The South China Sea (SCS), the largest marginal sea in the Western Pacific Ocean, is a huge oligotrophic water body with very limited influx of nitrogenous nutrients. This suggests that sediment microbial N(2) fixation plays an important role in the production of bioavailable nitrogen. To test the molecular underpinning of this hypothesis, the diversity, abundance, biogeographical distribution,...

Cumulative watershed effects (CWEs) result from multiple activities over time and space. The assessment of CWEs in the Sierra Nevada is severely limited by the lack of field data on the effects of a given action, the lack of models to predict the effects of multiple actions at the watershed scale, and the limited data relating stream channel conditions to measured or predicted changes in runoff...

a r t i c l e i n f o The Yangtze River dominates the drainage of eastern Asia, yet the processes that control erosion within the basin are obscure, making the interpretation of the detritus record difficult. In this study we used U–Pb dating of zircon grains from the modern main stream and major tributaries to identify the sources of sediment production, based on the diversity of zircon ages a...

In situ production responses of air-exposed intertidal communities under CO2 enrichment are reported here for the first time. We assessed the short-term effects of CO2 on the light responses of the net community production (NCP) and community respiration (CR) of intertidal Z. noltei and unvegetated sediment communities of Ria Formosa lagoon, when exposed to air. NCP and CR were measured in situ...

The variability and patchiness in composition of bacterial communities were studied in a large eutrophic boreal lake (280 km2) with a mean depth of <3 m. The present study was undertaken to determine the factors that influence species dispersal in the sediment environment of large shallow lakes and to test the hypothesis that species dispersal in the sediment is heterogeneous. Surficial sedimen...

Weathering on mountain slopes converts rock to sediment that erodes into channels and thus provides streams with tools for incision into bedrock. Both the size and flux of sediment from slopes can influence channel incision, making sediment production and erosion central to the interplay of climate and tectonics in landscape evolution. Although erosion rates are commonly measured using cosmogen...

The New Zealand cockle Austrovenus stutchburyi is often found stranded on the sediment surface due to infections by echinostome trematodes. High densities of heavily-infected cockles on the sediment surface a¡ect near-seabed hydrodynamics and sedimentation and, in turn, benthic animal community structure and diversity. In a six-month ¢eld experiment on an intertidal sand£at we manipulated the d...

[1] Mechanistic models for sediment transport on hillslopes are needed for applications ranging from landscape evolution to debris-flow hazards. Progress has been made for soil-mantled landscapes; however, little is known about sediment production and transport in bedrock landscapes that often maintain a patchy soil mantle, even though slopes exceed the angle of repose. Herein we investigate th...

A sediment-type self-sustained phototrophic microbial fuel cell (MFC) was developed to generate electricity through the synergistic interaction between photosynthetic microorganisms and heterotrophic bacteria. Under illumination, the MFC continuously produced electricity without the external input of exogenous organics or nutrients. The current increased in the dark and decreased with the light...