ALBERT

Description: It is well documented that animals take risk of predation into account when making decisions about how to behave in particular situations, often trading-off risk against opportunities for mating or acquiring energy. Such an ability implies that animals have reliable information about the risk of predation at a given place and time. Chemosensory cues are an important source of such information. They reliably reveal the presence of predators (or their presence in the immediate past) and may also provide information on predator activity level and diet. In certain circumstances (e.g., in the dark, for animals in hiding) they may be the only cues available. Although a vast literature exists on the responses of prey to predator chemosensory cues (or odours), these studies are widely scattered, from marine biology to biological control, and not well known or appreciated by behavioural ecologists. In this paper, we provide an exhaustive review of this literature, primarily in tabular form. We highlight some of the more representative examples in the text, and discuss some ecological and evolutionary aspects of the use of chemosensory information for prey decision making. Curiously, only one example illustrates the ability of birds to detect predator odours and we have found no examples for terrestrial insects, suggesting a fruitful area for future study.

Description: Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was employed to investigate levels of genetic differentiation between 13 samples of the neritic squid species Loligo forbesi Steenstrup obtained from throughout the majority of its known geographical range. Six enzyme loci identified in a preliminary study as being polymorphic were screened for variation between samples. No significant differences in allele distribution were detected between any of the samples obtained from the Faroe Bank in the north to Lisbon in the south, suggesting that squid throughout this range in the vicinity of the continental shelf are able to maintain panmixia, and effectively belong to a single population sharing a common gene pool. No clinal variation in allele distribution was detected throughout this range, a result which complements the findings of a detailed morphological companion study of the same individuals. Comparison of this homogenous European continental shelf population with squid from the Azores revealed highly significant (P〈0.01) differences in allele distribution at five of the six polymorphic enzyme loci studied. A genetic identity value (I) equivalent to 0.93 over 33 loci was obtained. Analysis of F-statistics suggested migration rates between sites to be as low as one individual per five generations, a rate deemed insufficient under most models to prevent divergence by random genetic drift. The large distance and oceanic depths separating the Azores from continental Europe seem to present an effective barrier to gene flow to L. forbesi, a squid belonging to a family considered to be confined in distribution to relatively shallow, near coastal waters. The two populations of squid in the Azores and along the European continental shelf currently both ascribed to L. forbesi should therefore probably best be regarded as relative subspecies.

Description: Beak lengths (lower rostral length and upper rostral length) were taken for a sample of Moroteuthis ingens which were captured on the Chatham Rise, New Zealand. Beak lengths were plotted against both mantle length and wet weight to determine the relationship between these parameters for future use in biomass estimates in predator analysis. Although M. ingens is markedly sexually dimorphic, with females reaching 5 times the weight of males, there was no obvious sexual dimorphism in either lower or upper rostral length. This resulted in sex-specific relationships between both LRL and mantle length, LRL and weight; and URL and mantle length, and URL and weight. Males appeared to have a curvilinear relationship between beak length and mantle length and beak length and weight (even for log-transformed data). There was also considerable spread in the data in the plot between beak length and weight for females of similar weight. These characteristics of the data makes biomass estimates based on rostral length measurements for this species difficult. Other beak parameters may prove more useful for estimating biomass of M. ingens.

Description: Body size at sexual maturity, egg-size distributions, and potential reproductive output have been estimated for female and male squid, Loligo forbesi Steenstrup, off the west coast of Scotland. Two size modes at maturity were found in both sexes, but separation into size cohorts was more pronounced in males (180 and 350 mm mantle length, ML). Preliminary ageing studies based on statolith ring-counts suggest that these size modes are not due to different age groups at breeding. Females have a single size mode of mature eggs in the proximal oviduct, but may have at least two size modes of eggs within the ovary. This finding is interpreted as evidence of batch-spawning in this squid. There was a weak relationship between total egg numbers (range 1000 to 16000) and body size (range 196 to 318 mm ML) and between mature egg size and body size. Males showed a strong positive relationship between spermatophore length and body length but a weak relationship between total number of spermatophores and body size. The results are discussed in the context of flexibility of breeding strategies in the loliginids and variety of life-cycle patterns.

Description: This study assesses the potential of the tropical loliginid squid Photololigo sp. to lay multiple batches of eggs and examines changes in somatic growth during reproduction. Histological analysis of the ovary and the relative size of the oviduct to mantle weight and ovary weight were used to determine the potential for multiple spawning. Ovaries of mature females always had immature and mature oocytes present, suggesting that not all the oocytes were maturing simultaneously and that multiple batches of eggs were being produced. Furthermore, poor correlations of oviduct weight with body size and ovary weight indicated that mature oocytes were not accumulating in the oviduct for a single spawning event. Both these observations supported the hypothesis that Photololigo sp. has the potential to lay multiple batches of eggs throughout its life. Specific growth rates, length-weight relationships, relative growth of somatic and reproductive tissue and microscopic assessment of muscle tissue were compared between immature and mature females. Growth rates of immature females were almost twice as fast as those of mature females. Mature females also had no large muscle fibres present, suggesting that energy for reproduction was mobilised from the muscle tissue.

Description: Description of 64 species of fresh‐water Fishes of the suborder Characoidei (Cypriniformes), collected by Dr. K. H. Lüling during his 1959/60 Expedition in lower Ucayali and Iquitos regions. New forms for science (about 10 per cent of the collected species) are: a new genus, Oxybrycon, which seems to be close to Leptobrycon and Macropsobrycon; a Hemigrammus‐species and 2 Hyphessobrycon‐species; a Cheirodon (the genus was not signaled from Peruvian Amazon); and a Serrasalmus. Besides, 10 species seem to be new for the concerned territory, whereas 2 other forms have been described in former papers (see References). Some identification‐Keys are given, concerning Amazonian Triportheus and Schizodon, as well as concerning one Curimatus‐group of species. Finally a list of the characoid Fishes, known to occur in the Iquitos surroundings and in the lower Ucayali, is given.

Description: A new image of the French continental crust between Brabant (Belgium) and the Basque province of Spain is presented on the basis of considerable recent geological and geophysical information as well as the compilation and reInterprétation of previously available data. The resulting section, which shows the main basement structures to a depth of 45 km, also is the first nonspeculative image of the westernmost part of the Variscan orogen. The French Global Geoscience Transect reveals a complete picture of this orogen between its remnant root and the surface. The divergent thrusts are bounded on the north and in the south by the old Brabant and Ebro-Aquitaine cratons, respectively; these thrusts also involve two previous plate boundaries. The lower part of the orogen is limited by a layered lower crust, probably of Permian age. Near the surface the Hercynian orogen is buried—near the northern end of the transect by the Paris Basin, which can be considered an eastward extension of the English Channel, and in the south by the South Armorican continental margin, which makes a transition between the oceanic crust of the Bay of Biscay and the axis of the Variscan orogen. In this area, the deep Parentis graben is located at the site of pronounced crustal thinning, since only 7 km of Hercynian crust are now preserved.

Description: A model is presented which tests the representation of the maturity process in terms of gonadosomatic indices (GSI) in chokka squid Loligo vulgaris reynaudii. It assumes that the true maturation process is reflected by the results of histological investigation, which cannot be used in large-scale ecological work in the field. However, the maturity scales used in ecological studies define some morphological categories which can be linked directly to microscopic development. Therefore, the overlap of GSI ranges for each morphological maturity category may be used to judge how well the GSIs represent the histological stages. Results have shown that the overlap is large and that GSI cannot be recommended as adequately reflecting the maturation process in squid. A morphological scale of maturity with possible broad applications in exploited families of squid is proposed as a better representation of the maturation process than GSI.

Description: Morphological differences between paralarvae of two loliginid squid species common in southern African waters (Loligo vulgaris reynaudii and Lolliguncula mercatoris) are described. The differences are: Loligo — "cheek patches" consisting of four dark chromatophores, nine large dark dorsal chromatophores on the mantle, tentacular clubs broad and much wider than tentacle stalks, proximal row of three club suckers with others tetraserial, suckers large enough to appear crowded on the club surface; Lolliguncula — "cheek patches" with three dark chromatophores, two pairs of" large, dark dorsal chromatophores on the mantle, tentacular clubs narrow, proximal club suckers arranged in three pairs, suckers small, not particularly crowded. Relationships with other myopsids are briefly discussed.

Description: The natural feeding of 485 Octopus mimus (164 to 3088 g) was studied in relation to the species' life cycle and environmental seasonal variations off the north of Chile from autumn 1991 to summer 1992. Analysis of digestive-tract contents revealed that O. mimus preyed upon 25 different prey items belonging to five zoological groups (Teleostei, Mollusca, Crustacea, Echinodermata and Polychaeta). Cannibalism was only occasional. The results indicate that the diet and food intake of this species are significantly affected by sex and maturation. Senescent individuals ingest a small amount of food, and their diet is mainly based on small, not very motile prey. The food intake, expressed as body weight, of non-senescent individuals is higher in females than in males. Seasonal changes in sea-water temperature seem to be followed by adjustments in food intake. Like other Octopus species, O. mimus appears to be an opportunistic predator.

Description: The relationship between reproduction and condition was studied in a 15 mo sample of 919 maturing, mature and post-spawning female Octopus mimus (388 to 3714 g) caught in Iquique (North Chile). O. mimus is a semelparous species, with reproduction taking place all year round. Investment in reproductive tissues was, on average, 9.9% of mature female body weight, independent of season. However, somatic growth during maturation was dependent on season and varied between 26 and 63% of the whole-body growth in weight. The condition of females did not vary markedly until spawning, although seasonal variations were apparent, winter being the most unfavourable. Condition deteriorated dramatically after spawning, during parental care of the eggs. During this period, somatic-tissue depletion, mainly from the muscles, was 〉25% of the total body weight of mature females. The fecundity of O. mimus was probably limited by the costs associated with parental care of the eggs.

Description: Bottom shots have been used for a number of years in seismic studies on the ocean floor. Most experiments utilized explosives as the energy source, though researchers have recognized the usefulness of collapsing water voids to produce seismoacoustic signals. Implosive sources, however, suffered generally from a lack of control of source depth. We present a new experimental tool, called SEEBOSEIS, to carry out seismic experiments on the seafloor utilizing hollow glass spheres as controlled implosive sources. The source is a 10-inch BENTHOS float with penetrator. Inside the sphere we place a small explosive charge (two detonators) to destabilize the glass wall. The time of detonation is controlled by an external shooting device. Test measurements on the Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean, show that the implosive sources can be used in seismic refraction experiments to image the subbottom P- wave velocity structure in detail beyond that possible with traditional marine seismic techniques. Additionally, the implosions permit the efficient generation of dispersed Scholte waves, revealing upper crustal S-wave velocities. The frequency band of seismic energy ranges from less than 1 Hz for Scholte modes up to 1000 Hz for diving P-waves. Therefore, broadband recording units with sampling rates 〉2000 Hz are recommended to sample the entire wave field radiated by implosive sources.

Description: Auf- und Abbauprozesse und Bedeutung deponierter Skelettelemente für die Struktur der Lebensräume

Description: Based on various lines of evidence such as the widespread occurrence of basalts, pumice, volcanic glass shards and their transformational products (zeolites, palagonites, and smectite-rich sediments), we suggest the presence of a volcanic province in the Central Indian Basin (CIB). In addition to the rocks studied, the occurrence of many morpho-tectonic features such as seamounts, abyssal hills and major fracture zones at 73 degrees E, 75 degrees 45'E and 79 degrees E, have helped in correlating and in deciphering the source of the rock types. Further, the large manganese nodule fields in the CIB are seen to occur in conjunction with the volcanic materials, since the latter forms nuclei and substrates for ferromanganese deposits. It is concluded that a spatial relation exists between the occurrence of the volcanic materials and the ferromanganese deposit in the CIB

Description: A study of the echo peak amplitudes from known nodule areas is initiated to observe the acoustic response for varying nodule abundances and number densities. A statistical study of the peak amplitudes from different nodule areas confirms that the coefficient of variation is the highest for medium nodule abundance and number density. Echo fluctuation study based on the Rician probability density function (PDF) establishes that the non‐nodule sediment bottom contributes to less scattering, i.e., it is a microtopographic type, whereas scattering is dominant in the nodule‐bearing areas. The spectral studies are conducted on depth data of different areas. This study ensures that the signal scattering in the nodule bottom area is due to the nodules lying on the seabed rather than the large / small‐scale topographic variations. The study based on Poisson PDF for nodule area confirms this fact again. Agreement between the nodule distribution and the Poisson distribution parameter is clearly seen. Such a relation is not observed in the case of Rician density functions.

Description: The diet of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri was studied during late austral summer at Drescher Inlet, eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Antarctic krill Euphausia superba was a major component of the food, accounting for 75% of all prey items. Emperor penguins appear to feed on krill during shallow dives under the fast sea ice. Fish, mainly nototheniids, accounted for less than 20% by number of all prey. An evaluation of the main prey types in terms of mass indicated, however, that fish represented up to 75% approximately of prey mass. Feeding experiments were performed on captive penguins and showed that squid beaks can accumulate for up to 3 weeks within the stomach without any clear signs of erosion. The lack of cephalopod soft parts in the samples makes it likely that all squid beaks were derived from animals captured some time previously. Squid seems to be a very minor dietary component of emperor penguins at the Drescher Inlet.

Description: Introduction: The new Arctic Challenge Not counting the geographic exploration of the Arctic coast lines by fishermen, commercial traders and a few explorers it is only little more than 100 years ago that systematic investigations of the natural properties of the Arctic Ocean began. It was the German Carl Koldewey who sailed to Fram Strait in 1868 to study the nature of the ice margin, and he was followed by the famous Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen who drifted 1893-1 895 (Nansen, 1904) along with the central eastern Arctic Transpolar Drift - on his newly built polar research vessel FRAM - in his attempt to reach the North Pole (Fig. 1). Both men and their Crews were driven by the desire to understand the special oceanographic properties of the Arctic Oceans as well as the climatic variability and significance of the Arctic sea ice and its distribution. The motive of modern Arctic research is much the Same as more than 100 years ago, but Part of our tools and approaches have been improved over the past 100 years in such a way that we stand a much greater chance to succeed than these scientific pioneers. (...)

Description: A method for attaching acoustic transmitters externally to deep-water fishes in situ is described. Tags, each comprising a transmitter connected to a dart, were fired at fish from a pneumatic gun held by the manipulator arm of a submersible. The method was applied successfully for tagging coelacanths and may have application for use with other species of fishes living at depths to about 1000 m. The usefulness of direct observation for monitoring the effects of tags on fish is evaluated in relation to the effects of the tagging method on coelacanths.

Description: Plastic debris accumulates in the marine environment following its use in agricultural, industrial and social activities. Its ultimate fate is accomodation in sediments where it may persist for times up to centuries or longer. There appears to be an increasing flux of materials with time and an increased areal coverage of the benthos. Impacts upon bottom organisms can take many forms. Systematic monitoring tactics for the extent of seafloor coverage by plastics are yet to be incorporated into national programs.

Description: Fluxes of phosphate across the sediment–water interface have been measured using inhibitors of bacterial activity sterilization and chloramphenicol and a control in order to quantify the influence of bacterial abundance on them. Results show that phosphate concentration in the interstitial water decreased when bacteria were present, in relation to treated aquaria. The measured (Jo) and theoretical fluxes (Jd) of phosphate also were higher when bacterial activity was suppressed. Mass balance calculated for Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the sediment revealed a loss of theses compounds when bacterial activity was suppressed, and a net accumulation of Carbon and Phosphorus, and loss of Nitrogen under natural conditions.

Description: Russian and German scientists have investigated the extreme environmental system in and around the Laptev Sea in the Siberian Arctic. For the first time a major comprehensive research program combining the efforts of several projects addressed both oceanic and terrestrial processes, and their consequences for marine and terrestrial biota, landscape evolution as well as land-ocean interactions. The primary scientific goal of the multidisciplinary program was to decipher past climate variations and their impact on contemporary environmental changes. Extensive studies of the atmosphere, sea ice, water column, and sea-floor on the Laptev Sea Shelf, as well as of the vegetation, soil development, carbon cycle, permafrost behaviour and lake hydrology, and sedimentationon Taymyr Peninsula and Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago were performed during the past years under a framework of joint research activities. They included land and marine expeditions during spring (melting), summer (ice free), and autumn (freezing) seasons. The close bilateral cooperation between many institutions in Russia and Germany succeeded in drawing a picture of important processes shaping the marine and terrestrial environment in northern Central Siberia in Late Quaternary time. The success of the projects, which ended in late 1997, resulted in the definition and establishment of a new major research effort which will concentrate on establishing a better understanding of the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental record of the area. This is important because it allows to be able to judge rates and extremes of potential future environmental changes.

Description: Analogue experiments in part I led to the conclusion that pyroclastic flows depositing very highgrade ignimbrite move as dilute suspension currents. In the thermo–fluid–dynamical model developed, the degree of cooling of expanded turbulent pyroclastic flows dynamically evolves in response to entrainment of air and mass loss to sedimentation. Initial conditions of the currents are derived from column-collapse modeling for magmas with an initial H2O content of 1–3 wt.% erupting through circular vents and caldera ring-fissures. The flows spread either longitudinally or radially from source up to a runout distance that increases with higher mass flux but decreases with higher gas content, temperature, bottom slope and coarser initial grain size. Progressive dilution by entrainment and sedimentation causes pyroclastic currents to transform into buoyant ash plumes at the runout distance. The ash plumes reach stratospheric heights and distribute 30–80% of the erupted material as widespread co-ignimbrite ash. Pyroclastic suspension currents with initial mass fluxes of 107-1012 kg/s can spread for tens of kilometers with only limited cooling, although they move as supercritical, strongly entraining currents for the eruption conditions considered here. With increasing eruption mass flux, cooling during passage through the fountain diminishes while cooling during flow transport increases. The net effect is that eruption temperature exerts the prime control on emplacement temperature. Pyroclastic suspension currents can form welded ignimbrite across their entire extent if eruption temperature is To11.3.Tmw, the minimum welding temperature. High eruption rates, a large fraction of fine ash, and a ring-fissure vent favor the formation of extensive high-grade ignimbrite. For very hot eruptions produc ing sticky, partially molten pyroclasts, analysis of particle aggregation systematics shows that factors favoring longer runout also favor more efficient aggregation, which reduces runout. As a result, very high-grade ignimbrites cannot spread more than a few tens of kilometers from their source. In cooler pyroclastic currents, particles do not aggregate, and the sedimentation process may involve re-entrainment of particles, which potentially leads to more extensive cooling and longer runout; such effects, however, are only significant when net erosion of substrate occurs. Model results can be employed to estimate mass flux and duration of ignimbrite eruptions from measured ignimbrite masses and aspect ratios. The model also provides an alternative explanation of the observed decrease in H/Lratios with ignimbrite mass.

Description: The assessment of direct effects of anthropogenic CO2 increase on the marine biota has received relatively little attention compared to the intense research on CO2-related responses of the terrestrial biosphere. Yet, due to the rapid air–sea gas exchange, the observed past and predicted future rise in atmospheric CO2 causes a corresponding increase in seawater CO2 concentrations, [CO2], in upper ocean waters. Increasing [CO2] leads to considerable changes in the surface ocean carbonate system, resulting in decreases in pH and the carbonate concentration, [CO2−3]. These changes can be shown to have strong impacts on the marine biota. Here we will distinguish between CO2-related responses of the marine biota which (a) potentially affect the ocean's biological carbon pumps and (b) are relevant to the interpretation of diagnostic tools (proxies) used to assess climate change on geological times scales. With regard to the former, three direct effects of increasing [CO2] on marine plankton have been recognized: enhanced phytoplankton growth rate, changing elemental composition of primary produced organic matter, and reduced biogenic calcification. Although quantitative estimates of their impacts on the oceanic carbon cycle are not yet feasible, all three effects increase the ocean's capacity to take up and store atmospheric CO2 and hence, can serve as negative feedbacks to anthropogenic CO2 increase. With respect to proxies used in palaeo-reconstructions, CO2-sensitivity is found in carbon isotope fractionation by phytoplankton and foraminifera. While CO2- dependent isotope fractionation by phytoplankton may be of potential use in reconstructing surface ocean pCO2 at ancient times, CO2-related effects on the isotopic composition of foraminiferal shells confounds the use of the difference in isotopic signals between planktonic and benthic shells as a measure for the strength of marine primary production. The latter effect also offers an alternative explanation for the large negative swings in δ13C of foraminiferal calcite between glacial and interglacial periods. Changes in [CO2−3] affect the δ18O in foraminiferal shells. Taking this into account brings sea surface temperature estimates for the glacial tropics closer to those obtained from other geochemical proxies.

Description: The ability to monitor the heat content of oceans over long distances is becoming increasingly important for understanding the role of oceans in climate change, for determining the variability of the state of the oceans, for operational ocean observing systems, and for studying large-scale ocean processes such as water-mass formation. Although the properties of the upper layers of the ocean can be routinely measured on large scales by satellite remote sensing (providing altimetric and infrared data) and with expendable probes dropped from commercial vessels, the deep interior of the ocean is more difficult to monitor. Ocean acoustic tomography1 is a promising technique for such applications, as it has the potential to provide systematic, instantaneous and repeated measurements of the ocean interior over large parts of an ocean basin. Here we demonstrate the capability of this technique for measuring the heat content across an entire (albeit small) ocean basin—the western Mediterranean Sea.

Description: The capture of 52 specimens of the cirrate octopod Grimpoteuthis glacialis (Robson, 1930), of dorsal mantle length 20-165 mm during a 1996 trawling survey near the Antarctic Peninsula allowed the basic biology of the species to be examined. Their presence in bottom trawls at depths of 333-879 m, but their absence from benthopelagic and pelagic trawls, is consistent with a primarily benthic habitat. The largest single sample, 40 animals, came from a soft mud bottom and highlights the patchy nature of the distribution. Males tended to be bigger in total length and mass than females of similar mantle length. The males, however, were mature at a smaller size. Mature males have tiny sperm packets, rather than typical cephalopod spermatophores, in their distal reproductive tract. Mature females have large, smooth eggs in the proximal oviduct, in the huge oviducal gland and in the distal oviduct. Eggs in the distal oviduct have a thick, sticky coating that hardens in seawater into a secondary egg case. Ovarian eggs vary greatly in size, possibly indicating protracted egg laying. Observations on live animals indicate that the species swims primarily by fin action, rather than by jetting or medusoid pulses with the arm/web complex. It may be capable of limited changes in colour pattern, especially on the oral surface of the web. Three pairs of surface structures that appear superficially to be white spots anterior to the eyes and near the bases of the fins are actually transparent patches in the skin. When considered in association with the transparent subdermal layer and the anatomy of the eyes, optic nerves and optic lobes, these clear patches seem to function in detecting unfocused light on the horizontal plane of the benthic animal.

Description: Hydrothermal activity in the Central Bransfield Basin revealed an active low-temperature vent field on top of a submarine volcanic structure. A temperature anomaly was detected and the sea floor showed various patches of white silica (opal-A) precipitate exposures and some yellow–brown Fe-oxyhydroxide crusts. Enriched dissolved methane concentrations were encountered. Sediment was near 24°C just after the grab came on deck. No dense population of chemosynthetically based macrofauna known from other hydrothermal venting areas was present, except for pogonophora. The observations suggest that the sedimented hydrothermal field at Hook Ridge is a low-temperature end-member branch from a deeper hydrothermal source.

Description: Plate collision cuases expulsion of fluids and gases and material turnover in the deep ocean along the global subduction zones. Such cold vents are characterized by mineral precipitates and characteristic assemblages of macro organisms. The latter harbor symbiotic bacteria which utilize the chemically-reduced constituents (CH4 and H2S) of the expelled fluids as their energy and supply their host with food. The interaction between tectonically-induced fluid flow and pumping activity of the vent fauna sets up a shallow recirculation system whose magnitude can be estimated from direct measurements by an in situ vent sampling device (VESP) in connection with tracer studies. The dewatering rates based on the biogeochemical estimates agree surprisingly well with those derived from geophysical estimates.

Description: The conventional model whereby plume volcanism forms linear age-progressive volcanic chains, with the youngest activity occurring nearest a spreading axis (at a 'hotspot'), has been challenged for the Easter seamount chain1–4. Whereas early work suggested the existence of a linear melting anomaly (a 'hotline')1,2, more recent studies3,4 have proposed a hotspot near Salas y Gomez island, connected with the Easter microplate spreading system by an ~800-km-long, volcanically active plume channel. Here we use geochemical, geological and geochronological data to argue that the hotspot lies close to Easter Island. Moreover, new isotopic data for lavas from the seamount chain provide evidence for bidirectional flow between the spreading axis and the plume, thus supporting geophysical and fluid-dynamical models of mantle flow in a plume/spreading axis system5–7. Material balance and flux considerations show the Easter plume to be weak and cool compared with those beneath larger features such as Iceland, Hawaii and the Galápagos islands.

Description: Investigations of factors affecting feeding success in fish larvae require knowledge of the scales of variability of the feeding process itself and the indices used to assess this variability. In this study, we measured short-term (diel) variability in feeding rates of wild haddock (Melanogrammus aeglifinus) larvae four times per day during a 10-d cruise in the northern North Sea. Feeding activity was evaluated using indices of gut fullness, prey digestive state and biochemical measurements (tryptic enzyme activity). The gut fullness and the enzyme activity indices indicated moderate to high rates of food consumption throughout the cruise. Time series analysis of the three indices showed significant diel variability in all indices and enabled identification of significant lags between food uptake and peak digestive enzyme activity. The typical pattern of food consumption and digestion was characterized by maximal ingestion of prey early in the evening (19:00 hrs) and peak digestive enzyme activity at 01:00 hrs. The time scale over which enzyme activities reacted to prey ingestion was ca. 6 h, and is consistent with expectations from controlled laboratory experiments with other larval fish species. Significant diel variability in tryptic enzyme activity suggests that attempts to relate this measure of feeding success to other variables (e.g. food concentrations) should take care to accommodate natural cycles in feeding activity before making statistical comparisons.

Description: Facies analysis, fossil dating, and the study of the metamorphism in the Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary successions in the central part of the Northern Calcareous Alps allow to reconstruct the tectonic evolution in the area between the South Penninic Ocean in the northwest and the Tethys Ocean with the Hallstatt Zone in the southeast. The Triassic as well as the Early and Middle Jurassic sediments were deposited in a rifted, transtensive continental margin setting. Around the Middle/Late Jurassic boundary two trenches in front of advancing nappes formed in sequence in the central part of the Northern Calcareous Alps. The southern trench (Late Callovian to Early Oxfordian) accumulated a thick succession of gravitatively redeposited sediments derived from the sedimentary sequences of the accreted Triassic–Liassic Hallstatt Zone deposited on the outer shelf and the margin of the Late Triassic carbonate platform. During a previous stage these sediments derived from sequences deposited on the more distal shelf (Salzberg facies zone of Hallstatt unit, Meliaticum), and in a later stage from more proximal parts (Zlambach facies zone of Hallstatt unit, Late Triassic reef belt). Low temperature–high pressure metamorphism of some Hallstatt limestones before redeposition is explained by the closure of parts of the Tethys Ocean in Middle to Late Jurassic times and associated subduction. In the northern trench (Late Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian) several hundred meters of sediment accumulated including redeposited material from a nearby topographic rise. This rise is interpreted as an advancing nappe front as a result of the subduction process. The sedimentary sealing by Tithonian sediments, documented by uniform deep-water sedimentation (Oberalm Formation), gives an upper time constraint for the tectonic events. In contrast to current models, which propose an extensional regime for the central and eastern Northern Calcareous Alps in the Late Jurassic, we propose a geodynamic model with a compressional regime related to the Kimmerian orogeny.

Description: Rubrik "Neues aus dem Geologenarchiv (1997)"

Description: ARK-XIV/1a, Chief Scientist W. Jokat. - ARK-XIV/1b, Chief Scientist H. Kassens

Description: We have employed electronmicroscopical methods (SEM, TEM) to document the microbial community associated with the marine sponge Aplysina cavernicola (formerly Verongia cavernicola, class Demospongiae). Five dominant bacterial types were identified, three of which resemble the morphotypes originally described by Vacelet (1975). One bacterial type possesses morphological properties that are characteristic of the genus Planctomyces. In addition, morphologically uniform bacteria which reside inside the nuclei of host cells were observed. Using in situ hybridization with fluorescently labelled rRNA probes directed against known bacterial groups, the phylogenetic affiliation of the mesohyl bacteria was assessed. It could be shown that the vast majority of mesohyl bacteria belongs to the domain Bacteria with a low GC content. Among the Bacteria, the delta-Proteobacteria were most abundant, followed by the gamma-Proteobacteria and representatives of the Bacteroides cluster. Clusters of Gram-positive bacteria with a high GC content were also found consistently in low amounts. No hybridization signal was obtained with probes specific to the domain Archaea, to the alpha- and beta-Proteobacteria and to the Cytophaga/Flavobacterium cluster. This study describes for the first time the application of the “top-to-bottom approach” using 16S rRNA probes and in situ hybridization to assess the microbial diversity in Aplysina sponges

Description: The pelagic nekton community was sampled with the RMT 25 opening/closing net and a neuston net at two stations in the Scotia Sea south of the Antarctic Polar Front in the open ocean (Station 1) and on the South Georgia northwestern slope (Station 2). Downward oblique tows were made with the RMT 25 through discrete 200 m layers to 1000 m in daylight and darkness. A total of 119 cephalopods representing nine species were removed from the samples, and mantle and arm lengths were measured to the nearest 0.1 mm. The most abundant species at each station was an undescribed Brachioteuthis sp. (B. ?picta). Galiteuthis glacialis and Alluroteuthis antarcticus were caught at both stations. Histioteuthis eltaninae, Bathyteuthis abyssicola and Psychroteuthis glacialis were caught at Station 1. Mastigoteuthis psychrophila and a Chiroteuthis sp. were caught at Station 2. B. ?picta was present throughout the water column to 1000 m at both stations, with little evidence of ontogenetic descent. There was evidence for ontogenetic descent in G. glacialis. This species was absent from the Antarctic Surface Water (ASW) at Station 1, where it was concentrated in the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). At Station 2 it was present throughout the water column to 1000 m. The other species were all caught in the core of the CDW (〉400 m). In juvenile B. ?picta, G. glacialis and A. antarcticus, growth of the brachial crown is positively allometric with respect to mantle length. Recent data on biomass spectra in high-latitude pelagic systems show that they are characterised by the presence of peaks of biomass separated by biomass minima. Positive allometric growth in the brachial crown of these antarctic oceanic squid is suggested to have evolved as an adaptation to the peaked, or domed, structure of the pelagic biomass spectrum which must be spanned by these predators as their optimum prey size increases with growth. Interspecific differences in the allometry of tentacle growth are probably related to differences in strategies for stalking and capture of prey.

Description: The Russian icebreaker KAPITAN DRANITSYN carried out the TRANSDRIFT III expedition to the Laptev Sea (October 1 to 30., 1995), the largest ice factory in the Arctic Ocean and source region of the Transpolar Drift. In this shelf region, ice free for only three months a year, a comprehensive interdisciplinary working program concerning the causes and effects of annual freeze-up was performed. Unlike our previous expeditions to the Laptev Sea, which focused On oceanographical, hydrochemical, ecological, and sedimentological processes during the brief ice-free period in summer, this expedition studied these processes during the extreme physical change through the onset of ice formation in autumn. This is the first study of its kind under these conditions, and gave important clues to the rapid (14 to 40 days) freeze-up, which has significant year-round effects for the Laptev Sea and global environment. Freeze-up began one month later than usual (a 40 year record) close to the Novosibirskie Islands in low salinity surface waters due to heat stored in an intermediate water layer between 10 and 25 m water depth. Later, huge tracts of turbid, dirty ice were found off the Lena Delta where an unusually high phytoplankton concentration for this time of year occurred. The origin of these anomalies, and whether they are anomalies at all, and their relationship to global environment in real time are the focus of continuing research.

Description: Past hydrothermal activity has been exarpined from the compositions of the bottom sediments adjoining the rift zone at 21 °S in the EPR. The dating studies have been performed using radiocarbon and nonequilibrium 230Th. Some 644 bottom-sediment samples were analyzed for 24 elements. About 40% of the variability is due to factors that reflect the hydrothermal activity. In the surface layer, the detailed distribution of fluxes of the main ore-forming elements Fe and Mn, Cu (an element of hydrogene-hydrothermal origin), and Ti (an element entering the sediments from bedrock weathering) were studied. The maximal fluxes for elements of hydrothermal origin occur at a considerable distance from the ridge axis, since hydrothermal elements entered the sediments only after the plume had broken up. Elevated concentrations of elements of edaphogene origin on the other hand adjoin the ridge axis. Using seven columns of bottom sediments with ages in the range from 24 to 340 thousand years, we analyzed the change with time in the. content of hydrothermal material and the fluxes of hydrothermal material and of Fe/Mn and 1 Ni. It is shown that the most effective indicator of change in hydrothermal activity on the moving floor is provided not by the flux of hydrothermal material but by its concentration and the Fe/Mn ratio. The cyclic nature of the hydrothermal process is most reliably indicated by the changes in concentration of the ore material, but only in columns near the source.

Description: Rubrik "Neues aus dem Geologenarchiv (1994)": Da die Jahresversammlung 1995 in Bremen vor allem der Meeresgeologie gewidmet war, soll durch die Veröffentlichung eines im Archiv verwahrten Briefs zur Planung der ersten "Meteor"-Expedition an den Wiederbeginn der deutschen Hochseeforschung nach dem ersten Weltkrieg erinnert werden. Scon im Sommer 1919 wurden in der Admiralität der damaligen Reichsmarine Pläne erörtert, wie man wieder an die Tradition der Forschungsfahrten der Kaiserlichen Marine mit S.M.S.S. "Gazelle", "Planet" und "Möwe" anknüpfen könne. Ein 1915 vom Stapel gelaufenes Kanonenboot "Meteor" bot sich zum Ausbau als Forschungsschiff an (F. Spiess, 1928). Vorschläge für Forschungsfahrten wurnden von der Deutschen Seewarte und vom Berliner Institut für Meereskunde eingeholt. Dessen damaliger Direktor, der vor allem durch seine Eiszeitforschungen bekannt gewordene Geograph Geheimrat Professor Albrecht Penck (Leipzig 1858 - Prag 1945), legte daraufhin der Marineleitung eine Denkschrift seines Abteilungsvorstands Alfred Merz (Wien 1880 - Buenos Aires 1925) für eine dreijährige Expedition in den Pazifik vor. (Auszug)

Description: The Russian icebreaker KAPITAN DRANITSYN carried out the TRANSDRIFT III expedition to the Laptev Sea (October 1 to 30., 1995), the largest ice factory in the Arctic Ocean and source region of the Transpolar Drift. In this shelf region, ice free for only three months a year, a comprehensive interdisciplinary working program concerning the causes and effects of annual freeze-up was performed. Unlike our previous expeditions to the Laptev Sea, which focused On oceanographical, hydrochemical, ecological, and sedimentological processes during the brief ice-free period in summer, this expedition studied these processes during the extreme physical change through the onset of ice formation in autumn. This is the first study of its kind under these conditions, and gave important clues to the rapid (14 to 40 days) freeze-up, which has significant year-round effects for the Laptev Sea and global environment. Freeze-up began one month later than usual (a 40 year record) close to the Novosibirskie Islands in low salinity surface waters due to heat stored in an intermediate water layer between 10 and 25 m water depth. Later, huge tracts of turbid, dirty ice were found off the Lena Delta where an unusually high phytoplankton concentration for this time of year occurred. The origin of these anomalies, and whether they are anomalies at all, and their relationship to global environment in real time are the focus of continuing research.

Description: Exposure of Fucus spiralis germlings to precise copper concentrations (0 to 844 nM Cu2+) in chemically defined medium demonstrated a relationship between urltrastructural changes and growth retardation with increasing copper concentration. Electron-translucent vesicles, present in ova, which normally disappear after fertilization, accumulated in germlings exposed to Cu2+ above 10.6 nM, suggesting that copper may inhibit a metabolic pathway involved in cell wall formation which is initiated by fertilization No membrane damage was observed during the exposure period. During a post-exposure period in copper-free medium, recovery occurred (rhizoid extension, apical hair formation) in germlings previously exposed to concentrations below 106 nM Cu2+ and electron-translucent vesicles became granular and disappeared. It is proposed that the electron-translucent vesicles contain a cell wall precursor and that copper inhibits its incorporation into the cell wall, preventing growth and development of the zygote.

Description: Viable counts of aerobic and anaerobic chemotrophic sulphur-oxidizers as well as phototrophic sulphur bacteria were determined in sediment samples taken from two different areas along the Baltic Sea shore which were known to regularly develop sulphidic conditions. Depth profiles of bacterial cell counts were correlated with concentration profiles of chloride, sulphate, sulphide, nitrate and phosphate in the pore water of these sediments and with potential activities of nitrate reduction, thiosulphate transformation and sulphate formation. The data revealed a complex multilayered structure within the sediments. Sulphide was released into the water from sediments of both sampling areas, but it was found that light and the availability of oxygen significantly reduced this amount. In the highly reduced sediment at Hiddensee, the highest numbers of phototrophic and chemotrophic sulphur-oxidizers were found near the sediment surface. Therefore, it was concluded that the combined action of both groups of bacteria most efficiently oxidizes reduced sulphur compounds in the top layers of the sediments. Nitrate may replace oxygen as final electron acceptor and will support oxidation of sulphide, in particular when oxygen and light are limiting

Description: A knowledge of past changes in the biological productivity of the oceans is important for understanding the interactions between carbon cycling and climate. Phytoplankton productivity in today's oceans can be estimated from the concentrations of chlorophyll in sea water1, but chlorophyll is not preserved in the sediments. Existing proxies for past algal productivity do not represent total productivity; for example, biogenic opal2 reflects the contribution of only part of the phytoplankton community, and the organic carbon record can be subject to contamination from terrestrial inputs2,3. Although chlorins, the pigment-transformation products of chlorophyll, are widespread in Quaternary marine sediments, their potential as proxy measures of past variations in primary productivity has not been convincingly demonstrated. Here we report a high-resolution molecular stratigraphic record of chlorin concentrations over the past 350,000 years in a sediment core from the subtropical Atlantic continental margin. Maxima in the chlorin accumulation rate coincide with significant peaks in the accumulation rates of biogenic opal (at the end of glacial terminations) and organic carbon (between terminations). These results suggest that chlorins, unlike other proxies, can serve as a measure of total primary productivity variations.

Description: The sedimentary system involves processes that weather rocks and reduce them to soluble and fine-grained particulate components that can be transported. deposited, and transformed back into rock. !Jost of the processes can be observed today, but the present is an unusual episode in our planet's history. We live in a brief warm interglacial epi sode in an interval usually characterized by large mid-and high-latitude icc sheets and a much lower sea level. To complicate matters further, few measurements of process rates were made before the significant impacts of agriculture and the industrial revolution altered them. Consequently, the rates at which different processes operate over most of geologic time arc not well known. The objective of modeling sedimentary systems is to simplify these processes so that they can be described in mathematical terms. Successful models predict the results of weathering. erosion, transport, depositional and diagenetic processes and allow us to determine process rates from ancient deposits. Modeling can also suggest the kinds of geologic information that can be used for its validation.

Description: Sediment samples from the Mid-Atlantic Reykjanes Ridge (59°N) were taken to get information about sediment genesis and to identify different sources during the late Quaternary. Samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction and grain-size analyses. The clay mineral assemblages in sediments of the Reykjanes Ridge reflect paleoceanographic changes during the late Quaternary. Holocene sediments are characterized by high contents of smectite, mainly of less developed crystallinity. In the spatial distribution of clay minerals high smectite concentrations on the eastern flank and slightly decreasing concentrations on the western flank of the Reykjanes Ridge indicate the action of bottom-water transport. The smectite originates mainly from the volcanogenous Icelandic shelf and reflects the influence of Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW). Stratigraphic variability in the clay mineral composition reflects predominantly the influence of different sources, resulting from oceanographic and glacial transport processes. During glacial time sediment transport is due mainly to input by icebergs. Increasing amounts of illite, chlorite, and kaolinite characterize ice-rafted sediments of the “Heinrich layers”. In these sediments smectite crystallinity is well developed. In contrast, several other ice-rafted layers contain smectite with low crystallographic order, similar to smectites of Holocene age. The icelandic source was proved by distinct amounts of basaltic glass in the coarse-grained sediment. At approximately 55 ka increasing amounts of chlorite and kaolinite suggest an enhanced influx of warm North Atlantic surface waters. This hypothesis is supported by a high carbonate shell production at this time. Relative low concentrations and the well-developed crystallinity of smectite minerals characterize the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 18–16 ka), indicating a reduced supply of fine icelandic material. Shortly after the LGM, at the beginning of termination IA, a distinct increase in fine-grained quartz (〈2µm) and smectite are visible, which are proposed to reflect a supply of fine-grained ice-rafted material. At 13 ka linear increasing smectite concentrations of lower crystallographic order indicate increasing supply of fine-grained material from Iceland, linked to reinitiation of bottom currents of the ISOW. Full reinitiation is indicated at around 10 ka, where a strong increase in smectite of low crystallographic order is detected.

Description:  The reflectance of sediments (gray level) were measured on 11 sediment cores from the Norwegian–Greenland–Iceland Sea (Nordic seas). The analyzed time interval covers the past five glacial–interglacial cycles. Although the results demonstrate that the gray-level method has a potential for stratigraphic purposes, it is indicated that gray-level changes in the Nordic seas are not necessarily driven by variations in the content of biogenic calcite. A detailed comparison of gray-level values with contents of total CaCO3 (carbonate) and total organic carbon (TOC) reveals no overall causal link between these proxies. However, specific glacial core sections with layers containing organic-rich sediment clasts as a consequence of iceberg-rafting seem to correlate well with law gray-level values. Of those cores which show relatively high and comparable carbonate values in the last three main interglacial intervals (stages 11, 5.5, and 1), stage 11 is always marked by the highest gray-level values. A close inspection of the surface structure of the foraminiferal tests as well as the conduction of reflectance measurements on these tests leads to the conclusion that enhanced carbonate corrosion occurred during stage 11. The test corrosion not only affected the reflectance of the tests by making them appear whiter, it also seems responsible for the comparatively high gray-level values of the total sediment in stage 11. In contrast, the relatively low gray-level values found in stages 5.5, and 1 are not associated with enhanced test corrosion. This observation implies that variable degrees of carbonate corrosion can have a profound effect on total sediment reflectance.

Description: The mean pressures required to collapse gas vesicles in turgid cells of cyanobacteria from the Baltic Sea were 0·91 MPa (9·1 bar) in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, 0·83 MPa in Nodularia sp. collected from the main deep basins and 0·34 MPa in Nodularia from shallower coastal regions. The gas vesicles were strong enough to withstand the depth of winter mixing, down to the permanent halocline (60 m in the Bornholm Sea, 90 m in the Eastern Gotland Sea) or to the sea bottom (30 m or less in the shallow Arkona Sea and Mecklenburg Bight). The cyanobacteria had low cell turgor pressures, within the range 0·08–0·18 MPa. The colonies were highly buoyant: the Aphanizomenon colonies floated up at a mean velocity of 22 m per day and the Nodularia colonies at 36 m per day. The colonies remained floating when up to half of the gas vesicles had been collapsed. In summer the cyanobacteria were mostly restricted to the water above the thermocline and in calm conditions their concentration increased towards the top of the water column. A series of colony concentration profiles indicated that, following a deep mixing event, the population of colonies moved upward with a net velocity of 22 m per day, similar to the colony floating velocity. This demonstrated that the buoyancy provided by gas vesicles would give a selective advantage to populations of cyanobacteria by enabling them to float into the higher irradiance of the near-surface water.

Description: We provide evidence that the symbiosis of fungal endophyte and plant host should only be defined in the broad sense as originally used by De Bary to mean the living together of organisms of different species. Using endophytic fungi that were isolated from healthy plant tissue,- we tested for the potential pathogenicity of the fungal isolates and did physiological experiments to understand the endophyte-host association. Due to the variability of the interaction with respect to the role of the endophyte and with respect to the physiological Status of both partners, only a definition of symbiosis that does not specify the advantages and disadvantages for the individual partners can accurately describe this interaction.

Description: Seismic profiles from a venting area on the western margin of Paramushir Island (Sea of Okhotsk) reveal a local complex structure and an interesting, unusual pattern of the bottom simulating reflector (BSR). The BSR is gradual rising towards the venting area. The geothermal gradient and the bottom temperature confirmed the methane hydrate. The temperature appears to be the most important factor controlling the hydrate stability. A locally higher heat flow caused the upward migration of the hydrate stability field and the subsequent degradation of the hydrated sediments, causing gas vent formation and the flux of methane gas into the water column.

Description: Picritic units of the Miocene shield volcanics on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, contain olivine and clinopyroxene phenocrysts with abundant primary melt, crystal and fluid inclusions. Composition and crystallization conditions of primary magmas in equilibrium with olivine Fo90-92 were inferred from high-temperature microthermometric quench experiments, low-temperature microthermometry of fluid inclusions and simulation of the reverse path of olivine fractional crystallization based on major element composition of melt inclusions. Primary magmas parental for the Miocene shield basalts range from transitional to alkaline picrites (14.7–19.3 wt% MgO, 43.2–45.7 wt% SiO2). Crystallization of these primary magmas is believed to have occurred over the temperature range 1490–1150° C at pressures ≈5 kbar producing olivine of Fo80.6-90.2, high-Ti chrome spinel [Mg/ (Mg+Fe2+)=0.32–0.56, Cr/(Cr+Al)=0.50–0.78, 2.52–8.58 wt% TiO2], and clinopyroxene [Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.79–0.88, Wo44.1-45.3, En43.9-48.0, Fs6.8-11.0] which appeared on the liquidus together with olivine≈Fo86. Redox conditions evolved from intermediate between the QFM and WM buffers to late-stage conditions of NNO+1 to NNO+2. The primary magmas crystallized in the presence of an essentially pure CO2 fluid. The primary magmas originated at pressures 〉30 kbar and temperatures of 1500–1600° C, assuming equilibrium with mantle peridotite. This implies melting of the mantle source at a depth of ≈100 km within the garnet stability field followed by migration of melts into magma reservoirs located at the boundary between the upper mantle and lower crust. The temperatures and pressures of primary magma generation suggest that the Canarian plume originated in the lower mantle at depth ≈900 km that supports the plume concept of origin of the Canary Islands.

Description: The climate of the Holocene is not well suited to be the baseline for the climate of the planet. It is an interglacial, a state typical of only 10% of the past few million years. It is a time of relative sea-level stability after a rapid 130-m rise from the lowstand during the last glacial maximum. Physical geologic processes are operating at unusual rates and much of the geochemical system is not in a steady state. During most of the Phanerozoic there have been no continental ice sheets on the earth, and the planet’s meridional temperature gradient has been much less than it is presently. Major factors influencing climate are insolation, greenhouse gases, paleogeography, and vegetation; the first two are discussed in this paper. Changes in the earth’s orbital parameters affect the amount of radiation received from the sun at different latitudes over the course of the year. During the last climate cycle, the waxing and waning of the northern hemisphere continental ice sheets closely followed the changes in summer insolation at the latitude of the northern hemisphere polar circle. The overall intensity of insolation in the northern hemisphere is governed by the precession of the earth’s axis of rotation, and the precession and ellipticity of the earth’s orbit. At the polar circle a meridional minimum of summer insolation becomes alternately more and less pronounced as the obliquity of the earth’s axis of rotation changes. Feedback processes amplify the insolation signal. Greenhouse gases (H2O, CO2, CH4, CFCs) modulate the insolation-driven climate. The atmospheric content of CO2 during the last glacial maximum was approximately 30% less than during the present interglacial. A variety of possible causes for this change have been postulated. The present burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and cement manufacture since the beginning of the industrial revolution have added CO2 to the atmosphere when its content due to glacial-interglacial variation was already at a maximum. Anthropogenic activity has increased the CO2 content of the atmosphere to 130% of its previous Holocene level, probably higher than at any time during the past few million years. During the Late Cretaceous the atmospheric CO2 content was probably about four times that of the present, the level to which it may rise at the end of the next century. The results of a Campanian (80 Ma) climate simulation suggest that the positive feedback between CO2 and another important greenhouse gas, H2O, raised the earth’s temperature to a level where latent heat transport became much more significant than it is presently, and operated efficiently at all latitudes. Atmospheric high- and low-pressure systems were as much the result of variations in the vapor content of the air as of temperature differences. In our present state of knowledge, future climate change is unpredictable because by adding CO2 to the atmosphere we are forcing the climate toward a “greenhouse” mode when it is accustomed to moving between the glacial–interglacial “icehouse” states that reflect the waxing and waning of ice sheets. At the same time we are replacing freely transpiring C3 plants with water-conserving C4 plants, producing a global vegetation complex that has no past analog. The past climates of the earth cannot be used as a direct guide to what may occur in the future. To understand what may happen in the future we must learn about the first principles of physics and chemistry related to the earth’s system. The fundamental mechanisms of the climate system are best explored in simulations of the earth’s ancient extreme climates.

Description: Tectonics and climate are both directly and indirectly related. The direct connection is between uplift, atmospheric circulation, and the hydrologic cycle. The indirect links are via subduction, volcanism, the introduction of gasses into the atmosphere, and through erosion and consumption of atmospheric gases by chemical weathering. Rifting of continental blocks involves broad upwarping followed by subsidence of a central valley and uplift of marginal shoulders. The result is an evolving regional climate which has been repeated many times in the Phanerozoic: first a vapor-trapping arch, followed by a rift valley with fresh-water lakes, culminating in an arid rift bordered by mountains intercepting incoming precipitation. Convergence tectonics affects climate on a larger scale. A mountain range is a barrier to atmospheric circulation, especially if perpendicular to the circulation. It also traps water vapor converting latent to sensible heat. Broad uplift results in a shorter path for both incoming and outgoing radiation resulting in seasonal climate extremes with reversals of atmospheric pressure and enhanced monsoonal circulation. Volcanism affects climate by introducing ash and aerosols into the atmosphere, but unless these are injected into the stratosphere, they have little effect. Stratospheric injection is most likely to occur at high latitudes, where the thickness of the troposphere is minimal. Volcanoes introduce CO2, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Geochemical effects of tectonic uplift and unroofing relate to the weathering of silicate rocks, the means by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere-ocean system on long-term time scales.

Description: Analogue experiments in part I led to the conclusion that pyroclastic flows depositing very high-grade ignimbrite move as dilute suspension currents. In the thermo–fluid–dynamical model developed, the degree of cooling of expanded turbulent pyroclastic flows dynamically evolves in response to entrainment of air and mass loss to sedimentation. Initial conditions of the currents are derived from column-collapse modeling for magmas with an initial H2O content of 1–3 wt.% erupting through circular vents and caldera ring-fissures. The flows spread either longitudinally or radially from source up to a runout distance that increases with higher mass flux but decreases with higher gas content, temperature, bottom slope and coarser initial grain size. Progressive dilution by entrainment and sedimentation causes pyroclastic currents to transform into buoyant ash plumes at the runout distance. The ash plumes reach stratospheric heights and distribute 30–80% of the erupted material as widespread co-ignimbrite ash. Pyroclastic suspension currents with initial mass fluxes of 107-1012 kg/s can spread for tens of kilometers with only limited cooling, although they move as supercritical, strongly entraining currents for the eruption conditions considered here. With increasing eruption mass flux, cooling during passage through the fountain diminishes while cooling during flow transport increases. The net effect is that eruption temperature exerts the prime control on emplacement temperature. Pyroclastic suspension currents can form welded ignimbrite across their entire extent if eruption temperature is To〉1.3.Tmw, the minimum welding temperature. High eruption rates, a large fraction of fine ash, and a ring-fissure vent favor the formation of extensive high-grade ignimbrite. For very hot eruptions producing sticky, partially molten pyroclasts, analysis of particle aggregation systematics shows that factors favoring longer runout also favor more efficient aggregation, which reduces runout. As a result, very high-grade ignimbrites cannot spread more than a few tens of kilometers from their source. In cooler pyroclastic currents, particles do not aggregate, and the sedimentation process may involve re-entrainment of particles, which potentially leads to more extensive cooling and longer runout; such effects, however, are only significant when net erosion of substrate occurs. Model results can be employed to estimate mass flux and duration of ignimbrite eruptions from measured ignimbrite masses and aspect ratios. The model also provides an alternative explanation of the observed decrease in H/Lratios with ignimbrite mass.

Description: The “rugophilic”; behaviour (e.g. the preference for settling in concavities) of barnacles is well documented. In contrast, little is known about settlement preferences of other species with regard to surface microtopography. In a randomized block design, five different rugosities (smooth, 0.1 mm, 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 5 mm) were exposed to natural fouling in the Baltic Sea. In four experiments, test panels were colonized by Mytilus edulis, Polydora dliata, Balanus improvisus, diatoms, hydrozoa, bryozoa, and several ciliates. Settlement densities and microtopographical preferences for pits or elevations as a function of grain size were evaluated. Rugosities influenced settlement densities and the microtopographical preferences of almost all investigated species. Settlement densities were generally lowest on smooth panels, with most species showing distinct preferences for different rugosities. While a preference for pits was frequent, in some species the proportion of individuals settling on elevations significantly increased with roughness. These data on microtopographical preferences of different species give new insights into interactions between settlement behaviour, surface roughness, boundary layer hydrodynamics and community structure.

Description: Although blooms of opportunistic fast-growing macroalgae now occur frequently in coastal ecosystems affected by eutrophication, their initiation and control is little understood. Most previous studies have focused on the ecophysiology of adult algae only. We show that spores and/or germlings may represent critical stages in the life cycles and mass-developments of co-occurring opportunistic macroalgae in the Baltic (Pilayella littoralis and Enteromorpha spp.). We investigated the overwintering of spores, timing of germination, subsequent growth, and grazing on spores and germlings, in order to explain the initiation of mass blooms and species dominance patterns. In the field, Enteromorpha spp. showed 10- to 50-fold higher abundances of overwintering microscopic forms (up to 330 individuals cm-2) than P. littoralis. Moreover, we found continuous production of spores (up to 1.2 million settling spores m-2 h-1) from April to October in Enteromorpha spp., while there was evidence of only a short reproductive period in Pilayella. However, in spring, germlings and adults of P. littoralis appeared earlier in the field and reached a 10-fold higher biomass than Enteromorpha spp. In factorial laboratory experiments including temperature and light, there were clear differences in timing of germination. P. littoralis germinated at 5°C whereas Enteromorpha spp. required temperatures of 10-15°C for germination. In contrast, we detected only minor differences in growth response among adults of P. littoralis and Enteromorpha spp. Germination, not growth of adults, appeared to be the ecophysiological bottleneck for initiating mass spring development. Following the spring Pilayella bloom, Enteromorpha germlings occurred massively in the field (April-September), but rarely developed into adults. In laboratory feeding experiments we tested whether crustacean mesograzers common in summer may control development of Enteromorpha germlings. Both germination of settled spores and growth of germlings were reduced by 93-99% in the presence of grazers (Idotea chelipes and Gammarus locusta). Thus in addition to ecophysiological constraints, grazers, if present, may play a decisive role in the early life stages of macroalgal mass developments. These results mirror patterns of overwintering of seeds, germination control, seed and seedling predation in terrestrial plant communities.

Description: A quantitative relationship between observed sea-ice roughness and simulated large-scale deformation work is established in order to provide new means for model validation and a better representation of the sea-ice component in climate modelling. Sea-ice roughness is introduced as an additional prognostic variable in a dynamic–thermodynamic sea-ice model with a viscous-plastic rheology. It is defined as the accumulated work of internal forces acting upon an ice volume, given in energy per area. A fraction of this total deformation work is transferred to the potential energy stored in pressure ridges. Using ridge geometries and distribution functions from observations, observable quantities like mean pressure ridge height, ridge frequency as well as volumetric and areal fractions of deformed ice are derived from the simulated ice roughness. Comparisons of these simulated quantities with measurements (submarine-borne sonars, laser altimeters on helicopters) show good agreement. Satellite-borne observations of sea-ice roughness now under development will provide an even larger data set which will be used for model verification. Additionally roughness-dependent drag coefficients are introduced to account for the effect on the momentum exchange between ocean and atmosphere due to the form drag of roughness elements. The simulations indicate that the inclusion of sea-ice roughness provides for a more realistic representation of the boundary layer processes in climate models.

Description: The distribution of partial pressure of carbon dioxide and the concentrations of nitrous oxide and methane were investigated in a cold water filament near the coastal upwelling region off Oman at the beginning of the southwest monsoon in 1997. The results suggest that such filaments are regions of intense biogeochemical activity which may affect the marine cycling of climatically relevant trace gases

Description: Seaweed responses to eutrophication and their role in coastal eutrophication processes were compared at 8 different sites along the European coasts from the Baltic to the Mediterranean as part of the EU-ENVIRONMENT Project Marine Eutrophication and benthic Macrophytes (EUMAC). Structural and functional changes of marine benthic vegetation typical of eutrophic waters, in particular mass development (blooms) of certain seaweeds, are not merely the result of increased nutrient loading, but must be attributed to complex interactions of primary and secondary effects during the eutrophication process. Due to species-specific physiological properties of the algae (nutrient kinetics, growth potential, light, temperature requirements), the combined effects of abiotic and biotic factors on juvenile or adult developmental stages control the development of algal blooms in different ways. In particular the role of light, temperature, water motion and oxygen depletion, as well as of grazers, on early and adult developmental stages of the algae are considered. The result are discussed in the context of coastal eutrophication control and management

Description: Iridium enrichments, at or close to the K/T boundary, are often cited as evidence for impacts of cosmic bodies or volcanic events, or both, that resulted in mass extinctions. A third possible explanation for the high Ir concentrations, that the enrichments were caused by the cosmic micrometeorite flux during times of slow Sediment accumulation, has generally been rejected. In this study we examine the Ir/Au ratios and conclude that they may indicate enrichment of siderophile elements by slow sedimentation. In addition, the concept of slow sedimentation at the K/T boundary is consistent with many aspects of the K/T boundary research such as the gradual decline of the species before the major extinction level and recent reports of faunal transitions from Cretaceous to Tertiary without sudden extinctions, hiatuses or Ir anomalies.

Description: In this study the antifouling activity was investigated of a series of chemically related, halogenated furanones isolated from Delisea pulchra (Greville) Montagne, a red alga which is rarely fouled in the field. The metabolites were tested in laboratory assays against representatives of the three major groups of fouling organisms, the barnacle Baianus amphitrite amphitirite Darwin, the macroalga Ulva lactuca Linnaeus and a marine bacterium (strain SW 8). Settlement of barnacle cyprid larvae was strongly inhibited, with an EC50 of 〈 25 ng·mr1 (25 ppb) for some compounds. The settlement and growth of algal gametes was also strongly inhibited, in some cases at concentrations as low as 25 ng·cm-2 • Growth of the marine bacterium SW8 was inhibited more strongly than by the common antibiotic gentamicin. Overall, activity of the D. pulchra metabolites was comparable to that of the heavy metals and biocides currently used in antifouling paints. However, no single compound was most active in all tests and some metabolites effective against one organism showed Iittle or no activity a·gainst the others. The high but variable level of activity of the D. pulchra metabolites, coupled with their small size, relative stability, and ability tobe synthesized suggest their potential use as active ingredients in antifouling coatings.

Description: Active fluid venting was observed for the first time along the Aleutian convergent margin during RV SONNE cruise 97. These subduction-induced cold vents were subsequently investigated in detail during cruise SO 110 in the summer of 1996 using the Canadian remotely operated vehicle, ROPOS. Active sites of dewatering were found at the youngest deformation structure adjacent to the decollement zone. High concentrations of reduced gases in the escaping fluids provide the nutritional and energy basis for the observed chemosynthetic communities in which clams and tubeworms dominate. Further evidence for fluid venting comes from the mineral precipitates of barite and carbonates.

Description: Stratigraphy, lithology and depositional structures of Liassic red limestone-breccias of the Adnet Formation, including the ‘Adnet Scheck’, were studied at several outcrops of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) south-east of Salzburg. A four-fold lithostratigraphic division is proposed for the Adnet Formation of the Osterhorn Mountains: the hemipelagic Schmiedwirt (Sinemurian) and Kehlbach (Carixian) members are separated from the pelagic Saubach Member (Toarcian) by a layer of amalgamated breccias (Scheck Member, probably Domerian to early Toarcian). Several other breccia beds occur locally from the base of the Kehlbach Member up to the lower Saubach Member. Although the sediments overlying the Scheck Member breccias are of coeval age, the ages of the underlying strata are very different. This can be explained by submarine Liassic erosion during a period of resedimentation from the middle Carixian until the early Toarcian. At least 10–15 m of partly lithified sediments were eroded by gravity flows. The entire Kehlbach Member and up to two-thirds of the Schmiedwirt Member were removed at Adnet. The breccias originated from submarine debris flows. Repeated flows over a long period and the depositional setting exclude a triggering by sea-level fluctuations. Most probably they arose from tectonically triggered slumps and slides of superficial sediments. The ‘Scheck’ was initiated on the steep upper slope of the drowned Triassic Adnet reef and flowed to the north-east. The Pliensbachian to early Toarcian period of tectonic activity indicated by the breccias was the most important during the Liassic in the Osterhorn Mountains and other parts of the NCA. From the large-scale regional distribution of the breccias and in accord with published data, a roughly northeast trending strike-slip fault zone is proposed, crossing the NCA south of the Osterhorn block, with a peaking activity during the Pliensbachian to early Toarcian as the cause of the tectonic movements.

Description: Beaks of 133 specimens of Todarodes sagittatus caught in the central East Atlantic were studied. Relationships between several measurements of the upper and lower beaks and dorsal mantle length (DML) and total mass were calculated. The darkening process or pigmentation of both beaks was investigated and a qualitative scale of eight degrees of pigmentation developed. Except for the hood of the lower beak, the growth of both beaks was allometrically negative in relation to DML in males, whereas the growth of several parts of both beaks of females was allometrically positive. The hood grew faster than all other parts of the male beak and faster than all parts of the lower beak of females. Regression coefficients calculated for the growth of the beaks revealed differences between the growth patterns of females and males (p 〈 0.05). The results relating to darkening and the maturing process suggest that they are related and that they take place over a very short period in the life of the squid.

Description: During the breeding season 1996/97 we compared the foraging and diving behaviour of adult Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), growth rates of their chicks and their breeding success at two colonies in the south of Chile. One of the colonies is located on Magdalena Island in the Strait of Magellan, where a commercial fishery existed several years ago; the other, on the shores of the yet unexploited Otway Sound. Thirty adult Magellanic penguins were equipped with time–depth recorders (TDR) to investigate their behaviour at sea. In each colony 15 adults returning from the sea were stomach flushed to analyse dietary composition. Chicks of TDR-nests and of 12 additional control nests were weighed regularly. Foraging effort was significantly higher at Magdalena than at Otway. The Magdalena-birds usually remained at sea overnight and foraged with a mean duration of 18 h, whereas the penguins of Otway Sound foraged during 1-d trips with a mean duration of only 9 h. Compared to Magdalena, penguins at Otway dived shallower (mean depth 14.9 vs 16.5 m), shorter (mean duration 57.8 vs 64.3 s) and showed more searching and feeding as opposed to travelling activity (on average 69 vs 55%) during the foraging trips. Compared to other breeding locations both colonies were characterised by high chick growth rates, high fledging body masses (〉3 kg) and early fledging date (after 70 to 80 d), and a very high reproductive success of 〉1.75 chicks per breeding pair. Comparison of the diet (almost exclusively sprats) with former investigations suggests for both areas an unchanged food structure over the last decade. The results in both colonies indicate ample food availability in the season 1996/97. However, compared to the much smaller Otway colony, penguins on Magdalena have to cope with more competition for food. Therefore, future prey limitation, through resumed fishery operations or effects of El Niño, might affect the penguin population on the island more negatively than in Otway Sound.

Description: The cephalopod remains from 206 Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) scats collected at Mossman Peninsula, South Orkney Islands (n = 105) and at Stranger Point, South Shetland Islands (n = 101) contained 148 beaks (57 lower and 91 upper). The lower beaks were sorted and measured. Identification of 33 of the lower beaks that were collected at Mossman Peninsula revealed two squid species, Brachioteuthis ?picta (n = 26) and Psychroteuthisglacialis (n = 7), with lower rostral lengths (LRL) of 2.0–3.5 mm, and 1.0–2.5 mm, respectively. Identification of 15 of the lower beaks collected at Stranger Point revealed the same squid species, with the LRL of B. ?picta ranging from 3.0–3.4 mm (n = 9), and that of P. glacialis from 2.0 to 3.5 mm (n = 6). Estimated squid sizes and wet masses indicate that Antarctic fur seals feed on the small sub-adult squid which inhabit the surface layers. We have compared the squid diet estimated for the seals with that reported for its congeners in lower latitudes and other Antarctic seals, and conclude that cephalopods do not form an important food resource for Antarctic fur seals.

Description: High-resolution records of the natural radionuclide230Th were measured in sediments from the eastern Atlantic sector of the Antarctic circumpolar current to obtain a detailed reconstruction of the sedimentation history of this key area for global climate change during the late Quaternary. High-resolution dating rests on the assumption that the230Thex flux to the sediments is constant. Short periods of drastically increased sediment accumulation rates (up to a factor of 8) were determined in the sediments of the Antarctic zone during the climate optima at the beginning of the Holocene and the isotope stage 5e. By comparing expected and measured accumulation rate of230Thex, lateral sediment redistribution was quantified and vertical particle rain rates originating from the surface water above were calculated. We show that lateral contributions locally were up to 6.5 times higher than the vertical particle rain rates. At other locations only 15% of the expected vertical particle rain rate were deposited.

Description: Hydrographic data along 11°S occupied in 1983 by the R.V. OCEANUS are used together with various wind climatologies to estimate the annual average transport of heat at this latitude. Some motivation for expecting fairly well-defined estimates at this latitude compared to others comes from the absence of a strong western boundary current. Results include flow in four layers representing the thermocline, Antarctic Intermediate Water, North Atlantic Deep Water, and Antarctic Bottom Water, using zero velocity reference level choices based on property distributions. The annual average heat transport is estimated to be 0.6 ± 0.17 x 1015 W. Previous estimates of the transport at 8–16°S range from 0.2 PW to greater than 1 PW. Interannual variability from the wind field alone leads to interannual heat transport variability of about 0.05 PW. Comparisons with other recent studies at 45–30°S and 11°N are made.

Description: Investigations on the occurrence of trichodinid ciliates from fish caught in the Kiel Bight and Kiel Fjord (western Baltic Sea) were carried out between September 1996 and March 1997. Smears of the gills, fins, and skin of 120 Gadus morhua and 92 Platichthys flesus caught by fish traps and trammel nets revealed the presence of trichodinid ciliates. According to the fish species and locality, different prevalences and densities of trichodinid ciliates were found. Fish caught in the Kiel Bight revealed a lower prevalence of trichodinid ciliates on their gills (P. flesus 74.2%, G. morhua 3.8%) in comparison with fish of the same species and size caught in the Kiel Fjord (P. flesus 75.0%, G. morhua 26.2%). In both areas, P. flesus was more heavily infested than G. morhua. Seasonal changes in the prevalence of infestation of P. flesus between autumn and winter in the Kiel Fjord are proposed to be linked to an increase in bacterial biomass during winter. The fish ecology in combination with the total number of bacteria in the fish environment is discussed as an important factor influencing the abundance of trichodinid ciliates. The present data suggest the use of trichodinid ciliates as an indicator for eutrophication in brackish-water environments.

Description: The free surface version of the GFDL model is used to study inflow and outflow through the Danish Straits, which connect the Baltic with the North Sea. Three problems are addressed: (i) the piling up of inflowing water in the Arkona basin; (ii) the transport ratios between Belt and Sound; (iii) the dominance of hydraulic or geostrophic control. Model results show that a cyclonic eddy (dome) is formed by the inflowing saline water that prevents this water from passing rapidly into the Bornholm basin. This eddy is enforced with increasing inflow due to a sea level difference between Kattegat and western Baltic. If density gradients along the straits are weak and the flow is dominantly driven by sea level differences between Kattegat and Baltic, the well-known ratio of 70% : 30% for the transports through Belt and Sound are confirmed. Strong density gradients can change this ratio considerably, especially in the outflow case, when the light water of the Baltic flows against the heavier water of the Kattegat. Under variable wind conditions, no fixed ratio is found. The flow in the Straits is geostrophically controlled; however, the strong baroclinic density field does not allow us to derive the transport simply from sea level inclination.

Description: A new phototrophic purple bacterium was isolated from a flat, laminated microbial mat in a salt marsh near Woods Hole, Mass., USA. The spiral-shaped bacterium was highly motile and had bipolar tufts of flagella and intracytoplasmic membranes of the vesicular type. The major photosynthetic pigments were identified as the carotenoid tetrahydrospirilloxanthin and bacteriochlorophyll b. The long wavelength in vivo absorption maximum of the bacteriochlorophyll was at 986 nm. The marine bacterium showed optimal growth in the presence of 2% NaCl. It utilized a number of organic substrates as carbon and energy sources and required vitamins and sulfide as a reduced sulfur source for growth. In the presence of sulfide, elemental sulfur globules were formed outside the cells. Elemental sulfur was not further oxidized to sulfate. The new isolate had a unique lipid and fatty acid composition, and according to the 16S rRNA gene sequence, it is most similar to Rhodospirillum rubrum. It is described as a new species and assigned to a new genus with the proposed name Rhodospira trueperi.

Description: From the microbial mats that develop in Solar Lake, a new purple sulfur bacterium was isolated. This strain (Chromatium strain SL 3201) was morphologically similar to Chromatium gracile and Chromatium minutissimum. Chromatium SL 3201 was found to be a moderate halophile with a growth range between 2 and 20% NaCl (optimum 4-5% NaCl) and was able to grow photo-organotrophically using glycolate and glycerol. It is the first described phototrophic sulfur bacterium able to use glycolate. According to NaCl requirements and utilization of organic compounds, the strain is not related to any known species of the genus Chromatium. On the basis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence, it clusters with other Chromatium species and is most similar to Chromatium salexigens and Chr. gracile, but it is sufficiently separated to be considered as a new species of the genus. It is, therefore, described as Chromatium glycolicum sp. nov.

Description: The data from six zonal sections in the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) in the tropical and southem Atlantic are used to describe the distribution of water masses. Due to the high spatial resolution, the structure oftemperature, salinity, oxygen, silicate and nitrate displays details related to transport and mixing in this region. Temperature-salinity diagrams are also presented which indicate the effects ofbranching and recirculation loops in the water mass flow.

Description: The ocean stores and transports vast quantities of heat, fresh water, carbon and other materials, and its circulation plays an important role in determining both the Earth's climate and fundamental processes in the biosphere. Understanding the development of climate and important biological cycles therefore requires detailed knowledge of ocean circulation and its transport properties. This cannot be achieved solely through modelling, but must involve accurate observations of the spatio-temporal evolution of the global oceanic flow field. Estimates of oceanic flow are currently made on the basis of space-borne measurements of the sea surface, and monitoring of the ocean interior. Satellite altimetry and acoustic tomography are complementary for this purpose1, as the former provides detailed horizontal coverage of the surface, and the latter the requisite vertical sampling of the interior. High-quality acoustic-tomographic2 and altimetric3 data are now available to test the combined power of these technologies for estimating oceanic flows. Here we demonstrate that, with the aid of state-of-the-art numerical models, it is possible to recover from these data a detailed spatio-temporal record of flow over basin-scale volumes of fluid. Our present results are restricted to the Mediterranean Sea, but the method described here provides a powerful tool for studying oceanic circulation worldwide.

Description: Recent advances in using immunological and nucleic acid probes to detect the effects of environmental stress on phytoplankton growth rate and yield are reviewed here. The rationale for this approach is discussed in the context of the general response observed from microorganisms grown under stress imposed by various environmental factors. Retrenchment, or the observed down-regulation of metabolic processes under nutrient deficiency, is categorized as a general response that is of limited use in designing probes to stress induced by a specific nutrient. In contrast, compensation and the increase capacity for nutrient acquisition are specific responses that appear more promising for the development of such probes. Methods and approaches used to design immunological and nucleic acid probes for stress imposed by nutrient deficiency are reviewed. Specific examples for iron and nitrogen limitation are presented to demonstrate the potential use of nutrient stress indicators in natural populations of phytoplankton. Finally, the limitations of this approach and the importance of understanding the regulation of the genes and proteins used to prepare the probes are emphasized.

Description: To study the variability of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic on decadal time scales, the atmospheric regional model REMO is currently investigated as a component of a fully-coupled atmosphere–ice–ocean model for the Arctic/North Atlantic. A comparison of a 5-year uncoupled simulation of the regional model with a 5-year NCEP/NCAR reanalysis period is carried out in order to assess the performance of the regional model in polar and subpolar regions. The model simulates basic structures realistically. It performs well in middle latitudes but shows some problems in the region of the marginal ice zone and in continental regions with extreme temperature amplitudes. The high elevations of Greenland in the central part of the model domain give rise to problems in the model dynamics, resulting in moderate deviations from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis.