hard substrate with low slope (hard-low), and Onaga was found over both hard-low and hard-high habitats. No significant habitat preferences were recorded for Kalekale. Opakapaka, Kalekale, and Onaga exhibited size-related shifts with habitat type. A move into hard-high environments with increasing size was evident for Opakapaka and Kalekale. Onaga was seen predominantly in hard-low habitats at smaller sizes and in either hard-low or hard-high at larger sizes. These ontogenetic habitat shifts could be driven by reproductive triggers because they roughly coincided with the length at sexual maturity of each species. However, further studies are required to determine causality. No ontogenetic shifts were seen for Ehu, but only a limited number of juveniles were observed. Regional variations in abundance and length were also found and could be related to fishing pressure or large-scale habitat features.

Juvenile salmonid distribution, growth, condition, origin, and environmental and species associations in the Northern California Current

Information is summarized on juvenile salmonid distribution, size, condition, growth, stock origin, and species and environmental associations from June and August 2000 GLOBEC cruises with particular emphasis on differences related to the regions north and south of Cape Blanco off Southern Oregon. Juvenile salmon were more abundant during the August cruise as compared to the June cruise and were mainly distributed northward from Cape Blanco. There were distinct differences in distribution patterns between salmon species: chinook salmon were found close inshore in cooler water all along the coast and coho salmon were rarely found south of Cape Blanco. Distance offshore and temperature were the dominant explanatory variables related to coho and chinook salmon distribution. The nekton assemblages differed significantly between cruises. The June cruise was dominated by juvenile rockfishes, rex sole, and sablefish, which were almost completely absent in August. The forage fish community during June comprised Pacific herring and whitebait smelt north of Cape Blanco and surf smelt south of Cape Blanco. The fish community in August was dominated by Pacific sardines and highly migratory pelagic species. Estimated growth rates of juvenile coho salmon were higher in the GLOBEC study area than in areas farther north. An unusually high percentage of coho salmon in the study area were precocious males. Significant differences in growth and condition of juvenile coho salmon indicated different oceanographic environments north and south of Cape Blanco. The condition index was higher in juvenile coho salmon to the north but no significant differences were found for yearling chinook salmon. Genetic mixed stock analysis indicated that during June, most of the Chinook salmon in our sample originated from rivers along the central coast of Oregon. In August, chinook salmon sampled south of Cape Blanco were largely from southern Oregon and northern California; whereas most chinook salmon north of Cape Blanco were from the Central Valley in California.

Shortspine thornyhead (Sebastolobus alascanus) abundance and habitat associations in the Gulf of Alaska

Shortspine thornyhead (Sebastolobus alascanus) abundance was estimated from 107 video transects at 27 stations recorded from a research submersible in 1991 off southeast Alaska at depths ranging from 165 to 355 m. Numbers of invertebrates in seven major taxa were estimated, as was substrate type. Thornyhead abundance ranged from 0 to 7.5/100 m2, with a mean of 1.22/100 m2, and was positively correlated with depth and amount of hard substrate. Invertebrate abundances were not significantly correlated with numbers of thornyheads. Shortspine thornyhead abundance estimates from this study were several times higher than estimates produced by bottom trawl surveys off southeast Alaska in 1990 and 1993, the two years of survey that encompassed the submersible transects; however, the trend of increasing abundance with depth was similar in the trawl surveys and in the submersible transects, suggesting that trawl surveys systematically underestimate abundance of shortspine thornyheads

Pacific sea surface temperature associations with southwestern United States summer rainfall and atmospheric circulation

Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are examined for their associations with (1) summer rainfall, and (2) the latitude location of the mid-tropospheric subtropical high pressure ridge (STR) in the southwestern United States during 1945 to 1986. Extreme northward (southward) displacements of STR are associated with wet (dry) summers over Arizona and an enhanced (weakened) gradient of SST off the California and Baja coasts. These tend to follow winters marked by positive (negative) phases of the PNA, Pacific/North America, teleconnection pattern. Recent decadal variations of Arizona summer rainfall (1950s wet; 1970s dry) appear similarly related to southwestern United States synoptic circulation and eastern Pacific SSTs.