Heavy metal accumulation reflecting natural sedimentary processes and anthropogenic activities in two contrasting coastal wetland ecosystems, eastern China

Due to the impacts of natural processes and anthropogenic activities, different coastal wetlands are faced with variable patterns of heavy metal contamination. It is important to quantify the contributions of pollutant sources, in order to adopt appropriate protection measures for local ecosystems. The aim of this research was to compare the heavy metal contamination patterns of two contrasting coastal wetlands in eastern China. In addition, the contributions from various metal sources were identified and quantified, and influencing factors, such as the role of the plant Spartina alterniflora, were evaluated. Materials and methods Sediment samples were taken from two coastal wetlands (plain-type tidal flat at the Rudong (RD) wetland vs embayment-type tidal flat at Luoyuan Bay (LY)) to measure the content of Al, Fe, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sr, Zn, Pb, Cd, and As. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, flame atomic absorption spectrometry, and atomic fluorescence spectrometry methods were used for metal detection. Meanwhile, the enrichment factor and geoaccumulation index were applied to assess the pollution level. Principle component analysis and receptor modeling were used to quantify the sources of heavy metals. Results and discussion Marked differences in metal distribution patterns between the two systems were present. Metal contents in LY were higher than those in RD, except for Sr and Mo. The growth status of S. alterniflora influenced metal accumulations in RD, i.e., heavy metals were more easily adsorbed in the sediment in the following sequence: Cu > Cd > Zn > Cr > Al > Pb ≥ Ni ≥ Co > Fe > Sr ≥ Mn > As > Mo as a result of the presence and size of the vegetation. However, this phenomenon was not observed in LY. A higher potential ecological risk was associated with LY, compared with RD, except for Mo. Based on a receptor model output, sedimentary heavy metal contents at RD were jointly influenced by natural sedimentary processes and anthropogenic activities, whereas they were dominated by anthropogenic activities at LY. Conclusions A combination of geochemical analysis and modeling approaches was used to quantify the different types of natural and anthropogenic contributions to heavy metal contamination, which is useful for pollution assessments. The application of this approach reveals that natural and anthropogenic processes have different influences on the delivery and retention of metals at the two contrasting coastal wetlands. In addition, the presence and size of S. alterniflora can influence the level of metal contamination in sedimentary environments.

Ocean acidification impacts on nitrogen fixation in the coastal western Mediterranean Sea

The effects of ocean acidification on nitrogen (N2) fixation rates and on the community composition of N2-fixing microbes (diazotrophs) were examined in coastal waters of the North-Western Mediterranean Sea. Nine experimental mesocosm enclosures of ∼50 m3 each were deployed for 20 days during June-July 2012 in the Bay of Calvi, Corsica, France. Three control mesocosms were maintained under ambient conditions of carbonate chemistry. The remainder were manipulated with CO2 saturated seawater to attain target amendments of pCO2 of 550, 650, 750, 850, 1000 and 1250 μatm. Rates of N2 fixation were elevated up to 10 times relative to control rates (2.00 ± 1.21 nmol L-1d-1) when pCO2 concentrations were >1000 μatm and pHT (total scale) < 7.74. Diazotrophic phylotypes commonly found in oligotrophic marine waters, including the Mediterranean, were not present at the onset of the experiment and therefore, the diazotroph community composition was characterised by amplifying partial nifH genes from the mesocosms. The diazotroph community was comprised primarily of cluster III nifH sequences (which include possible anaerobes), and proteobacterial (α and γ) sequences, in addition to small numbers of filamentous (or pseudo-filamentous) cyanobacterial phylotypes. The implication from this study is that there is some potential for elevated N2 fixation rates in the coastal western Mediterranean before the end of this century as a result of increasing ocean acidification. Observations made of variability in the diazotroph community composition could not be correlated with changes in carbon chemistry, which highlights the complexity of the relationship between ocean acidification and these keystone organisms.

Metabolically active, non-nitrogen fixing,Trichodesmiumin UK coastal waters during winter

Trichodesmium, a colonial cyanobacterium typically associated with tropical waters, was observed between January and April 2014 in the western English Channel. Sequencing of the heterocyst differentiation (hetR) and 16S rRNA genes placed this community within the Clade IV Trichodesmium, an understudied clade previously found only in low numbers in warmer waters. Nitrogen fixation was not detected although measurable rates of nitrate uptake and carbon fixation were observed. Trichodesmium RuBisCO transcript abundance relative to gene abundance suggests the potential for viable and potentially active Trichodesmium carbon fixation. Observations of Trichodesmium when coupled with a numerical advection model indicate that Trichodesmium communities can remain viable for >3.5 months at temperatures lower than previously expected. The results suggest that Clade IV Trichodesmium occupies a different niche to other Trichodesmium species, and is a cold- or low-light-adapted variant.

High Level Environmental Screening Study for Offshore Wind Farm Developments – Marine Habitats and Species Project

High level environmental screening study for offshore wind farm developments – marine habitats and species This report provides an awareness of the environmental issues related to marine habitats and species for developers and regulators of offshore wind farms. The information is also relevant to other offshore renewable energy developments. The marine habitats and species considered are those associated with the seabed, seabirds, and sea mammals. The report concludes that the following key ecological issues should be considered in the environmental assessment of offshore wind farms developments: • likely changes in benthic communities within the affected area and resultant indirect impacts on fish, populations and their predators such as seabirds and sea mammals; • potential changes to the hydrography and wave climate over a wide area, and potential changes to coastal processes and the ecology of the region; • likely effects on spawning or nursery areas of commercially important fish and shellfish species; • likely effects on mating and social behaviour in sea mammals, including migration routes; • likely effects on feeding water birds, seal pupping sites and damage of sensitive or important intertidal sites where cables come onshore; • potential displacement of fish, seabird and sea mammals from preferred habitats; • potential effects on species and habitats of marine natural heritage importance; • potential cumulative effects on seabirds, due to displacement of flight paths, and any mortality from bird strike, especially in sensitive rare or scarce species; • possible effects of electromagnetic fields on feeding behaviour and migration, especially in sharks and rays, and • potential marine conservation and biodiversity benefits of offshore wind farm developments as artificial reefs and 'no-take' zones. The report provides an especially detailed assessment of likely sensitivity of seabed species and habitats in the proposed development areas. Although sensitive to some of the factors created by wind farm developments, they mainly have a high recovery potential. The way in which survey data can be linked to Marine Life Information Network (MarLIN) sensitivity assessments to produce maps of sensitivity to factors is demonstrated. Assessing change to marine habitats and species as a result of wind farm developments has to take account of the natural variability of marine habitats, which might be high especially in shallow sediment biotopes. There are several reasons for such changes but physical disturbance of habitats and short-term climatic variability are likely to be especially important. Wind farm structures themselves will attract marine species including those that are attached to the towers and scour protection, fish that associate with offshore structures, and sea birds (especially sea duck) that may find food and shelter there. Nature conservation designations especially relevant to areas where wind farm might be developed are described and the larger areas are mapped. There are few designated sites that extend offshore to where wind farms are likely to be developed. However, cable routes and landfalls may especially impinge on designated sites. The criteria that have been developed to assess the likely marine natural heritage importance of a location or of the habitats and species that occur there can be applied to survey information to assess whether or not there is anything of particular marine natural heritage importance in a development area. A decision tree is presented that can be used to apply ‘duty of care’ principles to any proposed development. The potential ‘gains’ for the local environment are explored. Wind farms will enhance the biodiversity of areas, could act as refugia for fish, and could be developed in a way that encourages enhancement of fish stocks including shellfish.

Complex coastal oceanographic fields can be described by universal multifractals

Characterization of chlorophyll and sea surface temperature (SST) structural heterogeneity using their scaling properties can provide a useful tool to estimate the relative importance of key physical and biological drivers. Seasonal, annual, and also instantaneous spatial distributions of chlorophyll and SST, determined from satellite measurements, in seven different coastal and shelf-sea regions around the UK have been studied. It is shown that multifractals provide a very good approximation to the scaling properties of the data: in fact, the multifractal scaling function is well approximated by universal multifractal theory. The consequence is that all of the statistical information about data structure can be reduced to being described by two parameters. It is further shown that also bathymetry scales in the studied regions as multifractal. The SST and chlorophyll multifractal structures are then explained as an effect of bathymetry and turbulence.

Vertical fluxes and atmospheric cycling of methanol, acetaldehyde, and acetone in a coastal environment

We present here vertical fluxes of methanol, acetaldehyde, and acetone measured directly with eddy covariance (EC) during March to July 2012 near the southwest coast of the UK. The performance of the proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR-MS) for flux measurement is characterized, with additional considerations given to the homogeneity and stationarity assumptions required by EC. Concentrations and fluxes of these compounds vary significantly with time of day and wind direction. Higher values of acetaldehyde and acetone are usually observed in the daytime and from the direction of a forested park, most likely due to light-driven emissions from terrestrial plants. Methanol concentration and flux do not demonstrate clear diel variability, suggesting sources in addition to plants. We estimate air–sea exchange and photochemical rates of these compounds, which are compared to measured vertical fluxes. For acetaldehyde, the mean (1�) concentration of 0.13 (0.02) ppb at night may be maintained by oceanic emission, while photochemical destruction outpaces production during the day. Air-sea exchange and photochemistry are probably net sinks of methanol and acetone in this region. Their nighttime concentrations of 0.46 (0.20) and 0.39 (0.08) ppb appear to be affected more by terrestrial emissions and long distance transport, respectively.

Island-coastal and oceanic epipelagic zooplankton biodiversity in the southwestern Indian Ocean

The oceanic Indian Ocean zooplankton species and their distributions have been well described, but the zooplankton of coastal regions, particularly around the oceanic islands, has not been well researched, either taxonomically or experimentally. The environment of the Mascarene region in the southwestern Indian Ocean and zooplankton research that has been carried out there is detailed, along with gaps in our knowledge. Suggestions are given for future research, particularly on the zooplankton species adapted to live in the fluctuating environment of inshore waters, including studies on taxonomy and biodiversity, life cycles, dispersion and genetics. Problems of carrying out taxonomic research are highlighted.

Chapter 11: Human activities and ecosystem service use: impacts and trade-offs

Ecosystem services provided by the marine environment are fundamental to human health and well-being. Despite this, many marine systems are being degraded to an extent that may reduce their capacity to provide these ecosystem services. The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, 2000). Its application to marine management and spatial planning has been proposed as a means of maintaining the economic and social value of the oceans, not only in the present but for generations to come. Characterising the susceptibility of services (and combinations of services) to particular human activities based on knowledge of impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (as described in preceding chapters) is a challenge for future management of the oceans. In this chapter, we highlight the existing, but limited knowledge of how ecosystem services may be impacted by different human activities. We discuss how impacts on one service can impact multiple services and explore how the impacts on services can vary both spatially and temporally and according to context. We focus particularly on the effects on ecosystem services of activities whose impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning have already been considered in previous chapters. Some of these activities are associated with poor management of ecosystem benefits, for example, from provisioning services (aquaculture and fisheries), or with excessive input of wastes, fertilisers and contaminants into the system overburdening the waste treatment and assimilation services. Other impacts are associated with the construction of structures or use of space designed to generate benefits from environmental services such as the presence of water as a carrier for shipping, or sources of wind, wave and tidal power. We discuss the trade-offs that are made, consciously or otherwise, between different ecosystem services, which arise from human activities to optimise or manage specific ecosystem services.

Coastal upwelling and downwelling forcing of circulation in a semi-enclosed bay: Ria de Vigo

Semi-enclosed bays in upwelling regions are exposed to forcing related to winds, currents and buoyancy over the shelf. The influence of this external forcing is moderated by factors such as connectivity to the open ocean, shelter by surrounding topography, dimensions of the bay, and freshwater outflows. Such bays, preferred locations for ports, mariculture, marine industry, recreational activities and coastal settlement, present a range of characteristics, understanding of which is necessary to their rational management. Observations in such a semi-enclosed bay, the Ria de Vigo in Spain, are used to characterize the influence of upwelling and downwelling pulses on its circulation. In this location, near the northern limit of the Iberian upwelling system, upwelling events dominate during a short summer season and downwelling events the rest of the year. The ria response to the external forcing is central to nutrient supply and resultant plankton productivity that supports its high level of cultured mussel production. Intensive field studies in September 2006 and June 2007 captured a downwelling event and an upwelling event, respectively. Data from eight current profiler moorings and boat-based MiniBat/ADCP surveys provided an unprecedented quasi-synoptic view of the distribution of water masses and circulation patterns in any ria. In the outer ria, circulation was dominated by the introduction of wind-driven alongshore flow from the external continental shelf through the ria entrances and its interaction with the topography. In the middle ria, circulation was primarily related to the upwelling/downwelling cycle, with a cool, salty and dense lower layer penetrating to the inner ria during upwelling over the shelf. A warmer, lower salinity and less dense surface layer of coastal waters flowed inward during downwelling. Without external forcing, the inner ria responded primarily to tides and buoyancy changes related to land runoff. Under both upwelling and downwelling conditions, the flushing of the ria involved shelf responses to wind pulses. Their persistence for a few days was sufficient to allow waters from the continental shelf to penetrate the innermost ria. Longer term observations supported by numerical modeling are required to confirm the generality of such flushing events in the ria and determine their typical frequency, while comparative studies should explore how these scenarios fit into the range of conditions experienced in other semi-enclosed bays.

The role of advection in the distribution of plankton populations at a moored 1-D coastal observatory

The degree to which advection modulates the distribution of plankton populations at a 1-D coastal observatory was assessed at station L4 in the western English Channel (50°15′N 4°13′W, depth 50 m), part of the Western Channel Observatory (WCO). Five tidal-cycle surveys were conducted, three in spring and two in summer 2010. Observations of the physical characteristics of L4 were obtained by using a moored acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) and a free-falling microstructure sensor (MSS). The moored ADCP highlighted the presence of vertical shear, with typical values of U during spring tides of ∼0.5 m s−1 at the surface and ∼0.2 m s−1 at the bed. The distribution of phyto- and zooplankton populations above a size threshold of 200 μm were examined using an in-line holographic imaging system, the Holocam. Variability in time as well as depth is a common feature throughout each of the surveys, with examples of recorded numbers of phytoplankton that ranged between 1300 L−1 and 2300 L−1 at the same depth but at different points within the tidal cycle. Further, at the same points in the tidal cycle the number of recorded zooplankton was also seen to vary, specifically with the identification of gelatinous planula in spring that increased the observed number to maximums of between 140 L−1 and 220 L−1 in the upper layer, considerably higher that the corresponding WP-2 net counts for a similar period. Specific aspects of the movement and transfer of plankton relating to advection and interaction with the pycnocline are identified, both across tidal cycles and seasons.

English Trade Mark Law in the Eighteenth Century: Blanchard v Hill Revisited - Another 'Case of Monopolies'?

The decision of Lord Hardwicke LC in Blanchard v Hill in 1742 is the earliest reported case on the equitable jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief against trade mark piracy. The ambiguous manner in which the case was reported led to the decision being interpreted as either the basis of equitable jurisdiction or a denial of jurisdiction. This article seeks to establish the background to the case, what actually happened, and the immediate impact of the decision. The scene is set, however, in a parallel symbolic universe – heraldry – because in 1740, the officers of arms were confronted with a trade mark case.

Organisational controls, typologies and time scales of paraglacial gravel-dominated coastal systems

The fundamental controls on the initiation and development of gravel-dominated deposits (beaches and barriers) on paraglacial coasts are particle size and shape, sediment supply, storm wave activity (primarily runup), relative sea-level (RSL) change, and terrestrial basement structure (primarily as it affects accommodation space). This paper examines the stochastic basis for barrier organisation as shown by variation in gravel barrier architecture. We recognise punctuated self-organisation of barrier development that is disrupted by short phases of barrier instability. The latter results from positive feedback causing barrier breakdown when sediment supply is exhausted. We examine published typologies for gravel barriers and advocate a consolidated perspective using rate of RSL change and sediment supply. We also consider the temporal variation in controls on barrier development. These are examined in terms of a simple behavioural model (BARCH) for prograding gravel barrier architecture and its sensitivity to such controls. The nature of macroscale (102–103 years) gravel barrier development, including inherited characteristics that influence barrier genesis, as well as forcing from changing RSL, sediment supply, headland control and barrier inertia, is examined in the context of long-surviving barriers along the southern England coastline.