Biophysical Factors Affecting the Distribution of Demersal Fish around the Head of a Submarine Canyon Off the Bonney Coast, South Australia

We sampled the demersal fish community of the Bonney Canyon, South Australia at depths (100–1,500 m) and locations that are poorly known. Seventy-eight species of demersal fish were obtained from 12 depth-stratified trawls along, and to either side, of the central canyon axis. Distributional patterns in species richness and biomass were highly correlated. Three fish assemblage groupings, characterised by small suites of species with narrow depth distributions, were identified on the shelf, upper slope and mid slope. The assemblage groupings were largely explained by depth (ρw = 0.78). Compared to the depth gradient, canyon-related effects are weak or occur at spatial or temporal scales not sampled in this study. A conceptual physical model displayed features consistent with the depth zonational patterns in fish, and also indicated that canyon upwelling can occur. The depth zonation of the fish assemblage was associated with the depth distribution of water masses in the area. Notably, the mid-slope community (1,000 m) coincided with a layer of Antarctic Intermediate Water, the upper slope community (500 m) resided within the core of the Flinders Current, and the shelf community was located in a well-mixed layer of surface water (<450 m depth)

Biomass, lipid productivity and fatty acid composition of fresh water microalga Rhopalosolen saccatus cultivated under phosphorous limited conditions

This study reports the bioprospecting of microalgae as a potential feedstock for biomass and lipid production in the Central Queensland region, Australia. During the dry season of 2010, ninety water samples were collected from a range of water bodies across the Central Queensland region of Australia. These water bodies had pH ranging from of 5.8–8.8, electrical conductivity of 184–2351 μS cm−1 and water temperature between 17 and 21 °C. Strains of Rhopalosolen saccatus, Navicula sp. 1, Nitzschia pusilla and Navicula sp. 2 were identified positive for neutral lipid content. Among the strains R. saccatus had significantly high biomass (1.46 g L−1) and lipid content (0.20 g L−1) compared to other strains when cultivated for 22 d under standard nutrient growth media. When grown under limiting P conditions, biomass and total lipid across the treatments did not vary significantly from the control, although a few fatty acids such as C16:0, C16:1 and C18:3 increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05).The prevalent fatty acids in this study included C22:0 followed by C20:0 and C18:3, in decreasing order of concentrations.The pH varied from 6.84 to 9.87 across the growth trials and there was no significant correlation between pH, biomass, total lipid and P concentrations

Using design as boundary spanner object in climate change mitigation projects

Climate change is a growing concern for society and the focus of numerous research initiatives across multiple fields of science. These initiatives often need to capitalize on the cross-specialized knowledge contributed by researchers from very different fields. The diversity of worldviews among key stakeholders requires an effective overall design strategy acting as a boundary spanner object. This study presents an account of the issues faced by a multidisciplinary research project and discusses the suitability of a design approach to help address issues such as equality, empowerment, autonomy, creativity, performance, reduction of innovation cycle times and also provide for the necessary balance between control, speediness and flexibility.Validerad; 2010; 20100318 (biggan)</p

Bar graphs of demersal fish richness and biomass collected from trawl shots at 4 depth strata (100 m, 200 m, 500 m, 1000 m) around the head of Bonney Canyon.

<p>Locations relative to the main canyon axis are represented by different shades of fill (black = west, grey = centre, white = west).</p

Pearson correlation coefficients between species richness and biomass of demersal fish and adjacent environmental conditions at 12–15 depth stratified sampling sites around the Bonney Canyon.

<p>Significant correlations after Bonferroni correction are denoted at the **1% level and *5% level.</p