scholarly journals Cormorants Are Helping Characterize Coastal Ocean Environments

Eos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Orben ◽  
Adam Peck-Richardson ◽  
Greg Wilson ◽  
Dorukhan Ardağ ◽  
James Lerczak

The Cormorant Oceanography Project is using sensors deployed on diving marine birds to collect broadly distributed oceanographic data in coastal regions around the world.

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-272
Author(s):  
Onat Başbay ◽  
Mudar Salimeh ◽  
Eddie John

We review the continuing and extensive spread of Papilio demoleus in south-eastern Turkey and in regions of Turkey and Syria adjacent to the north-eastern Mediterranean. Since the authors documented the arrival of this attractive but potentially destructive papilionid species at coastal areas of Syria in 2019, regular monitoring has confirmed successful overwintering there, as well as in Turkey. As previously indicated, P. demoleus is widely recognized as an invasive pest species in Citrus-growing areas of the world and hence its arrival is of potential economic importance to a region in which citrus is widely grown.


2010 ◽  
pp. 80-90
Author(s):  
Dawn J. Wright ◽  
Gabe Sataloff ◽  
Tony LaVoi ◽  
Andrus Meiner ◽  
Ronan Uhel

This chapter provides a brief overview of various coastal web atlas projects around the world, providing a contextual bridge to the atlas case studies of Chapters 6-14. A summary of the policy context within which many European atlases operate is followed by a summary of other efforts emerging in Australia, the Western Pacific, Africa, and the Caribbean (as facilitated mainly by the Ocean Data and Information Network of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange). Atlas projects in the U.S. are summarized mainly via the results of a recent national survey of coastal managers reporting on the deployment and content of their atlases, with concluding thoughts on where there might be opportunities to develop approaches for a federated coastal atlas of the U.S.


Author(s):  
Detlev Sprung ◽  
Erik Sucher ◽  
Christian Eisele ◽  
Dirk P. Seiffer ◽  
Alexander M. J. van Eijk ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-70
Author(s):  
Marijn S. Visscher

The chapter considers the geographical literature of early Seleucid writers. It is argued that the first generation of Seleucid geographers appropriated the eastern regions of the Seleucid Empire with their works, often prioritizing useful political narratives over geographical accuracy. As literature, these works seem inexorably linked to the ambition of the early Seleucid court, especially its desire to assert its dominance over vast and previously unchartered territories. Patrocles, for instance, wrote a description of the coastal regions of the Caspian Sea and the Asian river system, parts of which appear to be pure invention. However, his puzzling claims evoked the image of a world empire stretching as far as the edge of the Ocean, bolstering the prestige of the Seleucids. Another work on the north-eastern regions of the empire, by Demodamas, establishes an image of transcendental rule, an image which he anchors in a specifically Hellenistic view of the succession of empires. Thirdly, Megasthenes used his Indica to convey the idea of imperial domination through knowledge, expressed in a colonial key and backed up by targeted cultural reimaginations and precise measurements. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the challenge to Seleucid geography from Alexandria in the form of Eratosthenes, who overturned the Seleucid knowledge of Asia and India while reflecting a distinctly Ptolemaic view of the world.


EDIS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie E. Trenholm ◽  
Marco Schiavon ◽  
J. Bryan Unruh ◽  
Travis W. Shaddox ◽  
Kevin E. Kenworthy

St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum [Walt.] Kuntze) is widely adapted to the warm, humid (subtropical) regions of the world. It is believed to be native to the coastal regions of both the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean. St. Augustinegrass is the most commonly used lawn grass in Florida (Figure 1). This publication is intended for homeowners and turfgrass managers that manage St. Augustinegrass in the state of Florida. Previous version: Trenholm, Laurie, Bryan Unruh, and Travis Shaddox. 2017. “St. Augustinegrass for Florida Lawns”. EDIS 2017 (September). https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-lh010-2017.


Ocean Science ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-88
Author(s):  
Alizée Roobaert ◽  
Laure Resplandy ◽  
Goulven G. Laruelle ◽  
Enhui Liao ◽  
Pierre Regnier

Abstract. The temporal variability of the sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and the underlying processes driving this variability are poorly understood in the coastal ocean. In this study, we tailor an existing method that quantifies the effects of thermal changes, biological activity, ocean circulation and freshwater fluxes to examine seasonal pCO2 changes in highly variable coastal environments. We first use the Modular Ocean Model version 6 (MOM6) and biogeochemical module Carbon Ocean Biogeochemistry And Lower Trophics version 2 (COBALTv2) at a half-degree resolution to simulate coastal CO2 dynamics and evaluate them against pCO2 from the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas database (SOCAT) and from the continuous coastal pCO2 product generated from SOCAT by a two-step neuronal network interpolation method (coastal Self-Organizing Map Feed-Forward neural Network SOM-FFN, Laruelle et al., 2017). The MOM6-COBALT model reproduces the observed spatiotemporal variability not only in pCO2 but also in sea surface temperature, salinity and nutrients in most coastal environments, except in a few specific regions such as marginal seas. Based on this evaluation, we identify coastal regions of “high” and “medium” agreement between model and coastal SOM-FFN where the drivers of coastal pCO2 seasonal changes can be examined with reasonable confidence. Second, we apply our decomposition method in three contrasted coastal regions: an eastern (US East Coast) and a western (the Californian Current) boundary current and a polar coastal region (the Norwegian Basin). Results show that differences in pCO2 seasonality in the three regions are controlled by the balance between ocean circulation and biological and thermal changes. Circulation controls the pCO2 seasonality in the Californian Current; biological activity controls pCO2 in the Norwegian Basin; and the interplay between biological processes and thermal and circulation changes is key on the US East Coast. The refined approach presented here allows the attribution of pCO2 changes with small residual biases in the coastal ocean, allowing for future work on the mechanisms controlling coastal air–sea CO2 exchanges and how they are likely to be affected by future changes in sea surface temperature, hydrodynamics and biological dynamics.


Dead Zones ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 21-35
Author(s):  
David L. Kirchman

This chapter describes the discovery of coastal dead zones, such as the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay in North America and the Baltic and Black Seas in Europe. Gene Turner sailed out of Pascagoula, Mississippi, in the spring of 1975, on the first of seven cruises that led to the discovery of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. In the Chesapeake Bay, an unlikely environmentalist, Charles Officer, sounded the alarm in 1984. The biggest dead zone, however, is the Baltic Sea. Even as early as 1969, ecologists feared hypoxia was turning the Baltic into a “biological desert.” The northwest shelf of the Black Sea turned hypoxic in the 1970s, which killed bottom-dwelling fish like goby and flounder. Many coastal regions around the world have low oxygen waters that devastate marine life and habitats. The early studies emphasized one or two of three ingredients—sewage, fresh water, and plant nutrients—thought to be essential in creating a dead zone. This chapter and Chapter 3 discuss these ingredients before revealing which is most important.


Author(s):  
Iain M Suthers ◽  
Dennis D Reid ◽  
Erlend Moksness ◽  
Hayden T Schilling

Abstract Harald Dannevig was Australia’s first Director of fisheries research and Director of Australia’s first ocean-going research vessel. Dannevig’s initial contributions concerned hatchery technology, freshwater fisheries, and impacts of estuarine prawn trawling. Later, he revealed the growth and migration of sea mullet, the spawning of pelagic eggs in the coastal ocean, and he was the first to demonstrate the effect of onshore winds on recruitment to estuarine fisheries. Using plans of the first Norwegian research trawler Michael Sars, he advised on the construction and commissioning of Endeavour. He organized 99 research voyages over 6 years to determine suitable trawling grounds over ∼7000 km, discovering 263 new species, including 96 new fish species and ∼5000 catalogued specimens. Harald Dannevig’s significant achievements in Australia were soon forgotten after his death with the loss of Endeavour in the Southern Ocean at the beginning of World War I. Both Johan Hjort and Dannevig were numerate, loved natural history, and were keenly observant on the deck. As these two scientists did not correspond, their innovative and parallel thinking stems from the shared university environment with G.O. Sars, and the rapport between Sars and Harald’s father Gunder Dannevig, concerning the fish hatchery and stocking of larval cod.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Galabadage Indika Pavithrani Silva Makawita ◽  
Indira Wickramasinghe ◽  
Isuru Wijesekara

Seaweeds are considered as a functional food across many regions of the world and has an increasing consumption trend due to its health benefits. However, there is a concern regarding the amount of heavy metals and metalloids present in seaweeds. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the levels of metals present in specific seaweeds and its potential impact on consumption. Considered metal ions were Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu) Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg). At the assessment done at four different sites in the coastal regions of Sri Lanka for chlorophytes, rhodophytes and phaeophytes. Concentration of metals were analyzed using the ICPOES. According to the arrived results, concentration of metals varies as Cr > Ni > Cd > Cu > As > Pb = Hg with having zero concentration for Hg and Pb for all varieties and all sites. It was also found that the least amounts of metals were present at Jaffna site in phaeophytes (Sargassum sp.) and chlorophytes (Ulva sp.) When considering the Hazardous Index of the varieties, least was found in Sargassum sp. in Jaffna site. Studies were repeated for 2 seasons and there are significant differences (p < 0.05) between the dry season and wet season in the concentration of heavy metals present. However, since the seaweeds are grown for commercial purposes only in Jaffna area, it is evident that the chlorophyte and phaeophyte varieties claim very low health risk for potential heavy metals and are suitable for consumption purposes.


Author(s):  
Franck Theeten ◽  
Marielle Adam ◽  
Thomas Vandenberghe ◽  
Mathias Dillen ◽  
Patrick Semal ◽  
...  

The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) and Meise Botanic Garden house more than 50 million specimens covering all fields of natural history. While many different research topics have their own specificities, throughout the years it became apparent that with regards to collection data management, data publication and exchange via community standards, collection holding institutions face similar challenges (James et al. 2018, Rocha et al. 2014). In the past, these have been tackled in different ways by Belgian natural history institutions. In addition to local and national collaborations, there is a great need for a joint structure to share data between scientific institutions in Europe and beyond. It is the aim of large networks and infrastructures such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), the Distributed System of Scientific collections (DiSSCo) and the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) to further implement and improve these efforts, thereby gaining ever increasing efficiencies. In this context, the three institutions mentioned above, submitted the NaturalHeritage project (http://www.belspo.be/belspo/brain-be/themes_3_HebrHistoScien_en.stm) granted in 2017 by the Belgian Science Policy Service, which runs from 2017 to 2020. The project provides links among databases and services. The unique qualities of each database are maintained, while the information can be concentrated and exposed in a structured way via one access point. This approach aims also to link data that are unconnected at present (e.g. relationship between soil/substrate, vegetation and associated fauna) and to improve the cross-validation of data. (1) The NaturalHeritage prototype (http://www.naturalheritage.be) is a shared research portal with an open access infrastructure, which is still in the development phase. Its backbone is an ElasticSearch catalogue, with Kibana, and a Python aggregator gathering several types of (re)sources: relational databases, REpresentational State Transfer (REST) services of objects databases and bibliographical data, collections metadata and the GBIF Internet Publishing Toolkit (IPT) for observational and taxonomical data. Semi-structured data in English are semantically analysed and linked to a rich autocomplete mechanism. Keywords and identifiers are indexed and grouped in four categories (“what”, “who”, “where”, “when”). The portal can act also as an Open Archives Initiatives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) service and ease indexing of the original webpage on the internet with microdata enrichment. (2) The collection data management system of DaRWIN (Data Research Warehouse Information Network) of RBINS and RMCA has been improved as well. External (meta)data requirements, i.e. foremost publication into or according to the practices and standards of GBIF and OBIS (Ocean Biogeographic Information System: https://obis.org) for biodiversity data, and INSPIRE (https://inspire.ec.europa.eu) for geological data, have been identified and evaluated. New and extended data structures have been created to be compliant with these standards, as well as the necessary procedures developed to expose the data. Quality control tools for taxonomic and geographic names have been developed. Geographic names can be hard to confirm as their lack of context often requires human validation. To address this a similarity measure is used to help map the result. Species, locations, sampling devices and other properties have been mapped to the World Register of Marine Species and DarwinCore (http://www.marinespecies.org), Marine Regions and GeoNames, the AGRO Agronomy and Vertebrate trait ontologies and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) vocabularies (http://www.obofoundry.org/ontology/agro.html). Extensive mapping is necessary to make use of the ExtendedMeasurementOrFact Extension of DarwinCore (https://tools.gbif.org/dwca-validator/extensions.do). External (meta)data requirements, i.e. foremost publication into or according to the practices and standards of GBIF and OBIS (Ocean Biogeographic Information System: https://obis.org) for biodiversity data, and INSPIRE (https://inspire.ec.europa.eu) for geological data, have been identified and evaluated. New and extended data structures have been created to be compliant with these standards, as well as the necessary procedures developed to expose the data. Quality control tools for taxonomic and geographic names have been developed. Geographic names can be hard to confirm as their lack of context often requires human validation. To address this a similarity measure is used to help map the result. Species, locations, sampling devices and other properties have been mapped to the World Register of Marine Species and DarwinCore (http://www.marinespecies.org), Marine Regions and GeoNames, the AGRO Agronomy and Vertebrate trait ontologies and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) vocabularies (http://www.obofoundry.org/ontology/agro.html). Extensive mapping is necessary to make use of the ExtendedMeasurementOrFact Extension of DarwinCore (https://tools.gbif.org/dwca-validator/extensions.do).


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