Effects of mangrove removal on benthic communities and sediment characteristics at Mangawhai Harbour, northern New Zealand

Abstract Alfaro, A. C. 2010. Effects of mangrove removal on benthic communities and sediment characteristics at Mangawhai Harbour, northern New Zealand. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 1087–1104. The spread of mangroves at many locations in temperate northern New Zealand provides a stark contrast to the well-documented trend in mangrove forest decline recorded through the tropics and subtropics. To explore this difference, improved understanding is needed of New Zealand's mangrove ecosystems and how they respond to anthropogenic disturbance. The effect of mangrove removal on the community ecology of mangrove stands and adjacent habitats was investigated within Mangawhai Estuary, northern New Zealand, between March 2004 and September 2006. The vegetation, benthic macrofauna, and sediments were sampled within habitats (marshgrass, mangrove stands, pneumatophore zones, sandflats, and channels) at a treatment site (mangroves removed) and two undisturbed sites, before and after mangrove-removal activities. Mature mangrove habitats had less total abundance and fewer taxa than all the other habitats sampled and were dominated by pulmonate snails (Amphibola crenata) and mud crabs (Helice crassa). Whereas faunal composition varied seasonally as a result of life-history dynamics, temporal changes could be attributed to mangrove-removal activities. Mangrove eradication was followed by immediate changes in the sediment from a muddy to sandier environment, which favoured an overall increase in the abundance of crabs, snails, and bivalves. However, unexpected topographic catchment reconfigurations in late 2005 may have caused a subsequent increase in the delivery of silt and organic content to the study area and an overall decrease in faunal density in March and September 2006. The study provides direct evidence of the effect of mangroves on sediment and benthic faunal characteristics and the importance of catchment-derived imports to estuarine ecosystems.

Download Full-text

Sediment impacts on sponges and a deep-sea coral in New Zealand

10.26686/wgtn.17096843 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Valeria Mobilia

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Suspended Sediment ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽

Habitat Structure ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Bottom Contact ◽

Suspended Sediment Concentrations ◽

Offshore Activities

Increased levels of suspended sediment in the water column are important factors contributing to the degradation of marine ecosystems worldwide. In coastal waters, temporal variation in suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) occurs naturally due to seasonal and oceanographic processes. However, there is evidence that anthropogenic activities are increasing sediment concentrations. The volume of sediment moving from land-based sources into coastal ecosystems and human activities in the ocean disturbing the seafloor, such as dredging and bottom-contact fisheries, have been increasing over the last century. In addition, offshore activities, particularly bottom-contact fishing and potential deep-sea mining, can create sediment plumes in the deep-sea that may extend over long distances. Elevated suspended sediment concentrations have detrimental effects on benthic communities, particularly for suspension feeders like sponges and corals. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of increased SSCs that might arise from heavy anthropogenic disturbance on common shallow water and deep-sea sponges and a deep-sea coral in New Zealand, as these groups contribute to habitat structure in some benthic environments, including the deep sea.

Download Full-text

Sediment impacts on sponges and a deep-sea coral in New Zealand

10.26686/wgtn.17096843.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Valeria Mobilia

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Suspended Sediment ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽

Habitat Structure ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Bottom Contact ◽

Suspended Sediment Concentrations ◽

Offshore Activities

Download Full-text

FRI0514 USE OF OPIATE FOR HIP AND KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS BEFORE AND AFTER JOINT REPLACEMENT SURGERY

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases ◽

10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-eular.1359 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽

pp. 856.1-856

Author(s):

C. Lao ◽

D. Lees ◽

D. White ◽

R. Lawrenson

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Knee Osteoarthritis ◽

Knee Replacement ◽

Charlson Comorbidity Index ◽

Hip Osteoarthritis ◽

Index Score ◽

Charlson Comorbidity Index Score ◽

Joint Replacement Surgery ◽

Before And After ◽

Comorbidity Index

Background:Osteoarthritis of the hip and knee is one of the most common causes of reduced mobility. It also causes stiffness and pain. Opioids can offer pain relief but is usually used for severe acute pain caused by major trauma or surgery. The use of opioids for relief of chronic pain caused by arthritis has increased over the last few decades.[1]Objectives:This study aims to investigate the use of strong opiates for patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis before and after joint replacement surgery, over a 13 years period in New Zealand.Methods:This study included patients with osteoarthritis who underwent publicly funded primary hip and knee replacement surgeries in 2005-2017 in New Zealand. These records were identified from the National Minimum Dataset (NMD). They were cross referenced with the NZJR data to exclude the admissions not for primary hip or knee replacement surgeries. Patients without a diagnosis of osteoarthritis were excluded.The PHARMS dataset was linked to the NMD to identify the use of strong opiates before and after surgeries. The strong opiates available for community dispensing in New Zealand and included in this study are: dihydrocodeine, fentanyl, methadone, morphine, oxycodone and pethidine. Use of opiate within three months prior to surgery and within 12 months post-surgery were examined by gender, age group, ethnicity, Charlson Comorbidity Index score and year of surgery. Differences by subgroup was examined with Chi- square test. Logistic regression model was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios of strong opiate use before and after surgery compared with no opiate use.Results:We identified 53,439 primary hip replacements and 50,072 primary knee replacements with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Of patients with hip osteoarthritis, 6,251 (11.7%) had strong opiate before hip replacement surgeries and 11,939 (22.3%) had opiate after surgeries. Of patients with knee osteoarthritis, 2,922 (5.8%) had strong opiate before knee replacement surgeries and 15,252 (30.5%) had opiate after surgeries.The probability of patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis having opiate decreased with age, increased with Charlson comorbidity index score, and increased over time both before and after surgeries. Male patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis were less likely to have opiate than female patients both before and after surgeries. New Zealand Europeans with hip and knee osteoarthritis were more likely to receive opiate than other ethnic groups prior to surgeries, but were less likely to have opiate than Asians post-surgeries.Patients who had opiate before surgeries were more likely to have opiate after surgeries than those who did not have opiate before surgeries. The odds ratio was 8.34 (95% confidence interval (CI): 7.87-8.84) for hip osteoarthritis and 11.94 (95% CI: 10.84-13.16) for knee osteoarthritis after adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity, year of surgery and Charlson comorbidity index score. Having opiate prior to surgeries also increased the probability of having opiate for 6 weeks or more after surgeries substantially. The adjusted odds ratio was 21.46 (95% CI: 19.74-23.31) for hip osteoarthritis and 27.22 (95% CI: 24.95-29.68) for knee osteoarthritis.Conclusion:Preoperative opiate holidays should be encouraged. Multiple strategies need to be used to develop analgesic plans that allow adequate rehabilitation, without precipitating a chronic opiate dependence. Clinicians would also benefit from clear guidelines for prescribing strong opiates.References:[1] Nguyen, L.C., D.C. Sing, and K.J. Bozic,Preoperative Reduction of Opioid Use Before Total Joint Arthroplasty.J Arthroplasty, 2016.31(9 Suppl): p. 282-7.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Download Full-text

An increase in in vivo release of LHRH and precocious puberty by posterior hypothalamic lesions in female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

AJP Endocrinology and Metabolism ◽

10.1152/ajpendo.00493.2006 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 292 (4) ◽

pp. E1000-E1009 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Bret M. Windsor-Engnell ◽

Etsuko Kasuya ◽

Masaharu Mizuno ◽

Kim L. Keen ◽

Ei Terasawa

Keyword(s):

Precocious Puberty ◽

Rhesus Monkeys ◽

Gaba Release ◽

Good Tool ◽

Subsequent Increase ◽

Female Rhesus ◽

Before And After ◽

Lhrh Release

We have previously shown that a decrease in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) tone and a subsequent increase in glutamatergic tone occur in association with the pubertal increase in luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) release in primates. To further determine the causal relationship between developmental changes in GABA and glutamate levels and the pubertal increase in LHRH release, we examined monkeys with precocious puberty induced by lesions in the posterior hypothalamus (PH). Six prepubertal female rhesus monkeys (17.4 ± 0.1 mo of age) received lesions in the PH, three prepubertal females (17.5 ± 0.1 mo) received sham lesions, and two females received no treatments. LHRH, GABA, and glutamate levels in the stalk-median eminence before and after lesions were assessed over two 6-h periods (0600–1200 and 1800–2400) using push-pull perfusion. Monkeys with PH lesions exhibited external signs of precocious puberty, including significantly earlier menarche in PH lesion animals (18.8 ± 0.2 mo) than in sham/controls (25.5 ± 0.9 mo, P < 0.001). Moreover, PH lesion animals had elevated LHRH levels and higher evening glutamate levels after lesions, whereas LHRH changes did not occur in sham/controls until later. Changes in GABA release were not discernible, since evening GABA levels already deceased at 18–20 mo of age in both groups and morning levels remained at the prepubertal levels. The age of first ovulation in both groups did not differ. Collectively, PH lesions may not be a good tool to investigate the mechanism of puberty, and, taking into account the recent findings on the role of kisspeptins, the mechanism of the puberty onset in primates is more complex than we initially anticipated.

Download Full-text

Coseismic displacements of the 14 November 2016 Mw7.8 Kaikoura, New Zealand, earthquake using an optical cubesat constellation

10.5194/nhess-2017-30 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andreas Kääb ◽

Bas Altena ◽

Joseph Mascaro

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Land Surface ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Sar Interferometry ◽

Optical Methods ◽

Optical Data ◽

Surface Displacements ◽

Before And After ◽

Optical Satellite Images ◽

Sentinel 2

Abstract. Satellite measurements of coseismic displacements are typically based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry or amplitude tracking, or based on optical data such as from Landsat, Sentinel-2, SPOT, ASTER, very-high resolution satellites, or airphotos. Here, we evaluate a new class of optical satellite images for this purpose – data from cubesats. More specific, we investigate the PlanetScope cubesat constellation for horizontal surface displacements by the 14 November 2016 Mw7.8 Kaikoura, New Zealand, earthquake. Single PlanetScope scenes are 2–4 m resolution visible and near-infrared frame images of approximately 20–30 km × 9–15 km in size, acquired in continuous sequence along an orbit of approximately 375–475 km height. From single scenes or mosaics from before and after the earthquake we observe surface displacements of up to almost 10 m and estimate a matching accuracy from PlanetScope data of up to ±0.2 pixels (~ ±0.6 m). This accuracy, the daily revisit anticipated for the PlanetScope constellation for the entire land surface of Earth, and a number of other features, together offer new possibilities for investigating coseismic and other Earth surface displacements and managing related hazards and disasters, and complement existing SAR and optical methods. For comparison and for a better regional overview we also match the coseismic displacements by the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake using Landsat8 and Sentinel-2 data.

Download Full-text

KOMPETENSI PETERNAK SAPI POTONG PERANAKAN ONGOLE DALAM PEMBUATAN KOMPOS (STUDI KASUS PADA KELOMPOK TERNAK MEKAR KECAMATAN DAGANGAN KABUPATEN MADIUN)

JSEP (Journal of Social and Agricultural Economics) ◽

10.19184/jsep.v10i3.5303 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Deha Purwoko ◽

Bekti Nur Utami

Keyword(s):

Manufacturing Process ◽

Research Method ◽

Organic Content ◽

Compost Quality ◽

Preparation Stage ◽

Before And After ◽

Descriptive Approach ◽

Quantitative Descriptive ◽

Selection Of

This research aims to describe the level of competence of farmers in composting, and to draft extension and try out the implementation of counseling about composting in group of livestock of Mekar. The research was conducted in sub-district Dagangan of Madiun Regency. Selection of livestock group is done by purposive that is the only group of livestock that have made compost that is group of livestock of Mekar which is located in Kepet village. The research method used is case study with quantitative descriptive approach with scoring. The population is 44 people, the sample is based on the census. The results showed that: 1) the level of competence of farmers in composting is classified with the details of the competence of the preparation stage is low, the competence of the manufacturing process is low, and the competence of the storage stage is classified; and 2) drafting the extension plan based on the target and the purpose of extension so that the breeder know, understand and able to increase the C-Organic content and C / N Ratio on the compost according to the standard. Success shows the improvement of compost quality before and after counseling in accordance with the purpose of counseling. Keywords: competence of breeder, livestock group of Mekar, draft extension, composting, extension

Download Full-text

Benthic communities in three Mediterranean touristic ports: MAPMED project

Biodiversity Data Journal ◽

10.3897/bdj.9.e66420 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Eva Chatzinikolaou ◽

Panagiotis Damianidis ◽

Christina Pavloudi ◽

Aikaterini Vasileiadou ◽

Sarah Faulwetter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Quality Indicators ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Macrobenthic Communities ◽

Macrobenthic Assemblages ◽

Port Areas

Mediterranean ports are sources of significant economic activity and at the same time they act as recipients of considerable anthropogenic disturbance and pollution. Polluted and low-in-oxygen sediments can negatively impact benthic biodiversity and favour recruitment of opportunistic or invasive species. Macrobenthic communities are an important component of the port biota and can be used as environmental quality indicators. However, a baseline database for benthic biodiversity in Mediterranean ports has not yet been widely established. Macrobenthic assemblages were recorded in three Mediterranean touristic ports under the framework of the ENPI CBC MED project MAPMED (MAnagement of Port Areas in the MEDiterranean Sea Basin). Samples were collected from Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), Heraklion (Crete, Greece) and El Kantaoui (Tunisia) ports during February, May and September 2012. The sampling stations were selected according to the different sectors within each port (i.e. leisure, fishing, passenger/cargo vessels and shipyard). A total of 277 taxa belonging to 12 phyla were found, of which the 96 taxa were present in all three ports. El Kantaoui port hosted the highest number of macrobenthic taxa. Mollusca were the most abundant group (34%) in all ports. The highest percentage of opportunistic taxa per station was found before the touristic period in the shipyard of Heraklion port (89.3%).

Download Full-text

Bioacoustic monitoring of New Zealand avifauna before and after aerial 1080 operations

10.26686/wgtn.17135552.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Roald Egbert Harro Bomans

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Bird Species ◽

Conservation Practice ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Mammalian Predators ◽

Before And After ◽

Scale Population ◽

The Creation ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Native Birds

Introduced mammalian predators, namely possums, stoats and rats, are the leading cause of decline in native avifauna in New Zealand. The control of these species is essential to the persistence of native birds. A major component of mammal control in New Zealand is carried out through the aerial distribution of the toxin sodium monofluoroacetate (otherwise known as 1080). The use of this toxin, however, is subject to significant public debate. Many opponents of its use claim that forests will ‘fall silent’ following aerial operations, and that this is evidence of negative impacts on native bird communities. With the continued and likely increased use of this poison, monitoring the outcomes of such pest control operations is necessary to both address these concerns and inform conservation practice. The recent growth in autonomous recording units (ARUs) provides novel opportunities to conduct monitoring using bioacoustics. This thesis used bioacoustic techniques to monitor native bird species over three independent aerial 1080 operations in the Aorangi and Rimutaka Ranges of New Zealand. In Chapter 2, diurnal bird species were monitored for 10-12 weeks over two independent operations in treatment and non-treatment areas. At the community level, relative to non-treatment areas, the amount of birdsong recorded did not decrease significantly in treatment areas across either of the operations monitored. At the species level, one species, the introduced chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), showed a significant decline in the prevalence of its calls in the treatment areas relative to non-treatment areas. This was observed over one of the two operations monitored. Collectively, these results suggest that diurnal native avifaunal communities do not ‘fall silent’ following aerial 1080 operations. The quantity of data produced by ARUs can demand labour-intensive manual analysis. Extracting data from recordings using automated detectors is a potential solution to this issue. The creation of such detectors, however, can be subjective, iterative, and time-consuming. In Chapter 3, a process for developing a parsimonious, template-based detector in an efficient, objective manner was developed. Applied to the creation of a detector for morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae) calls, the method was highly successful as a directed means to achieve parsimony. An initial pool of 187 potential templates was reduced to 42 candidate templates. These were further refined to a 10-template detector capable of making 98.89% of the detections possible with all 42 templates in approximately a quarter of the processing time for the dataset tested. The detector developed had a high precision (0.939) and moderate sensitivity (0.399) with novel recordings, developed for the minimisation of false-positive errors in unsupervised monitoring of broad-scale population trends. In Chapter 4, this detector was applied to the short-term 10-12 week monitoring of morepork in treatment and non-treatment areas around three independent aerial 1080 operations; and to longer-term four year monitoring in two study areas, one receiving no 1080 treatment, and one receiving two 1080 treatments throughout monitoring. Morepork showed no significant difference in trends of calling prevalence across the three independent operations monitored. Longer-term, a significant quadratic effect of time since 1080 treatment was found, with calling prevalences predicted to increase for 3.5 years following treatment. Collectively, these results suggest a positive effect of aerial 1080 treatment on morepork populations in the lower North Island, and build on the small amount of existing literature regarding the short- and long-term response of this species to aerial 1080 operations.

Download Full-text