scholarly journals Monitoring nearshore ecosystem health using Pacific razor clams (Siliqua patula) as an indicator species

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8761
Author(s):  
Lizabeth Bowen ◽  
Katrina L. Counihan ◽  
Brenda Ballachey ◽  
Heather Coletti ◽  
Tuula Hollmen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Gene Transcription ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Reference Ranges ◽  
Ecosystem Monitoring ◽  
Razor Clam ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Razor Clams ◽  
Transcription Assays

An emerging approach to ecosystem monitoring involves the use of physiological biomarker analyses in combination with gene transcription assays. For the first time, we employed these tools to evaluate the Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula), which is important both economically and ecologically, as a bioindicator species in the northeast Pacific. Our objectives were to (1) develop biomarker and gene transcription assays with which to monitor the health of the Pacific razor clam, (2) acquire baseline biomarker and gene transcription reference ranges for razor clams, (3) assess the relationship between physiological and gene transcription assays and (4) determine if site-level differences were present. Pacific razor clams were collected in July 2015 and 2016 at three sites within each of two national parks in southcentral Alaska. In addition to determining reference ranges, we found differences in biomarker assay and gene transcription results between parks and sites which indicate variation in both large-scale and local environmental conditions. Our intent is to employ these methods to evaluate Pacific razor clams as a bioindicator of nearshore ecosystem health. Links between the results of the biomarker and gene transcription assays were observed that support the applicability of both assays in ecosystem monitoring. However, we recognize the need for controlled studies to examine the range of responses in physiology and gene transcripts to different stressors.

scholarly journals Physiological and gene transcription assays to assess responses of mussels to environmental changes

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina L. Counihan ◽  
Lizabeth Bowen ◽  
Brenda Ballachey ◽  
Heather Coletti ◽  
Tuula Hollmen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Gene Transcription ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Mytilus Trossulus ◽  
Reference Ranges ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Future Assessment ◽  
South Central

Coastal regions worldwide face increasing management concerns due to natural and anthropogenic forces that have the potential to significantly degrade nearshore marine resources. The goal of our study was to develop and test a monitoring strategy for nearshore marine ecosystems in remote areas that are not readily accessible for sampling. Mussel species have been used extensively to assess ecosystem vulnerability to multiple, interacting stressors. We sampled bay mussels (Mytilus trossulus) in 2015 and 2016 from six intertidal sites in Lake Clark and Katmai National Parks and Preserves, in south-central Alaska. Reference ranges for physiological assays and gene transcription were determined for use in future assessment efforts. Both techniques identified differences among sites, suggesting influences of both large-scale and local environmental factors and underscoring the value of this combined approach to ecosystem health monitoring.

scholarly journals The isotopic differences and implications for Pacific razor clams along the Washington coast

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 12005
Author(s):  
Yongwen Gao ◽  
Joseph Gilbertson ◽  
Hongyan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Razor Clam ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Indian Tribes ◽  
Razor Clams ◽  
Biological Differences

The Pacific razor clam fishery in Washington State has been co-managed by the coastal Indian Tribes and the state, but little is known about the growth and population structure of the clams due to difficulties of tagging and monitoring. Here we report the results of a pilot study using stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ18O) of razor clam shells collected in two groups (juvenile vs. adult) and from two sites (Kalaloch Beach and Roosevelt Beach) where distinct biological differences in clam growth and survival rates were observed. The δ13C values of razor clam shells ranged from -2.9 to -0.3‰, whereas δ18O values of the same samples ranged from -2.2 to +1.4‰. Between the two sites there were significant differences in δ13C values especially for juvenile clams. The δ18O profiles from two representative shells demonstrated similar patterns of rapid growth as juveniles and seasonal patterns throughout the life span. Profiles of δ13C were sinusoidal but did not show seasonality and signatures of ocean acidification. We concluded that stable isotope analysis of razor clam shells is a potential new tool in shellfish research and management.

scholarly journals Using the Global Hydrodynamic Model and GRACE Follow-On Data to Access the 2020 Catastrophic Flood in Yangtze River Basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3023
Author(s):  
Jinghua Xiong ◽  
Shenglian Guo ◽  
Jiabo Yin ◽  
Lei Gu ◽  
Feng Xiong
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Hydrodynamic Model ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Yangtze River Basin ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Ecosystem Monitoring ◽  
Catastrophic Flood ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
The Yangtze River Basin

Flooding is one of the most widespread and frequent weather-related hazards that has devastating impacts on the society and ecosystem. Monitoring flooding is a vital issue for water resources management, socioeconomic sustainable development, and maintaining life safety. By integrating multiple precipitation, evapotranspiration, and GRACE-Follow On (GRAFO) terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) datasets, this study uses the water balance principle coupled with the CaMa-Flood hydrodynamic model to access the spatiotemporal discharge variations in the Yangtze River basin during the 2020 catastrophic flood. The results show that: (1) TWSA bias dominates the overall uncertainty in runoff at the basin scale, which is spatially governed by uncertainty in TWSA and precipitation; (2) spatially, a field significance at the 5% level is discovered for the correlations between GRAFO-based runoff and GLDAS results. The GRAFO-derived discharge series has a high correlation coefficient with either in situ observations and hydrological simulations for the Yangtze River basin, at the 0.01 significance level; (3) the GRAFO-derived discharge observes the flood peaks in July and August and the recession process in October 2020. Our developed approach provides an alternative way of monitoring large-scale extreme hydrological events with the latest GRAFO release and CaMa-Flood model.

A Failed Experiment: Okinawan Indents and the Postwar Torres Strait Pearlshelling Industry, 1958–1963

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 122-146
Author(s):  
Anna Shnukal
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Labor Policy ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Labor Movements ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Immigration Restriction ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
Significant Locus ◽  
Torres Strait

AbstractThroughout its European history, Australia has solved recurrent labor shortages by importing workers from overseas. Situated on shipping lanes between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the northern Australian pearlshelling industry became a significant locus of second-wave transnational labor flows (1870–1940) and by the 1880s was dependent on indentured workers from the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Exempted from the racially discriminatory Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, indentured Asian seamen, principally Japanese, maintained the industry until the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941. The Torres Strait pearlshelling industry, centered on Thursday Island in Far North Queensland, resumed in 1946 amid general agreement that the Japanese must not return. Nevertheless, in 1958, 162 Okinawan pearling indents arrived on Thursday Island in a controversial attempt to restore the industry's declining fortunes. This article is intended as a contribution to the history of transnational labor movements. It consults a range of sources to document this “Okinawan experiment,” the last large-scale importation of indentured Asian labor into Australia. It examines Australian Commonwealth-state tensions in formulating and adopting national labor policy; disputes among Queensland policy makers; the social characteristics of the Okinawan cohort; and local Indigenous reactions. Also discussed are the economics of labor in the final years of the Torres Strait pearling industry. This study thus extends our knowledge of transnational labor movements and the intersection of early postwar Australian-Asian relations with Queensland Indigenous labor policy. It also foreshadows contemporary Indigenous demands for control of local marine resources.

The Pacific Razor Clam Fishery in the State of Washington

1928 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-113
Author(s):  
H. C. McMillin
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Razor Clam ◽  
The Pacific

scholarly journals From Line to Loop, A Circular 3D Printing Initiative for Upcycling Commercial Fishing Plastics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew O'Hagan
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Fishing Gear ◽  
Fishing Industry ◽  
Distributed Manufacturing ◽  
Research Through Design ◽  
Management Scheme ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies

<p>The current linear use of plastic products follows a take, make and waste process. Commonly used by large scale industries, including the commercial fishing industry, this process results in approximately 8 million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year. While the fishing industry supplies livelihoods, a valuable food source and financial capital to millions of people worldwide, it’s also a significant contributor to the ocean plastics crisis. Without effective recycling schemes, an estimated 640,000 tonnes of plastic fishing gear is abandoned, lost or discarded within the ocean every year. New Zealand is no exception to this problem, as China’s waste import ban, as well as a lack of local recycling infrastructures, has resulted in the country’s commercial fishing gear polluting local coastlines as well as islands in the pacific. With the only other option for the plastic fishing gear being landfill, there is a critical need for circular initiatives that upcycle used plastic fishing gear locally into eco-innovative designs.  This research examines the issue by investigating how used buoys, aquaculture ropes and fishing nets from New Zealand’s fishing company ‘Sanford’ may be upcycled into eco-innovative designs through distributed manufacturing technologies. It introduces the idea of the circular economy, where plastic fishing gear can be reused within a technical cycle and explores how 3D printing could be part of the solution as it provides local initiatives, low material and energy usage and customisation. Overall, the research follows the research through design based on design criteria approach. Where materials, designs and systems are created under the refined research criteria, to ensure the plastic fishing gear samples are upcycled effectively into eco-innovative designs through 3D printing.  The tangible outputs of this research demonstrate how a circular upcycling system that uses distributed manufacturing technologies can create eco-innovative designs and provide a responsible disposal scheme for plastic fishing gear. It provides a new and more sustainable waste management scheme that could be applied to a range of plastic waste streams and diverts materials from entering the environment by continuously reusing them within the economy.</p>

scholarly journals Coastal Wave Extremes around the Pacific and Their Remote Seasonal Connection to Climate Modes

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Julien Boucharel ◽  
Loane Santiago ◽  
Rafael Almar ◽  
Elodie Kestenare
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Wind Wave ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Opposite Hemisphere ◽  
Ocean Surface Waves ◽  
First Order ◽  
Coastal Waves ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Tropics

At first order, wind-generated ocean surface waves represent the dominant forcing of open-coast morpho-dynamics and associated vulnerability over a wide range of time scales. It is therefore paramount to improve our understanding of the regional coastal wave variability, particularly the occurrence of extremes, and to evaluate how they are connected to large-scale atmospheric regimes. Here, we propose a new “2-ways wave tracking algorithm” to evaluate and quantify the open-ocean origins and associated atmospheric forcing patterns of coastal wave extremes all around the Pacific basin for the 1979–2020 period. Interestingly, the results showed that while extreme coastal events tend to originate mostly from their closest wind-forcing regime, the combined influence from all other remote atmospheric drivers is similar (55% local vs. 45% remote) with, in particular, ~22% coming from waves generated remotely in the opposite hemisphere. We found a strong interconnection between the tropical and extratropical regions with around 30% of coastal extremes in the tropics originating at higher latitudes and vice-versa. This occurs mostly in the boreal summer through the increased seasonal activity of the southern jet-stream and the northern tropical cyclone basins. At interannual timescales, we evidenced alternatingly increased coastal wave extremes between the western and eastern Pacific that emerge from the distinct seasonal influence of ENSO in the Northern and SAM in the Southern Hemisphere on their respective paired wind-wave regimes. Together these results pave the way for a better understanding of the climate connection to wave extremes, which represents the preliminary step toward better regional projections and forecasts of coastal waves.

scholarly journals Causes of the Record-Breaking Pacific Northwest Heatwave, Late June 2021

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1434
Author(s):  
James E. Overland
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Large Temperature ◽  
Extreme Heat Event ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Heat Event ◽  
Large Scale Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
The Bering Sea

The extreme heat event that hit the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, southern British Columbia) at the end of June 2021 was 3 °C greater than the previous Seattle record of 39 °C; larger extremes of 49 °C were observed further inland that were 6 °C above previous record. There were hundreds of deaths over the region and loss of marine life and forests. At the large scale prior to the event, the polar vortex was split over the Arctic. A polar vortex instability center formed over the Bering Sea and then extended southward along the west coast of North America. The associated tropospheric trough (low geopotential heights) established a multi-day synoptic scale Omega Block (west-east oriented low/high/low geopotential heights) centered over the Pacific Northwest. Warming was sustained in the region due to subsidence/adiabatic heating and solar radiation, which were the main reasons for such large temperature extremes. The seasonal transition at the end of spring suggests the possibility of a southern excursion of a polar vortex/jet stream pair. Both the Pacific Northwest event in 2021 and the Siberian heatwave climax in June 2020 may be examples of crossing a critical state in large-scale atmospheric circulation variability.

scholarly journals Synoptic–Dynamic Climatology of Large-Scale Cyclones in the North Pacific

2006 ◽  
Vol 134 (12) ◽  
pp. 3567-3587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda M. Keller ◽  
Michael C. Morgan ◽  
David D. Houghton ◽  
Ross A. Lazear
Keyword(s):  
North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Height Anomaly ◽  
Maximum Frequency ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract A climatology of large-scale, persistent cyclonic flow anomalies over the North Pacific was constructed using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) global reanalysis data for the cold season (November–March) for 1977–2003. These large-scale cyclone (LSC) events were identified as those periods for which the filtered geopotential height anomaly at a given analysis point was at least 100 m below its average for the date for at least 10 days. This study identifies a region of maximum frequency of LSC events at 45°N, 160°W [key point 1 (KP1)] for the entire period. This point is somewhat to the east of regions of maximum height variability noted in previous studies. A second key point (37.5°N, 162.5°W) was defined as the maximum in LSC frequency for the period after November 1988. The authors show that the difference in location of maximum LSC frequency is linked to a climate regime shift at about that time. LSC events occur with a maximum frequency in the period from November through January. A composite 500-hPa synoptic evolution, constructed relative to the event onset, suggests that the upper-tropospheric precursor for LSC events emerges from a quasi-stationary long-wave trough positioned off the east coast of Asia. In the middle and lower troposphere, the events are accompanied by cold thickness advection from a thermal trough over northeastern Asia. The composite mean sea level evolution reveals a cyclone that deepens while moving from the coast of Asia into the central Pacific. As the cyclone amplifies, it slows down in the central Pacific and becomes nearly stationary within a day of onset. Following onset, at 500 hPa, a stationary wave pattern, resembling the Pacific–North American teleconnection pattern, emerges with a ridge immediately downstream (over western North America) and a trough farther downstream (from the southeast coast of the United States into the western North Atlantic). The implications for the resulting sensible weather and predictability of the flow are discussed. An adjoint-derived sensitivity study was conducted for one of the KP1 cases identified in the climatology. The results provide dynamical confirmation of the LSC precursor identification for the events. The upper-tropospheric precursor is seen to play a key role not only in the onset of the lower-tropospheric height falls and concomitant circulation increases, but also in the eastward extension of the polar jet across the Pacific. The evolution of the forecast sensitivities suggest that LSC events are not a manifestation of a modal instability of the time mean flow, but rather the growth of a favorably configured perturbation on the flow.

Exploring the management and integration of national parks in Northern Ethiopia: The case of Kafta Shiraro National Park

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 010-020
Author(s):  
Samson Shimelse Jemaneh
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Northern Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Kafta-Shiraro in Northern region of Ethiopia. The study uses two important parameters to realize the objective of the study investigating themanagement and integration of the park, one is studying and explaining the community perceptions towards elephant (flagship species) conservation in Kafta Shiraro National Park (KSNP) and secondly compare and contrast the population structure and density of the (economically important plant) Boswellia papyrifera (Del.) Hochst inside and outside of the protected areas and the study contribute to the scientific bases for improved management of biodiversity and its conservation system. A total of 100 households were selected from 10 villages using a stratified random sampling. A rapid vegetation assessment survey was conducted in two Boswellia stands, inside the park and outside the park at villages in order to examine the status of the resource base. A total of 40 sample plots of size 20 X 20 m were laid at regular interval along parallel transects with smaller sample plots of size 5 X 5 m nested in the center of each plot for regeneration count. The conflicts between humans and wildlife in KSNP have been getting worse over time and underline the need to find a workable solution to stop the progress of encroaching human activities that are core factors in the conflict. The underlying factors were found to be free encroachment into the wildlife home ranges, mainly for cultivation and dry wood collection. The factors that contributed to the poor conservation of African elephant included weak community awareness and understaffed anti-poaching and patrolling team of the KSNP. The improper land use by host settlers locally called “wefrizemet” as well as legal settlers maximizes the level of habitat disturbance (threat of the elephants in the park) due to illegal cultivation with high number of livestock crossing to the park. B. papyrifera population structure illustrates that natural regeneration is lacking in all two study areas. Additionally, the population of Boswellia in the study areas is unstable and under threat due to lack of recruitments through regeneration. Based on the stands structure analysis, it is hypothesized that lack of natural regeneration is primarily caused by livestock grazing pressure and the absence of recruitment is largely caused by lack of seed production by mother trees as the result of intensive tapping of the frankincense. KSNP is deteriorating due to a lack of integration and development cooperation between the Park and the surrounding local community as well as administration the minimal managerial and institutional capacity of the Park, minimal alternative livelihoods for the surrounding communities, inadequate commitment among all officials in taking the Park as an issue of development agenda, absence of legal procedures and understandings on expansion of large scale farms, unplanned and non-integrated land use systems, and a lack of appropriate outreach programs needed to change the attitudes of the surrounding communities. Collaborative Park management is urgently required to rescue KSNP; agreement should be made from National to Woreda level stakeholders.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document