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Coastal Species (coastal + species)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	80%

Selected Abstracts

Offshore renewable energy: ecological implications of generating electricity in the coastal zone

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2005
ANDREW B. GILL
Summary 1Global-scale environmental degradation and its links with non-renewable fossil fuels have led to an increasing interest in generating electricity from renewable energy resources. Much of this interest centres on offshore renewable energy developments (ORED). The large scale of proposed ORED will add to the existing human pressures on coastal ecosystems, therefore any ecological costs and benefits must be determined. 2The current pressures on coastal ecology set the context within which the potential impacts (both positive and negative) of offshore renewable energy generation are discussed. 3The number of published peer-review articles relating to renewable energy has increased dramatically since 1991. Significantly, only a small proportion of these articles relate to environmental impacts and none considers coastal ecology. 4Actual or potential environmental impact can occur during construction, operation and/or decommissioning of ORED. 5Construction and decommissioning are likely to cause significant physical disturbance to the local environment. There are both short- and long-term implications for the local biological communities. The significance of any effects is likely to depend on the natural disturbance regime and the stability and resilience of the communities. 6During day-to-day operation, underwater noise, emission of electromagnetic fields and collision or avoidance with the energy structures represent further potential impacts on coastal species, particularly large predators. The wider ecological implications of any direct and indirect effects are discussed. 7Synthesis and applications. This review demonstrates that offshore renewable energy developments will have direct and, potentially, indirect consequences for coastal ecology, with these effects occurring at different scales. Ecologists should be involved throughout all the phases of an ORED to ensure that appropriate assessments of the interaction of single and multiple developments with the coastal environment are undertaken. [source]

World phylogeography and male-mediated gene flow in the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 10 2010
DAVID S. PORTNOY
Abstract The sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, is a large, cosmopolitan, coastal species. Females are thought to show philopatry to nursery grounds while males potentially migrate long distances, creating an opportunity for male-mediated gene flow that may lead to discordance in patterns revealed by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear markers. While this dynamic has been investigated in elasmobranchs over small spatial scales, it has not been examined at a global level. We examined patterns of historical phylogeography and contemporary gene flow by genotyping 329 individuals from nine locations throughout the species' range at eight nuclear microsatellite markers and sequencing the complete mtDNA control region. Pairwise comparisons often resulted in fixation indices and divergence estimates of greater magnitude using mtDNA sequence data than microsatellite data. In addition, multiple methods of estimation suggested fewer populations based on microsatellite loci than on mtDNA sequence data. Coalescent analyses suggest divergence and restricted migration among Hawaii, Taiwan, eastern and western Australia using mtDNA sequence data and no divergence and high migration rates, between Taiwan and both Australian sites using microsatellite data. Evidence of secondary contact was detected between several localities and appears to be discreet in time rather than continuous. Collectively, these data suggest complex spatial/temporal relationships between shark populations that may feature pulses of female dispersal and more continuous male-mediated gene flow. [source]

Community genetics in the Northwestern Atlantic intertidal

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 7 2002
J. P. Wares
Abstract Our ability to make inferences about the processes acting upon a biological system can be dramatically improved through integration of information from other fields. In particular, this is true of the field of phylogeography, a discipline that attempts to describe geographical variation in species using neutral genetic diversity as a correlate of time. Through comparisons of information from multiple species, as well as background information about the abiotic environment and how it has changed over time, we should be able to reassemble many of the forces that were important in assembling the communities and community interactions found in a given region. Here I review the information available for coastal species in the northwestern Atlantic, and argue that an integration of ecological, genetic, geological and oceanographic information can illustrate emergent patterns of community genetics. [source]

Presence of Rhodopsin and Porphyropsin in the Eyes of 164 Fishes, Representing Marine, Diadromous, Coastal and Freshwater Species,A Qualitative and Comparative Study,

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2008
Mina Toyama
There are two types of visual pigments in fish eyes; most marine fishes have rhodopsin, while most freshwater fishes have porphyropsin. The biochemical basis for this dichotomy is the nature of the chromophores, retinal (A1) and 3-dehydroretinal (A2), each of which is bound by an opsin. In order to study the regional distribution of these visual pigments, we performed a new survey of the visual pigment chromophores in the eyes of many species of fish. Fish eyes from 164 species were used to examine their chromophores by high-performance liquid chromatography,44 species of freshwater fish, 20 of peripheral freshwater fish (coastal species), 10 of diadromous fish and 90 of seawater fish (marine species) were studied. The eyes of freshwater fish, limb freshwater fish and diadromous fish had both A1 and A2 chromophores, whereas those of marine fish possessed only A1 chromophores. Our results are similar to those of previous studies; however, we made a new finding that fish which live in freshwater possessed A1 if living near the sea and A2 if living far from the sea if they possessed only one type of chromophore. [source]

Discoveries of Neolithic prehistoric sites at Pleistocene carbonate rock shelters on the east coast of the UAE

ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, Issue 2 2006
Cajus G. Diedrich Dr.Article first published online: 8 DEC 200
Three newly discovered prehistoric sites on the east coast of the United Emirates (UAE) are described. All are located on surfaces of Pleistocene carbonates or rock shelters that are generally rare along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Oman. Aqqah 1 (Le Meridien al Aqqah Beach Resort), the most important and best preserved of these sites, is a partially collapsed rock shelter with an exposed section, lithic finds and marine molluscs. Deriving an exact date from the material present is difficult because of a lack of comparanda. A bifacial fletched arrowhead made of yellow jasper and the lithic debris of five different raw materials as well as an undecorated ceramic fragment might suggest a date in the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. The presence of many marine bivalves and snails with operculae, which differ from recent coastal species, indicates the collection and consumption of living molluscs by the prehistoric population of Aqqah. Nearby burials may be related to the rock shelters. [source]