This paper describes an artificial intelligence (AI) system for estuarine model design. It is created by the combination of case-based reasoning and genetic algorithm techniques. This application aims to make the utilisation of complicated and expensive hydrodynamic models flexible, cost-effective and accessible to non-specialists. By organising the available knowledge of estuarine modelling in...

Benthic bivalves are important links between primary production and consumers, and are essential intermediates in the flow of energy through estuarine systems. However, information on the diet of filter feeding bivalves in estuarine ecosystems is uncertain, as estuarine waters contain particulate matter from a range of sources and as bivalves are opportunistic feeders. We surveyed bivalves at d...

Details are given in this paper of the development of a numerical model for describing the bacterial transport processes in estuarine and coastal waters. The transport of enteric bacteria is influenced by many physical, chemical and biological factors, including both the suspended and bed sediments. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have shown that generally the sediments contain...

Many aquatic ecosystems are sustained by detrital subsidies of leaf litter derived from exogenous sources. Although numerous studies have examined the effects of litter species richness and identity on decomposition processes, it remains unclear how these effects extend to associated invertebrate communities or how these effects vary spatially according to local environmental context. Using fie...

Aconcagua River basin (Central Chile) harbors diverse economic activities such as agriculture, mining and a crude oil refinery. The aim of this study was to assess environmental drivers of microbial communities in Aconcagua River estuarine soils, which may be influenced by anthropogenic activities taking place upstream and by natural processes such as tides and flood runoffs. Physicochemical pa...

Fixed nitrogen (N) removal from estuaries via coupled nitrification–denitrification plays a significant role in the global N cycle and the biogeochemistry of individual estuaries. Much of our understanding of these processes is drawn from temperate estuaries, yet tropical and subtropical estuaries may respond differently to N inputs. I tested the hypothesis that nitrification is limited within ...

Restriction site variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) was surveyed in continuously distributed populations sampled from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, to Brownsville, Texas. mtDNA clonal diversity was high, with 82 different haplotypes revealed among 212 oysters with 13 endonucleases. The mtDNA clones grouped into two distinct genetic arrays (...

We examined the variation of stomach nematode intensity and species richness of Alligator mississippiensis from coastal estuarine and inland freshwater habitats in Florida and Georgia, and integrated prey content data to predict possible intermediate hosts. Nematode parasitism within inland freshwater inhabiting populations was found to have a higher intensity and species richness than those in...

California’s primary hydrologic system, the San Francisco Estuary and its upstream watershed, is vulnerable to the regional hydrologic consequences of projected global climate change. Previous work has shown that a projected warming would result in a reduction of snowpack storage leading to higher winter and lower spring-summer streamflows and increased spring-summer salinities in the estuary. ...

Laboratory microcosm experiments were performed to determine whether chlorine-exposed Escherichia coli are capable of recovery (i.e., increase in numbers of culturable cells) in estuarine waters and if so what water-quality parameters are responsible for this recovery. Suspensions of E. coli were exposed to 0.5 mg L(-1) of chlorine for 5 min followed by dechlorination with sodium thiosulfate. T...