scholarly journals Abundance Trends for Hexanchus griseus, Bluntnose Sixgill Shark, and Hydrolagus colliei, Spotted Ratfish, Counted at an Automated Underwater Observation Station in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia

2008 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Dunbrack

Recordings from a time lapse video monitoring station on a shallow rocky reef in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, revealed a steep and continuous decline in the occurrence of Hexanchus griseus (Bluntnose Sixgill Shark) between 2001 and 2007, with relative abundance in 2006 and 2007 less than 1% of that in 2001. The relative abundance of another chondrichthyan, Hydrolagus colliei (Spotted Ratfish), decreased to 15% of 2004 levels in 2005 and 2006 and remained below 25% in 2007. There is no compelling explanation for these decreases. Over the past 25 years water temperatures have increased in the Strait of Georgia and there have been a number of El Niño warm water events, but diver observations of H. griseus at this site over the same time period give no indication of prior changes in abundance. Neither species is targeted by a fishery, but injuries, possibly related to hooking and entanglement, observed in 28% of individually identified H. griseus suggests this species may be taken locally as bycatch.

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 1107-1111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Dunbrack ◽  
Robert Zielinski

The bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus) is a large, deepwater, cosmopolitan species whose range includes the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Although this species is probably the top predator on most of the world's continental shelves, there is little information on its population biology or behaviour. At a unique site off Flora Islets, in the Strait of Georgia, a number of H. griseus individuals show unexpected diurnal activity on a shallow reef. Regular movements of these sharks along the base of the reef wall allowed us to use an automated, time-lapse video system to make the first extensive observations of their behaviour between June 2001 and July 2002. Sixgill shark frequency (no. of sharks observed/h) increased in June and reached a peak between mid-June and mid-July. Sixgill sharks were not observed between October and May. Sixgill shark frequency was highest in the afternoon and the sharks tended to move as individuals rather than in groups. The observations suggest that this shallow-water activity is not related to either reproduction or feeding and its purpose remains unclear.


1970 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 1847-1853 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. A. Powell

Schizoporella unicornis (Johnston, 1847) has not been recognized in British Columbia previously but is now abundant intertidally in the Strait of Georgia in association with the oyster beds that have been planted there during the past 40 years with Japanese seed of Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg). In the ovicellate Cheilostomata, the breeding female normally develops a single ovicell or brood chamber. A remarkable departure from this condition, however, is demonstrated by the multiples of ovicells occurring in the Canadian population. The occurrence of these in Japanese material of S. unicornis provides additional confirmation of the origin of the British Columbia material.


2005 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Dunbrack ◽  
Robert Zielinski

The Bluntnose Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus griseus) is a widely distributed demersal species whose population biology is poorly understood. Although H. griseus is normally found in deep continental slope waters, individuals from a population in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, make unexpected diurnal movements onto a shallow reef (Flora Islets) between June and August. This shallow water activity allowed in situ length measurements to be made on 35 free-swimming Bluntnose Sixgill Sharks using stereo videography. The measured sharks were all large juveniles and sub-adults, although smaller juveniles and pregnant females are known to occur in deeper adjacent waters. The restricted size distribution at Flora Islets may arise because small juveniles avoid contact with larger conspecifics and mating takes place offshore. All measured sharks were individually identified by unique scar patterns. In 13 of 35 sharks these scars were consistent with injuries expected from hooking and entanglement by commercial fishing gear.


2012 ◽  
pp. 61-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ershov

According to the latest forecasts, it will take 10 years for the world economy to get back to “decent shape”. Some more critical estimates suggest that the whole western world will have a “colossal mess” within the next 5–10 years. Regulators of some major countries significantly and over a short time‑period changed their forecasts for the worse which means that uncertainty in the outlook for the future persists. Indeed, the intensive anti‑crisis measures have reduced the severity of the past problems, however the problems themselves have not disappeared. Moreover, some of them have become more intense — the eurocrisis, excessive debts, global liquidity glut against the backdrop of its deficit in some of market segments. As was the case prior to the crisis, derivatives and high‑risk operations with “junk” bonds grow; budget problems — “fiscal cliff” in the US — and other problems worsen. All of the above forces the regulators to take unprecedented (in their scope and nature) steps. Will they be able to tackle the problems which emerge?


2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus L. Heinrichs ◽  
Brian F. Cumming ◽  
Kathleen R. Laird ◽  
J. Sanford Hart

Abstract Diatom and chironomid analysis of sediments encompassing the past 400 years from Bouchie Lake, British Columbia, suggests two distinct periods of limnological conditions. Prior to 1950 AD, Fragilaria construens and F. pinnata are the most common diatom species, and Chironomus, Procladius and Tanytarsini dominate the chironomid record. Moderately low nutrient concentrations consistent with oligo-mesotrophic lakes are inferred. From 1950, the diatom assemblage is dominated by Stephanodiscus parvus, a eutrophic indicator, whereas the chironomid communities show a relative increase in littoral taxa coincident with lower head capsule abundance. Higher nutrient levels, specifically total phosphorus, which increased from 8 µg L-1 prior to 1950 to 20 µg L-1 currently, are coincident with midge communities indicative of lower oxygen concentrations. Observed biotic changes and nutrient levels inferred from the sediment core correspond to historical land-use changes.


Author(s):  
Iván Area ◽  
Henrique Lorenzo ◽  
Pedro J. Marcos ◽  
Juan J. Nieto

In this work we look at the past in order to analyze four key variables after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Galicia (NW Spain): new infected, hospital admissions, intensive care unit admissions and deceased. The analysis is presented by age group, comparing at each stage the percentage of the corresponding group with its representation in the society. The time period analyzed covers 1 March 2020 to 1 April 2021, and includes the influence of the B.1.1.7 lineage of COVID-19 which in April 2021 was behind 90% of new cases in Galicia. It is numerically shown how the pandemic affects the age groups 80+, 70+ and 60+, and therefore we give information about how the vaccination process could be scheduled and hints at why the pandemic had different effects in different territories.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095792652199215
Author(s):  
Charlotte Taylor

This paper aims to cast light on contemporary migration rhetoric by integrating historical discourse analysis. I focus on continuity and change in conventionalised metaphorical framings of emigration and immigration in the UK-based Times newspaper from 1800 to 2018. The findings show that some metaphors persist throughout the 200-year time period (liquid, object), some are more recent in conventionalised form (animals, invader, weight) while others dropped out of conventionalised use before returning (commodity, guest). Furthermore, we see that the spread of metaphor use goes beyond correlation with migrant naming choices with both emigrants and immigrants occupying similar metaphorical frames historically. However, the analysis also shows that continuity in metaphor use cannot be assumed to correspond to stasis in framing and evaluation as the liquid metaphor is shown to have been more favourable in the past. A dominant frame throughout the period is migrants as an economic resource and the evaluation is determined by the speaker’s perception of control of this resource.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 4753-4800
Author(s):  
R. Bauer ◽  
A. Rozanov ◽  
C. A. McLinden ◽  
L. L. Gordley ◽  
W. Lotz ◽  
...  

Abstract. The increasing amounts of reactive nitrogen in the stratosphere necessitates accurate global measurements of stratospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Over the past decade, the SCIAMACHY (SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY) instrument on ENVISAT (European Environmental Satellite) has been providing global coverage of stratospheric NO2 every 6 days, which is otherwise difficult to achieve with other systems (e.g. balloon measurements, solar occultation). In this study, the vertical distributions of NO2 retrieved from limb measurements of the scattered solar light from the SCIAMACHY instrument are validated using NO2 products from three different satellite instruments (SAGE II, HALOE and ACE-FTS). The retrieval approach, as well as the sensitivity of the SCIAMACHY NO2 limb data product are discussed, and the photochemical corrections needed to make this validation feasible, as well as the chosen collocation criteria are described. For each instrument, a time period of two years is analyzed with several hundreds of collocation pairs for each year and instrument. The agreement between SCIAMACHY and each instrument is found to be better than 10 % between 22–24 km and 40 km. Additionally, NO2 amounts in three different latitude regions are validated individually, with considerably better agreements in high and middle latitudes compared to tropics. Differences with SAGE II and ACE-FTS below 20 km are consistent with those expected from the diurnal effect.


2007 ◽  
Vol 170 (2) ◽  
pp. 800-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Dash ◽  
G. D. Spence ◽  
M. Riedel ◽  
R. D. Hyndman ◽  
T. M. Brocher

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (11) ◽  
pp. 1902-1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Guan ◽  
John F. Dower ◽  
Pierre Pepin

Spatial structures of larval fish in the Strait of Georgia (British Columbia, Canada) were quantified in the springs of 2009 and 2010 to investigate linkages to environmental heterogeneity at multiple scales. By applying a multiscale approach, principal coordinate neighborhood matrices, spatial variability was decomposed into three predefined scale categories: broad scale (>40 km), medium scale (20∼40 km), and fine scale (<20 km). Spatial variations in larval density of the three dominant fish taxa with different early life histories (Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), and northern smoothtongue (Leuroglossus schmidti)) were mainly structured at broad and medium scales, with scale-dependent associations with environmental descriptors varying interannually and among species. Larval distributions in the central-southern Strait were mainly associated with salinity, temperature, and vertical stability of the top 50 m of the water column on the medium scale. Our results emphasize the critical role of local estuarine circulation, especially at medium spatial scale, in structuring hierarchical spatial distributions of fish larvae in the Strait of Georgia and suggest the role of fundamental differences in life-history traits in influencing the formation and maintenance of larval spatial structures.


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