Paleolimnological record as an indication of incipient eutrophication in an oligotrophic subtropical coastal lake in Southern Brazil.

Paleolimnology of lake sediments can be a powerful tool to assess various aspects of lake history and catchment change through elemental, isotopic and molecular analysis of the sedimented organic matter (OM). In this sense, the objective of the present study was to investigate the source, depositional history and preservation of OM in the sediments of two different sites in Peri Lake (southern Brazil) to better understand the nature and direction of environmental changes. Therefore, two sediment cores were sampled and analysed for total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations and elemental ratios, and stable isotope ratios of C and N (δ(13)C and δ(15)N). Both cores showed similar general tendencies, with increasing amounts of OM (range 1-35%), TOC (2.55-258.40 mg g(-1)), TN (0.30-25.97 mg g(-1)) and TP (0.03-4.72 mg g(-1)) from the bottom toward the top more recent layers. TOC:TN ratios (range 8.1-14.7) showed a slight decrease in recent times and indicated a mixture of allochthonous and autochthonous contribution to the OM, with predominance of the last source. TN:TP (range 0.2-51.3) indicated a condition of potential limitation by P in general. Both δ(13)C (range -25.58 to -20.85) and δ(15)N (range 2.6 to 7.1) showed a decreasing pattern toward the top of the cores, in opposition to macronutrient concentration. Differences in the depth variation pattern between the two cores were associated to the marginal location of one of the cores. The results suggest that nutrients and primary production are increasing in the lake.

Coastal urbanization leads to remarkable seaweed species loss and community shifts along the SW Atlantic.

Coastal urbanization is rapidly expanding worldwide while its impacts on seaweed communities remain poorly understood. We assessed the impact of urbanization along an extensive latitudinal gradient encompassing three phycogeographical regions in the SW Atlantic. Human population density, number of dwellings, and terrestrial vegetation cover were determined for each survey area and correlated with diversity indices calculated from seaweed percent cover data. Urban areas had significantly lower calcareous algal cover (-38%), and there was significantly less carbonate in the sediment off urban areas than off reference areas. Seaweed richness averaged 26% less in urban areas than in areas with higher vegetation cover. We observed a remarkable decline in Phaeophyceae and a substantial increase of Chlorophyta in urban areas across a wide latitudinal gradient. Our data show that coastal urbanization is causing substantial loss of seaweed biodiversity in the SW Atlantic, and is considerably changing seaweed assemblages.

Photosynthetic performance of restored and natural mangroves under different environmental constraints.

We hypothesized that the photosynthetic performance of mangrove stands restored by the single planting of mangroves species would be lowered due to residual stressors. The photosynthetic parameters of the vegetation of three planted mangrove stands, each with a different disturbance history, were compared to reference sites and correlated with edaphic environmental variables. A permutational analysis of variance showed significant interaction when the factors were compared, indicating that the photosynthetic parameters of the restoration areas differed from the reference sites. A univariate analysis of variance showed that all the photosynthetic parameters differed between sites and treatments, except for photosynthetic efficiency (αETR). The combination of environmental variables that best explained the variations observed in the photosynthetic performance indicators were Cu, Pb and elevation disruptions. Fluorescence techniques proved efficient in revealing important physiological differences, representing a powerful tool for rapid analysis of the effectiveness of initiatives aimed at restoring coastal environments.