3,145 research outputs found
Fish Habitat Utilization Patterns and Evaluation of the Efficacy of Marine Protected Areas in Hawaii: Integration of NOAA Digital Benthic Habitat Mapping and Coral Reef Ecological Studies
Over the past four decades, the state of Hawaii has developed a system of eleven Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs) to conserve and replenish marine resources around the state. Initially established to provide opportunities for public interaction with the marine environment, these MLCDs vary in size, habitat quality, and management regimes, providing an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses concerning marine protected area (MPA) design and function using multiple discreet sampling units. NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment’s Biogeography Team developed digital benthic habitat maps for all MLCD and adjacent habitats. These maps were used to evaluate the efficacy of existing MLCDs for biodiversity conservation and fisheries replenishment, using a spatially explicit stratified random sampling design. Coupling the distribution of habitats and species habitat affinities using GIS technology elucidates species habitat utilization patterns at scales that are commensurate with ecosystem processes and is useful in defining essential fish habitat and biologically relevant boundaries for MPAs.
Analysis of benthic cover validated the a priori classification of habitat types and provided justification for using these habitat strata to conduct stratified random sampling and analyses of fish habitat utilization patterns. Results showed that the abundance and distribution of species and assemblages exhibited strong correlations with habitat types. Fish assemblages in the colonized and uncolonized hardbottom habitats were found to be most similar among all of the habitat types. Much of the macroalgae habitat sampled was macroalgae growing on hard substrate, and as a result showed similarities with the other hardbottom assemblages. The fish assemblages in the sand habitats were highly variable but distinct from the other habitat types.
Management regime also played an important role in the abundance and distribution of fish assemblages. MLCDs had higher values for most fish assemblage characteristics (e.g. biomass, size, diversity) compared with adjacent fished areas and Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) across all habitat types. In addition, apex predators and other targeted resources species were more abundant and larger in the MLCDs, illustrating the effectiveness of these closures in conserving fish populations. Habitat complexity, quality, size and level of protection from fishing were important determinates of MLCD effectiveness with respect to their associated fish assemblages. (PDF contains 217 pages
The origin and propagation of VVH primary cosmic ray particles
Several source spectra were constructed from combinations of 4- and s-process nuclei to match the observed charge spectrum of VVH particles. Their propagation was then followed, allowing for interactions and decay, and comparisons were made between the calculated near-earth spectra and those observed during high altitude balloon flights. None of the models gave good agreement with observations
Primary cosmic ray particles with z 35 (VVH particles)
Large areas of nuclear emulsions and plastic detectors were exposed to the primary cosmic radiation during high altitude balloon flights. From the analysis of 141 particle tracks recorded during a total exposure of 1.3 x 10 to the 7th power sq m ster.sec., a charge spectrum of the VVH particles has been derived
On the supercritically diffusive magneto-geostrophic equations
We address the well-posedness theory for the magento-geostrophic equation,
namely an active scalar equation in which the divergence-free drift velocity is
one derivative more singular than the active scalar. In the presence of
supercritical fractional diffusion given by (-\Delta)^\gamma, where 0<\gamma<1,
we discover that for \gamma>1/2 the equations are locally well-posed, while for
\gamma<1/2 they are ill-posed, in the sense that there is no Lipschitz solution
map. The main reason for the striking loss of regularity when \gamma goes below
1/2 is that the constitutive law used to obtain the velocity from the active
scalar is given by an unbounded Fourier multiplier which is both even and
anisotropic. Lastly, we note that the anisotropy of the constitutive law for
the velocity may be explored in order to obtain an improvement in the
regularity of the solutions when the initial data and the force have thin
Fourier support, i.e. they are supported on a plane in frequency space. In
particular, for such well-prepared data one may prove the local existence and
uniqueness of solutions for all values of \gamma \in (0,1).Comment: 24 page
Cohomology for infinitesimal unipotent algebraic and quantum groups
In this paper we study the structure of cohomology spaces for the Frobenius
kernels of unipotent and parabolic algebraic group schemes and of their quantum
analogs. Given a simple algebraic group , a parabolic subgroup , and
its unipotent radical , we determine the ring structure of the cohomology
ring . We also obtain new results on computing
as an -module where is a
simple -module with high weight in the closure of the bottom
-alcove. Finally, we provide generalizations of all our results to the
quantum situation.Comment: 18 pages. Some proofs streamlined over previous version. Additional
details added to some proofs in Section
Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health of Ilhas Selvagens, Portugal
In September 2015, National Geographic's Pristine Seas project, in conjunction with the Instituto Universitário-Portugal, The Waitt Institute, the University of Western Australia, and partners conducted a comprehensive assessment of the rarely surveyed Ilhas Selvagens to explore the marine environment, especially the poorly understood deep sea and open ocean areas, and quantify the biodiversity of the nearshore marine environment
Strict polynomial functors and coherent functors
We build an explicit link between coherent functors in the sense of Auslander
and strict polynomial functors in the sense of Friedlander and Suslin.
Applications to functor cohomology are discussed.Comment: published version, 24 pages. Section 2.7 reorganized, and notational
distinction between left and right tensor product reinstalle
Second-order gravitational self-force
We derive an expression for the second-order gravitational self-force that
acts on a self-gravitating compact-object moving in a curved background
spacetime. First we develop a new method of derivation and apply it to the
derivation of the first-order gravitational self-force. Here we find that our
result conforms with the previously derived expression. Next we generalize our
method and derive a new expression for the second-order gravitational
self-force. This study also has a practical motivation: The data analysis for
the planned gravitational wave detector LISA requires construction of waveforms
templates for the expected gravitational waves. Calculation of the two leading
orders of the gravitational self-force will enable one to construct highly
accurate waveform templates, which are needed for the data analysis of
gravitational-waves that are emitted from extreme mass-ratio binaries.Comment: 35 page
Support varieties for selfinjective algebras
Support varieties for any finite dimensional algebra over a field were
introduced by Snashall-Solberg using graded subalgebras of the Hochschild
cohomology. We mainly study these varieties for selfinjective algebras under
appropriate finite generation hypotheses. Then many of the standard results
from the theory of support varieties for finite groups generalize to this
situation. In particular, the complexity of the module equals the dimension of
its corresponding variety, all closed homogeneous varieties occur as the
variety of some module, the variety of an indecomposable module is connected,
periodic modules are lines and for symmetric algebras a generalization of
Webb's theorem is true
"Peeling property" for linearized gravity in null coordinates
A complete description of the linearized gravitational field on a flat
background is given in terms of gauge-independent quasilocal quantities. This
is an extension of the results from gr-qc/9801068. Asymptotic spherical
quasilocal parameterization of the Weyl field and its relation with Einstein
equations is presented. The field equations are equivalent to the wave
equation. A generalization for Schwarzschild background is developed and the
axial part of gravitational field is fully analyzed. In the case of axial
degree of freedom for linearized gravitational field the corresponding
generalization of the d'Alembert operator is a Regge-Wheeler equation. Finally,
the asymptotics at null infinity is investigated and strong peeling property
for axial waves is proved.Comment: 27 page
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