environmental_2022

Environmental studies 2022

Authors: Alessandro Lambertini, Massimiliano Menghini, Jacopo Cimini, Angelo Odetti, Gabriele Bruzzone, Marco Bibuli, Emanuele Mandanici, Luca Vittuari, Paolo Castaldi, Massimo Caccia, and Luca De Marchi. The ability to observe the world has seen significant developments in the last few decades, alongside the techniques and methodologies to derive accurate digital replicas of observed envi- ronments. Underwater ecosystems present greater challenges and remain largely unexplored, but the need for reliable and up-to-date information motivated the birth of the Interreg Italy–Croatia SUSHI DROP Project (Sustainable fisheries wIth DROnes data Processing). The aim of the project is to map ecosystems for sustainable fishing and to achieve this goal a prototype of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), named Blucy, has been designed and developed.

Authors: Stephanie M. BilodeauI, Austin W. H. Schwartz, Binfeng Xu, V. Pau´l Pauca, Miles R. Silman. Abstract: Understanding long-term trends in marine ecosystems requires accurate and repeatable counts of fishes and other aquatic organisms on spatial and temporal scales that are difficult or impossible to achieve with diver-based surveys. Long-term, spatially distributed cameras, like those used in terrestrial camera trapping, have not been successfully applied in marine systems due to limitations of the aquatic environment. in this paper, the authors develop a methodology for a system of low-cost, long- term camera traps (Dispersed Environment Aquatic Cameras), deployable over large spatial scales in remote marine environments.

The Energy Transition Index (ETI) has benchmarked the progress of countries’ energy transition for a decade on the three dimensions of the energy triangle – economic development and growth, energy security and access, and environmental sustainability – and on the enabling environment for transition. In view of the current volatile macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, however, a trend analysis from historical energy data can currently provide only limited insights. Hence, instead of the annual country energy transition benchmarking report, this special 2022 edition builds on the ETI trends observed in recent years to provide a perspective on the current challenges affecting the transition, and highlights priorities to supercharge it.

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Authors: Lakshman R. T. Pedamallu, Ramiro J. J. Neves, Nelson E. V. Rodrigues, & J. V. Cruz. Offshore Geothermal Energy can be considered as a non- polluting source of renewable energy, in relation to harmful emissions that are associated with burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. The geothermal brines of the mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal vents are believed to be potential sources of offshore geothermal energy. These fluids represent one of the most abundant energy resources worldwide, due to their enormous quantity, infinite recharge, and high temperatures. However, all forms of electricity generation impact the environment in some way. The ecological and biological importance of the vents restricts the number of areas that can be utilized to produce electricity.

Authors: Gregory S. Schorr, M. Bradley Hanson, Erin A. Falcone, Candice K. Emmons, Susan M. Jarvis, Russel D. Andrews, and Eric M. Keen. The Pacific Offshore killer whale population is currently listed as data deficient on the IUCN Red List and Threatened in Canada. The population is estimated at 300 individuals, extending from Southern California to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. To better understand trends, habitat use, and diving behavior, The authors deployed seven dart-attached satellite tags during two encounters with Offshores off California and one meeting off Washington State in 2013.

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Authors: Rachel D. Moseley, Justyna J. Hampel, Rachel L. Mugge and Leila J. Hamdan The studies described in this document aimed to investigate how historic wooden-hulled shipwrecks impact the dispersal of wood-colonizing microbial biofilms. They addressed how proximity to wooden shipwrecks shapes diversity, richness, and community composition in the surrounding environment. Study sites included two historic shipwrecks in the northern Gulf of Mexico identified as wooden-hulled sailing vessels dating to the late 19th century.

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Authors: Michael G. Bertram, Jake M. Martin, Erin S. McCallum , Lesley A. Alton, Jack A. Brand, Bryan W. Brooks, Daniel Cerveny, Jerker Fick, Alex T. Ford, Gustav Hellström, Marcus Michelangeli, Shinichi Nakagawa, Giovanni Polverino, Minna Saaristo, Andrew Sih, Hung Tan, Charles R. Tyler, Bob B.M. Wong, and Tomas Brodin The aim of this review is to guide the rapidly developing field of behavioural ecotoxicology towards increased environmental realism, ecological complexity, and mechanistic understanding.

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Authors: Roman Ekhlakov, Ekaterina Romanova, Elena Dogadin, Sergey Korchagin, Sergey Gataullin, Józef Mosiej, Timur Gataullin, and Petr Nikitin A significant group of industrial facilities can be classified as chemically hazardous facilities (CHFs). To predict the spread of harmful impurities in the programs being developed, Gaussian and Lagrangian probabilistic models are actively used, on the basis of which the complexes used both in the EMERCOM of Russia and in research organizations are being implemented.

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Authors: Marissa B. Kosnik, Michael Zwicky Hauschild, and Peter Fantke This paper proposes an absolute environmental sustainability framework for chemical pollution where the chemical pressure on ecosystems is quantified, the ability of ecosystems to withstand chemical pressure is determined, and the “ safe space is derived, wherein chemical pressure is within the carrying capacity and hence does not lead to irreversible adverse ecological effects.

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Authors: Adrian Lee, Benny Jiang, Ingrid Zeng, Michal Aibin This paper explores the possibility of using computer vision and underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to detect medical waste, such as masks and gloves in oceans. The authors use a single-stage detector to train the machine learning approach and then validate the results using the video feed from the tethered ROV.

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22 - Combining functional diversity of lotic fish communities with river health assessment based on multi-metric chemical pollution and biological integrity index models

Authors: Namsrai Jargal, Md Mamun, Chang-Yun Choi, and Kwang-Guk An Clarifying how functional traits of aquatic organisms depend on ecological conditions can facilitate aquatic conservation and management, but determining the importance of these traits to ecological river health requires further investigation. As fish play a vital role in the assessment of environmental conditions, the authors examined the relevance of the functional diversity of lotic fish to the river health assessment using multi-metric models of water pollution and fish-based biological integrity.

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Authors: Ticiana Fettermann, Lorenzo Fiori, Len Gillman, Karen A. Stockin, and Barbara Bollard Generating accurate estimates of group sizes or behaviours of cetaceans from boat-based surveys can be challenging because much of their activity occurs below the water surface and observations are distorted by horizontal perspectives. Automated observation using drones is an emerging research tool for animal behavioural investigations. However, drone-based and boat-based survey methods have not been quantitatively compared for small, highly mobile cetaceans, such as Delphinidae. The authors conducted paired concurrent boat-based and drone-based surveys, measuring the number of individuals in 21 groups of bottlenose dolphin.

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Authors: Aleksandra Koroza, and Peter G. H. Evans Levels of boat traffic in coastal seas have been steadily increasing in many parts of the world, introducing pressures on marine wildlife through disturbance. The appropriate management of human activities is important not only to preserve wildlife, but also for the local communities that depend on ecotourism for employment and their economy. This study presents further insight into bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) responses to boats in New Quay Bay (West Wales) within the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation.

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Authors: Israa Ibrahim Lazim, Samar Jasim Mohammed, Neran Adran al Naqeeb, and Mohamed I A Fayed. This study illustrates the importance of some aquatic plants as bio-indicators of contamination with hydrocarbons and heavy elements. Aquatic plants have many applications in treating contamination with hydrocarbons and heavy components due to their much lower cost and higher efficiency. Aquatic plants have been proved in numerous studies to be sinks for heavy metals and hydrocarbons in aquatic ecosystems, and it is also used in the treatment process and to reduce or limit contamination.

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Authors: Mihaela Marilena Stancu The present study aimed to evaluate the potential of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain to tolerate and degrade aliphatic petroleum hydrocarbons.

Publisher: US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs The potential effects of wind energy development on marine fisheries resources have gained attention due to the ecological and economic importance of the fisheries and the repercussions to fishing communities. Fisheries are exposed to impact from offshore wind energy development due to port location, the overlap of fishing grounds and wind energy areas, and the nature of the gear and vessels used. The impact of excluding fishing and survey efforts from wind energy areas was examined using a modeling tool.

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Authors: Ismail, Grema, M. A. Allamin, Bukar, Adamu, and Fardami. Petroleum hydrocarbons are among the major driving forces of advancement in the last Century. However, some hydrocarbons are leading to adverse health and ecosystem stability effects. Environmental pollution with petroleum and petrochemical products has been recognized as a significant and severe problem. Most oil components are toxic to humans and wildlife, as they are easily incorporated into the food chain. This fact has increased scientific interest in examining the distribution, fate, and behaviour of oil and its derivatives in the environment.

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Authors: Central mediterranean Sea - Threatened by Anthropogenic Impacts (Michela Angiolillo, Michela Giusti, Lorenzo Rossi, and Leonardo Tunesi This study reports the first attempt to quantitatively describe a Dendrophyllia ramea population on the Apollo bank (Ionian Sea), revealed in summer 2021 through a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) survey. The habitat description, bathymetric distribution, population density, and structure of the species were assessed by image analysis.

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Authors: M. Riedel, M. Scherwath, M. Römer, C. K. Paull, E. M. Lundsten, D. Caress, P. G. Brewer, J. W. Pohlman, L. L. Lapham, N. R. Chapman, M. J. Whiticar, G. D. Spence, R. J. Enkin, and K. Douglas Barkley Canyon is off the west coast off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The authors combined repeat remotely operated vehicle (ROV) sea floor video observations, mapping with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), ship-, ROV-, and AUV- based identification of gas flares, as well as seismic and Chirp data to investigate the distribution of fluid migration pathways.

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Authors: O. V. Soloveva, E. A. Tikhonova, K. I. Gurov, E. A. Kotelyanets The present environmental problems of Balaklava Bay (Black Sea), which has an increased anthropogenic load for a long time, are of growing interest. It is known that high concentrations of hydrocarbons (HCs) negatively affect the life processes of hydrobionts. The purpose of this work is to determine the content and spatial distribution of HCs as well as to assess the possible sources of their input in the bottom sediments of Balaklava Bay.

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26 - Fish surveys on the move: Adapting automated fish detection and classification frameworks for videos on a remotely operated vehicle in shallow marine waters

Authors: Rod M. Connolly, Kristin I. Jinks, Cesar Herrera, and Sebastian Lopez-Marcano Mobile underwater cameras, diver-operated or on underwater vehicles, have become popular for monitoring fisheries. Replacing divers with cameras has clear advantages, such as creating permanent records and accessing waters unavailable to divers. The use of cameras, however, typically produces large quantities of video that are time-consuming to process manually. Automated analysis of underwater videos from stationary cameras using deep learning techniques has advanced considerably in recent years, but the use of mobile cameras potentially raises new challenges for existing methods.

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Authors: Maria Bollinger, Keir J. Macartney, Erin E. Easton, and David W. Hicks On the continental shelf off the coast of South Texas lie a series of natural hard-bottom structures (rocky outcrops and relic coral-algal reefs) known as the South Texas Banks (STB), which provide critical habitat for benthic organisms and pelagic fish. The depth of the banks, a persistent nepheloid layer, and strong currents have resulted in few studies that provide quantitative biodiversity data on the STB. Using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), video surveys were conducted to quantitatively describe the mesophotic coral communities and assess habitat suitability of fiveve STB

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31 - Deep-sea biology in undergraduate classrooms: Open access data from remotely operated vehicles provide impactful research experiences.

Authors: Mackenzie E. Gerringer, Yumna Ismail, Kayla A. Cannon, Arline Camilo Hernandez, Franchesca Gonzales Peralta, Ryan Bohen, Joseph C. Cartwright, Austin Feasley, Lydia Fregosi, Hannah Lehman, Hailey Niles, Jillian Quay, Nima Sherpa, Brett H. Woodworth, and Kasey Cantwell Access to deep-sea systems has been expanded by programs such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Exploration (NOAA Ocean Exploration), which uses telepresence to bring deep-sea exploration to a global audience. The authors of this paper present an example of how remotely operated vehicles can engage students in original research.

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Authors: Tadamichi Morisaka, Tomo Furuichi, Kazunobu Kogi, Motoi Yoshioka The authors propose a group definition for underwater observations after comparing 234 group transitions from 44 surveys of simultaneous boat-based and underwater observations targeting the resident Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins around Mikura Island, Japan.

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Authors: Carlotta Sacco Perasso, Federica Antonelli, Barbara Calcinai, Edoardo Casoli, Maria Flavia Gravina, and Sandra Ricci Bioerosion is the destruction of hard substrates resulting from biological activity, and plays a relevant role in the ecological interactions and coastal dynamics processes. Several organisms have evolved structures and behaviors allowing them to perforate biotic and abiotic surfaces, transforming hard surfaces into particles, and contributing significantly to sediment production in the coastal and marine environment. Due to the large geographical diffusion of marine borers, bioerosion is relevant in many scientific and applied fields of interest.

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14 - Short-Term Response of Deep-Water Benthic Megafauna to Installation of a Pipeline Over a Depth Gradient on the Angolan Slope

Authors: Virginia Biede, Andrew R. Gates, Simone Pfeifer, Jane E. Collins, Carmen Santos, and Daniel O. B. Jones Large structures are introduced into deep-water marine environments by several industrial activities, including hydrocarbon exploitation. Anthropogenic structures can alter ecosystem structure and functioning in many marine ecosystems but the responses on continental margins are poorly known. The authors investigated the short-term response of benthic megafauna to the installation of a 56 km-long 30 cm diameter pipeline on the Angolan Margin (Block 31) from 700 to 1800 m water depth using remotely operated vehicle imager

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Authors: Hailey L. Davies, Shane Gross, Dana R. Haggarty, Francis Juanes Rockfishes are a diverse group of fish in the order Scorpaeniformes that are distributed globally but concentrated in the North Pacific. Recognizable by their large eyes and distinct dorsal spines, the genus is united by shared characteristics including live births, head spines, a highly spinous dorsal fin succeeded by a soft- rayed portion, and musculature attached to a closed (physoclistous) swim bladder.

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Authors: Maciej Liro, Tim H.M. van Emmerik, Anna Zielonka, Luca Gallitelli, Florin-Constantin Mihai Mountain rivers are typically seen as relatively pristine ecosystems, supporting numerous benefits for human populations living not only in the mountain regions but also downstream from them. However, recent evidence suggests that mountain river valleys in populated areas can be substantially polluted by macroplastics (plastic items >25 mm). To stimulate future work on this gap, the authors present a conceptual model of macroplastic transport pathways through mountain rivers.

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Publisher: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency This study was commissioned by the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). It focuses on underwater unexploded munitions and aims to improve cooperation between Member States' authorities, private bodies, and regional organizations in dealing with accidental recovery or encounters with unexploded ordnances and chemical munitions dumped at sea, enhance coordination in monitoring and systematically removing these munitions, and increase awareness among Member States' authorities about issues related to underwater unexploded munitions.

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Authors: Kaustubha Raghukumar, Chris Chartrand, Grace Chang, Lawrence Cheung, & Jesse Roberts This study quantifies the changes in wind fields at the sea surface resulting from the deployment of offshore wind turbines in California's offshore waters. It uses an atmospheric model to simulate these changes and assesses the impact on wind speeds and ocean circulation, particularly focusing on the implications for upwelling and primary productivity in the region.

Authors: Cassandra L. Everett, Oscar Williams, Emma Ruggiero, Michael Larner, Rachel Schaefer, Matt Malej, Fengyan Shi, Jules Bruck, & Jack A. Puleo This study investigated the effectiveness of natural and nature-based features (NNBF) in protecting shorelines from ship wake. It focused on a specific installation using coir logs and wooden staking in a T-head groin configuration along a low-sloping estuarine shoreline to evaluate the energy dissipation and velocity attenuation capabilities of the NNBF installation and to highlight the potential benefits and limitations of such nature-based solutions in mitigating the impact of ship wakes on shorelines.

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Authors: Oihane Fernandez-Betelu, Isla M. Graham and Paul M. Thompson This document discusses the impact of offshore structures on the behavior of marine predators, specifically harbour porpoises, to understand how these structures influence the occurrence and foraging activity of porpoises, particularly in relation to the time of day. The research highlights that porpoises are attracted to man-made structures and that their diel patterns of occurrence and foraging activity change in the presence of these structures. The findings are intended to inform considerations and planning for the decommissioning of offshore structures.

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Authors: Fenghua Zhou, Rongwang Zhang, Shaowei Zhang This document describes the design, implementation, and functionality of a low-cost directional inertial wave sensor, the DWS19-2. It outlines the integration of the sensor with specific hardware components, its ability to measure various parameters related to buoy motion, and its application in calculating wave parameters and spectra. It also discusses the processing of this data for real-time transmission and provides details of the electrical design, on-board processing algorithms, and validation tests.

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