Continental impacts of water development on waterbirds,contrasting two Australian river basins: Global implications for sustainable water use

The world's freshwater biotas are declining in diversity, range and abundance, more than in other realms, with human appropriation of water. Despite considerable data on the distribution of dams and their hydrological effects on river systems, there are few expansive and long analyses of impacts on freshwater biota. We investigated trends in waterbird communities over 32 years, (1983–2014), at three spatial scales in two similarly sized large river basins, with contrasting levels of water resource development, representing almost a third (29%) of Australia: the Murray–Darling Basin and the Lake Eyre Basin. The Murray–Darling Basin is Australia's most developed river basin (240 dams storing 29,893 GL) while the Lake Eyre Basin is one of the less developed basins (1 dam storing 14 GL). We compared the long‐term responses of waterbird communities in the two river basins at river basin, catchment and major wetland scales. Waterbird abundances were strongly related to river flows and rainfall. For the developed Murray–Darling Basin, we identified significant long‐term declines in total abundances, functional response groups (e.g., piscivores) and individual species of waterbird (n = 50), associated with reductions in cumulative annual flow. These trends indicated ecosystem level changes. Contrastingly, we found no evidence of waterbird declines in the undeveloped Lake Eyre Basin. We also modelled the effects of the Australian Government buying up water rights and returning these to the riverine environment, at a substantial cost (>3.1 AUD billion) which were projected to partly (18% improvement) restore waterbird abundances, but projected climate change effects could reduce these benefits considerably to only a 1% or 4% improvement, with respective annual recovery of environmental flows of 2,800 GL or 3,200 GL. Our unique large temporal and spatial scale analyses demonstrated severe long‐term ecological impact of water resource development on prominent freshwater animals, with implications for global management of water resources.     

2001-2014年博斯腾湖流域植被物候时空变化及其驱动因子

以博斯腾湖流域为研究对象,利用MODIS的MCD12Q2和LST产品、GHCN_CAMS气温观测/再分析资料与气象数据,采取趋势分析与相关性分析法探求了博斯腾湖流域2001-2014年植被物候的时空变化及其影响因素的相对作用,对博斯腾湖流域植被物候分区不同的驱动区域。结果表明：①在研究期内,整个研究区植被物候始期在第76-168天,末期在第172-295天;物候始期自南向北逐渐推迟、而末期逐渐提前,物候的空间分布特征与该区海拔高度的分布保持了较好的一致性;②2001-2014年植被始期和末期有明显提前趋势（提前3-6d）,主要分布在流域的盆地和平原绿洲区,表示研究区植被物候受到人类活动的影响。③植被物候始期与末期变化受气候因子驱动影响的区域占比分别为57.10%和51.30%,主要分布在黄水沟流域,清水河流域,孔雀河流域,大尤路都斯盆地和小尤路都斯盆地周围地区;而非气候因子占42.90%和48.70%,主要位于博斯腾湖周围绿洲和库尔勒绿洲等地势较低的区域。④由植被生长季物候与降水、气温的偏相关性关系和复相关性关系可以得出,多年物候始期和末期与气温有关;而且随海拔升高,气温的敏感幅度越高。博斯腾湖流域植被物候的时空变化不仅是受气候变化的影响,还主要受人类活动和海拔高度差异等影响因素的共同作用。     

Length-weight relationships of ornamental fish species from Amanã Lake,Amanã Reserve,Amazonas, Brazil

Length-weight relationships (LWRs) were estimated for 16 ornamental fish species from Amanã Lake and nine tributary streams, in Central Brazilian Amazonia. Sampling was carried out bimonthly for a year (2007–2008), using two sets of four gillnets (20 m × 2 m, 2,5; 3,5; 04; 4,5 cm stretch mesh size); trawls were performed with seine nets (35 m × 6 m, 3 mm stretch mesh size); native fish-traps (fyke-net like fish-traps woven from local lianas), and dip nets (0.5 m × 0.5 m stretch mesh size). Measurements were done for standard length (SL – 0.1 cm precision) and total weight (Wt – 0.01 g precision). This study provides information on the length–weight relationships for all sampled species and, in addition, provides new maximum standard lengths for six species.     

Insights into the habitat of Middle Permian pareiasaurs (Parareptilia) from preliminary isotopic analyses

Pareiasaurs were an abundant group of large herbivores during Middle and Late Permian times. The habitat of pareiasaurs has proven enigmatic, and ecological interpretations from anatomical and taphonomic data have included aquatic, semi‐aquatic to fully terrestrial lifestyles. Insight into the ecology of extinct taxa can also be gained from stable isotope analyses, and interpretations benefit from studies of multiple, coeval groups. Here, we report the first stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses from the enamel, dentine and bone of pareiasaurs and contemporaneous therapsids (dinocephalians and therocephalians), in specimens recovered from the Permian Tapinocephalus to lower Pristerognathus Assemblage Zones of South Africa. Previous ecological inferences for dinocephalians (riparian to terrestrial) and therocephalians (terrestrial) are less ambiguous than reconstructions for pareiasaurs and provide an independent reference for interpreting stable isotope measurements. Oxygen isotopes of enamel carbonate were indistinguishable between pareiasaurs and therocephalians, which had higher values than dinocephalians. The data suggest that dinocephalians and pareiasaurs (megaherbivores) inhabited different ecological niches and that pareiasaurs may have shared a terrestrial habitat with therocephalians (carnivores). Our results agree with earlier suggestions of a terrestrial lifestyle among pareiasaurs and provide evidence of niche partitioning among large coeval Capitanian herbivores of South Africa.     

塔里木盆地三叠─侏罗纪介形类化石

描述的介形类化石标本采集于新疆塔里木盆地库车和喀什两地区,其中,齐古组产Ｄａｒｗｉｎｕｌａ－Ｔｉｍｉｒｉａｓｅｖｉａ组合,恰克马克组产Ｄａｒｗｉｎｕｌａ－Ｂｉｓｕｌｃｏｃｙｐｒｉｓ为代表的介形类化石组合,其时代前者为晚侏罗世,后者为中侏罗世;俄霍布拉克组和克拉玛依组产以Ｂｉｓｕｌｃｏｍｐｒｉｓ－ＴｕｎｇｃｈｕａｎｉａＤａｒｗｉｎｕｌａ为代表的组合,其时代为早－中三叠世。     

古背鳕(Palaeoniscinotus)在我国初次发现

记述了在宁夏六盘山盆地侏罗系中发现的古背鳕（Palaeoniscinotus）一新种─—宁夏古背鳕（P.ningxiaensis）。其一般形态特征如体形、鳍的位置和结构、悬挂骨的倾斜程度、鳃盖骨系统及鳞片等结构,与俄罗斯伊尔库茨克中侏罗世的切卡诺夫斯基氏古背鳕（P．czekanowskii）很相似,但新种的背鳍和臀鳍的鳍条均较少、鳞片条纹倾斜分布以及侧线鳞较少等特征显然有别于后者。最后讨论了这个属的系统位置和含鱼化石地层的时代,认为属中侏罗世的可能性较大。     

新疆塔里木盆地塔中中2井上奥陶统牙形刺化石及生物礁发育时代

首次在新疆塔里木盆地塔中地区中2井上奥陶统良里塔格组礁岩中发现保存精美的牙形刺化石,包括6属13种和未定种,含一个新亚种Belodina longxianensis minor subsp.nov.。根据牙形刺化石确定,良里塔格组上部属于上奥陶统中部的Belodina confluens带。中2井良里塔格组第2—4层生物礁发育的精确时代是Belodina confluens带。     

Microbial metabolite fluxes in a model marine anoxic ecosystem

Permanently anoxic regions in the ocean are widespread and exhibit unique microbial metabolic activity exerting substantial influence on global elemental cycles and climate. Reconstructing microbial metabolic activity rates in these regions has been challenging, due to the technical difficulty of direct rate measurements. In Cariaco Basin, which is the largest permanently anoxic marine basin and an important model system for geobiology, long‐term monitoring has yielded time series for the concentrations of biologically important compounds; however, the underlying metabolite fluxes remain poorly quantified. Here, we present a computational approach for reconstructing vertical fluxes and in situ net production/consumption rates from chemical concentration data, based on a 1‐dimensional time‐dependent diffusive transport model that includes adaptive penalization of overfitting. We use this approach to estimate spatiotemporally resolved fluxes of oxygen, nitrate, hydrogen sulfide, ammonium, methane, and phosphate within the sub‐euphotic Cariaco Basin water column (depths 150–900 m, years 2001–2014) and to identify hotspots of microbial chemolithotrophic activity. Predictions of the fitted models are in excellent agreement with the data and substantially expand our knowledge of the geobiology in Cariaco Basin. In particular, we find that the diffusivity, and consequently fluxes of major reductants such as hydrogen sulfide, and methane, is about two orders of magnitude greater than previously estimated, thus resolving a long‐standing apparent conundrum between electron donor fluxes and measured dark carbon assimilation rates.     

Genetics and telemetry indicate unexpected movements among structured populations for Brachyplatystoma platynemum in the Amazon

The genetic analysis of Brachyplatystoma platynemum individuals sampled from the lower Madeira River reinforces the existence of two structured populations in the Amazon Basin (Madeira and Amazon populations). However, the recapture of an individual from the Amazon population in the Solimões River, which was telemetry-tagged in the Madeira River after the damming, indicates that fish from the Amazon population move between the two river systems. This has not yet been observed, however, in the Madeira River population, which is currently divided and isolated in the lower and upper Madeira River by the construction of two dams.     

Gigantism among Late Jurassic limulids: New ichnological evidence from the Causses Basin (Lozère,France) and comments on body-size evolution among horseshoe crabs

An abundant ichnological material composed of xiphosuran trackways and isolated traces was discovered in Upper Jurassic limestones from the Causses Basin (Causse Méjean, Lozère, France). The morphology of the imprints supports their identification as Kouphichnium isp. In contrast to the most frequent case, the trackways are composed of omnipresent pusher imprints sometime associated with leg traces, but with no telson mark. We argue that this pattern reflects actual surface traces rather than an incomplete set of undertracks. The size distribution of the sampled ichnites is broadly bimodal. This is best explained by sexual dimorphism, a phenomenon frequently observed in modern xiphosurans. Analysis of the trace fossils further suggests that several growth stages are recorded and that the horseshoe crabs were walking in a protected and flat environment like a lagoon. This area, certainly close to a mating ground, was occasionally affected by a continental influence. The biometric study of the tracks suggests a gigantic size for the trackmakers whose body may have reached 84 cm in length. This discovery complements the few reports on other gigantic horseshoe crabs in the Jurassic of Western Europe, thus casting doubt on the postulated increase in body size from the Palaeozoic to the Recent. Furthermore, a literature review shows that there are still major gaps in the record of limulid body-fossils and tracks. Thus, neither of these archives can be taken at face value for quantifying the body-size evolution of horseshoe crabs.