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The Tunisian coast has been affected in the past by many events of extreme marine submersion (storms and tsunamis). A high-resolution study along two sediment cores taken from the lagoon of Ghar El Meleh was performed to identify the different paleoextreme events and to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental changes in the northeastern part of Tunisia during the Late Holocene. A very high-resolution sedimentological analysis (granulometric and geochemical) was applied to these cores. These cores were also dated with isotopic techniques (137Cs, 210Pbex, 14C), and the outcomes reveal five phases of paleoenvironmental changes in this lagoonal complex and identify two sediment layers that are in connection with two major historical marine submersion events. The first layer is mentioned as E1 and seems to fit with the great tsunami of 365 cal CE. This event was marked by an increase in the coarse sediment, and it is correlated for the first time with the immersed city of Neapolis in the northern Gulf of Hammamet discovered in 2017 by the same tsunamis of 365 cal CE. The other sandy layer, referred to as E2, was dated from 1690 to 1760 cal CE and is marked by one specific sedimentological layer attributed to a marine submersion event. This layer could be associated with the 1693 tsunami event in southern Italy or an increase in extreme storm events.

The Manso Dam, in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso, intended for flood control and electricity generation, was built by a state-owned energy company in partnership with the private sector. In order to reduce costs and minimize the environmental impact of the project, the private consortium proposed changes to the preliminary design, which were reassessed with the participation of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The design and the behavior of the dam are discussed in this paper. The main section of the Manso Dam, 73 m high, has rockfill shells and a core of compacted soil. For the core, colluvial and residual soils derived from the necessary excavations for the concrete structures and dam foundation were chosen in order to reduce both the cost and environmental damage that would result from borrow/disposal. Such composite clay, gravel and cobbles of different sizes and degrees of weathering is generally referred to in the literature as random fill, and because is not typically used in dam cores, laboratory and field tests were then performed. Parameter evaluation and Finite Element (FEM) analyses of seepage and deformation were carried out. The seepage analysis was carried out for the maximum normal reservoir level, and the results were confirmed by the field monitoring data, enabling the establishment of safety levels (alert and emergency conditions). Embankment construction and first reservoir filling were simulated with the FEM, yielding, as expected, stress concentrations in the more rigid materials, such as the filters and transitions. During reservoir filling, seepage forces induced horizontal displacements in the downstream direction and reduction in effective stresses in the upstream region due to submersion. The predicted settlement distribution was compatible with field monitoring data. Construction was completed in 2010 and the dam has been operating normally ever since.

The Somerset Levels and Moors comprise low-lying farmland in south-west England, prone to seasonal flooding. The area suffered uncommonly severe floods in 2012 and 2013/2014, triggering high-profile debates about the area’s long-term future. The article focuses on the experiences of the floods in one village, Muchelney. Drawing on mixed methods, this interdisciplinary study examines physical and social routines, and how these were disrupted, adapted or reinforced. Indications of adaptability, resourcefulness and hierarchy emerge. The examination of routines draws on modest material representations sought out after the events took place, to illustrate how the floods submerged the landscape’s physical geometry and disrupted mobility, but also presented new conduits. Within the trauma of isolation and inundation, prolonged media scrutiny revealed a range of gendered, hierarchical and uncomfortable social experiences that complement evidence of a resilient community pulling together and learning to cope among the upending of normal life.

Flood conditions present dangers for canoe camping, with the highest risk for injury or death related to water submersion of paddlers. Other hazards can exist at high water stages as well. This essay discusses preparation for risks associated with canoe travel during record flood conditions in Alabama's Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. It examines the unique aspects of paddling through submerged forests, route detours necessitated by flooding, potential encounters with dangerous wildlife, and the case of a stinging ant attack on a paddler who unexpectedly comes in contact with a displaced ant colony.

The article presents a brief overview of the introduction of bilingual education in Georgian schools. The main focus of the paper is to study the issue of implementation and effectiveness of submersion classrooms. As a result of the qualitative research, the following main issues have been explored within this article: 1) What are the challenges, and how can Georgian language schools and sectors manage school language diversity? 2) What are the different approaches and challenges in Georgian language sectors in schools where the majority of students are nonGeorgian or completely non- Georgian? The study examines the effectiveness and challenges of submersion classes from the perspective of teachers in target schools. The results of the qualitative research method are presented in the form of findings and tendencies, which gives us a clear picture of the challenges of submersion education for more in-depth on the example of Georgian public schools.

Background: Land motor traffic crash (LMTC) -related drownings are an overlooked and preventable cause of injury death. The aim of this study was to analyze the profile of water-related LMTCs involving passenger cars and leading to drowning and fatal injuries in Finland, 1972 through 2015. Materials and methods: The database of the Finnish Crash Data Institute (FCDI) that gathers detailed information on fatal traffic accidents provided records on all LMTCs leading to drowning during the study period and, from 2002 to 2015, on all water-related LMTCs, regardless of the cause of death. For each crash, we considered variables on circumstances, vehicle, and fatality profiles. Results: During the study period, the FCDI investigated 225 water-related LMTCs resulting in 285 fatalities. The majority of crashes involved passenger cars (124), and the cause of death was mostly drowning (167). Only 61 (36.5%) fatalities suffered some–generally mild–injuries. The crashes frequently occurred during fall or summer (63.7%), in a river or ditch (60.5%), and resulted in complete vehicle’s submersion (53.7 %). Half of the crashes occurred in adverse weather conditions and in over 40% of the cases, the driver had exceeded the speed limit. Among drivers, 77 (68.8%) tested positive for alcohol (mean BAC 1.8%). Conclusion: Multidisciplinary investigations of LMTCs have a much higher potential than do exclusive police and medico-legal investigations. The risk factors of water-related LMTCs are similar to those of other traffic crashes. However, generally the fatal event in water-related LMTC is not the crash itself, but drowning. The paucity of severe physical injuries suggests that victims’ functional capacity is usually preserved during vehicle submersion. Practical Applications: In water-related LMTCs, expansion of safety measures is warranted from general traffic-injury prevention to prevention of drowning, including development of safety features for submerged vehicles and simple self-rescue protocols to escape from a sinking vehicle.

Many coastlines are naturally exposed to submersion and erosion hazards. In this work, a combined GIS and wave modeling method is used to identify areas exposed to coastal erosion. The main objective of this work is the qualitative identification of shoreline sectors where wave and swell energy are important. The selected study area is “Cap Rosa” located in the El Tarf coast in eastern Algeria. The obtained results show that the eastern part of the study area is the most affected by wave impact. This preliminary identification can be used in a detailed vulnerability assessment along the coast while integrating other factors (physical and socio-economic) beside the shoreline exposure.

Global climate has undergone unprecedented changes due to several natural- and human-induced factors. The present study sought to assess the impacts of climate hazards on coastal livelihoods, specifically in Ningo-Prampram district in the Greater Accra region, Ghana. The research uses participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) tools to ascertain the major climatic and non-climatic events, along with their impacts. Findings revealed coastal inundation and submersion were the major stressors that triggered dysfunctions of residents’ livelihoods. Impacts from these stressors constituted decline in household income, collapse of buildings along the beach, and saltwater intrusion rendering farmlands unproductive causing reduced crop yield. Cabbage and chilli farms that are no longer arable have been sold to estate developers. Sea level rise has resulted in the submersion of coastal lands (1 km–2 km land residual inland). Residents undertake temporal evacuations with financial assistance from local financial institutions. Minor interventions like the growing of mangroves and coconut trees have been initiated to somewhat serve as defence mechanisms. However, residents have continuously harvested these plants along the coast with no plans for afforestation, re-afforestation and other sea defence mechanisms. This leaves the area highly vulnerable, hence, the present study attempted to bridge this paucity of knowledge to inform the decision of relevant stakeholders in prioritizing climate-related issues that affect livelihoods in the area.

Natural disasters offer a specific case study of the mix of public and private insurance. Indeed, the experience accumulated over the past decades has made it possible to transform poorly-known hazards like flood losses, long considered uninsurable, into risks that can be assessed with some precision. They exemplify, however, the affordability issue associated with risk-based premiums. The French scheme reflects such ideas and offers wide coverage for moderate premiums to all, but is questioned in its principle by climate change: we show that some wealthier areas that were not perceived as ‘at risk’ in the past have now become exposed to submersion risk. This singularly makes some well-off properties the potential main beneficiaries of a scheme that was historically thought to protect the worst-off. Acknowledging that some segmentation may become desirable, we examine several models for flood risk and the disparity in premiums they entail.

Spontaneous combustion of coal has been well-known as a problem faced by coal industries, especially in storing and trans-shipping processes. The negative impacts of this phenomenon have led to several hazardous incidents and degrading product quality. Several methods have been researched to minimize the impacts; one of the proposed ways is immersing heat exchangers inside the coal stockpile. An experiment was conducted to analyze the cooling effect of an immersed simple heat exchanger made of a copper coil. By varying the number of windings, the experiment showed a significant decrease in pile temperature due to the immersed heat exchanger. This work continues exploring the possibility of applying the method by observing and analyzing the simulation model. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to model the physics phenomena that occur within the coal reactor. The effect of the heat exchanger surface area was studied from the model to observe the heat propagation within the coal reactor. The vast reach of heat propagation from the heat exchanger through the coal pile on the simulation was promisingly showing that this method was useful to limit the occurrence of spontaneous fire in coal piles.

Comprehensive interpretation of the results for regional seismic operations and reinterpretation of archived seismic data, their correlation with the drilling data of more than 30 deep wells, including Severo-Novoborsk parametric well, made it possible to clarify the structural maps and thickness maps of all seismic facies structures developed in the territory and water area in the junction of the north of Izhma-Pechora depression and Malozemelsko-Kolguevsk monocline of Timan-Pechora oil and gas province. Data obtained were used at basin modeling in TemisFlow software in order to reconstruct the conditions of submersion and transformation of organic substance in potential oil and gas bearing formations. Modeling made it possible to get an idea of ​​the time and conditions for the formation of large zones of possible hydrocarbons accumulation, to establish space-time connections with possible sources of generation, to identify the directions of migration and on the basis of comparison with periods of intense generation, both from directly located within the operation area and outside them (taking into account possible migration), to identify zones of paleoaccumulation of oil and gas. Work performed made it possible to outline promising oil and gas accumulation zones and identify target objects for further exploration within the site with an ambiguous forecast and lack of industrial oil and gas potential.

Diagenesis is the collective word for the physical, biological, and chemical processes that bones undergo in the post-mortem period, until their physical destruction or fossilization. In forensic anthropology, the analysis of macroscopic and microscopic bone alterations, alongside the taphonomy of the soft tissues of a body, has proven valuable for the estimation of the time-of-death, or Post-Mortem Interval (PMI), of skeletonized individuals. To date, bone alterations have been mostly researched in terrestrial settings, such as exposed or buried skeletal remains, but here the scientific literature regarding human bones submerged underwater has been reviewed. It features 20 publications in the last 42 years, of which 9 are reviews, 8 are studies on ancient material and 3 are experimental studies. Future research on analysis of microscopic diagenetic parameters of submerged bones, together with the refinement of the correlation with time of the slightly better known macroscopic underwater alterations, will prove valuable for the estimation of a Post-Mortem Submersion Interval (PMSI) in both forensic and archaeological contexts, because bones have always been and still are regularly recovered underwater. The concurrent estimation of both PMI and PMSI of bones recovered underwater will add vital information to criminal investigations. Diagenetic parameters have been identified in Histological Index, protein content, porosity and crystallinity of bioapatite. They are depicted with the analytic techniques currently available to assess their presence and magnitude, and to relate them to the diagenetic processes of bioerosion, abrasion, and encrustation, but also to the extremes of dissolution or fossilization.

The Atlantic coast of Morocco has been exposed to marine submersion events from storm surges and tsunamis which have resulted in human and economic losses. The absence of long term records for these hazards makes it difficult to trace their behavior through time, which is the first step to prepare proactive adaptation strategies for events that may happen in the future. In this paper, we present a late Holocene record of marine submersion events along the Atlantic coast of Morocco using a 2.7 m sediment core sampled from the Tahaddart estuary. The sedimentological and geochemical analyses conducted on this geological archive showed a mud-dominated sequence with 14 allochthonous sandy layers (E1-E14) left by marine high-energy events. The deposition age of three layers (E1, E13 and E14) has been determined using conventional dating methods (210Pbex, 137Cs and 14C). The first layer, introduced as E1 seems to fit with the great Lisbon tsunami in 1755 CE (Common Era), an event dated for the first time along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The other two layers, referred to as E13 and E14, were dated between 3464 and 2837 cal BP (calibrated years Before Present) and chronologically correlated with marine high-energy deposits found on the Spanish Atlantic coast. This correlation confirms the existence of another regional event around 3200 BP.

Introduction Most recreational whitewater fatalities are caused by fixed underwater entrapment or by "flush drowning," an obscure term frequently associated with high-volume rivers, continuous rapids, cold water, and a lack of prolonged underwater entrapment. Although entrapment drowning is typically associated with submersion hypoxia, flush drownings likely involve diverse mechanisms of death; as such, a concise definition is elusive. This said, certain risk factors may be predictively associated with flush drownings. We attempt to further characterize causes of fatal river accidents and possible effects of water temperature on injury pattern. Methods We reviewed river mortality data collected from the American Whitewater Association accident database comparing fatal whitewater accident trends in the Rocky Mountain region versus the Southeastern United States. We limited data from the Southeast to the months of June through August to create a warm water cohort. We then divided lethal accidents into flush drowning, entrapment submersion, or miscellaneous events, defining each category in specific terms. Results Flush drownings were more common in the Rocky Mountains than in the Southeast subgroup and involved older victims on average than entrapment drowning or miscellaneous events. Entrapment drownings were common in both regions, primarily occurring at fallen trees or rock formations. Conclusions Flush drownings appear to occur more frequently in older persons. Although hypothetical, the relative increase in flush drowning in the Rocky Mountains might partly be the result of colder water temperatures. If the cause of flush drowning is better understood, safety in whitewater recreation may be improved.

Resumo Este artigo discute a adoção da sigla LGBT (lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais), questionando a representatividade dos grupos que fazem parte desse acrônimo nas pesquisas em Administração. No Brasil, afirma-se que, embora se almeje construir um campo de pesquisas no assunto, sua agenda é majoritariamente destinada às pesquisas sobre gays (CARRIERI, SOUZA e AGUIAR, 2014). De modo mais específico, o questionamento é: será que é possível tratar sob o mesmo prisma categorias identitárias tão distintas? A construção do trabalho está embasada em: 1) uma versão histórica sobre a constituição dos grupos LGBT, principalmente no Brasil, evidenciando de que modo eles se organizaram e se fragmentaram (FACCHINI, 2005); 2) uma discussão sobre a adoção da sigla LGBT como categoria universal, embasada no debate sobre identidades contingentes (BUTLER, 1998); e 3) um levantamento de literatura nacional sobre grupos LGBT em Administração na base de dados Scientific Periodicals Electronic Library (SPELL). Foram encontrados 34 artigos sobre os grupos incluídos na sigla LGBT. Pesquisas sobre gays predominam enquanto grupos de lésbicas, travestis e transexuais estão sub-representados. Percebe-se que, embora haja similaridades do ponto de vista de que todas essas categorias identitárias são alvos de discriminação e violência - o que se justifica por se tratarem de categorias tidas como desviantes, as pesquisas levantadas demarcam as diferenças entre elas. É nessas diferenças que se encontram as possibilidades de a pesquisa em Administração questionar a adoção de siglas (como a LGBT) como conceitos universalmente representativos e unificados.

New Caledonia was, until recently, considered an old continental island harbouring a rich biota with outstanding Gondwanan relicts. However, deep marine sedimentation and tectonic evidence suggest complete submergence of the island during the latest Cretaceous to the Paleocene. Molecular phylogenies provide evidence for some deeply-diverging clades that may predate the Eocene and abundant post-Oligocene colonisation events. Extinction and colonization biases, as well as survival of some groups in refuges on neighbouring paleo-islands, may have obscured biogeographic trends over long time scales. Fossil data are therefore crucial for understanding the history of the New Caledonian biota, but occurrences are sparse and have received only limited attention. Here we describe five exceptional fossil assemblages that provide important new insights into New Caledonia’s terrestrial paleobiota from three key time intervals: prior to the submersion of the island, following re-emergence, and prior to Pleistocene climatic shifts. These will be of major importance for elucidating changes in New Caledonia’s floristic composition over time.

Climate change poses a dire threat to the Mekong River Delta, an important supplier of shrimp and rice to global markets. The southernmost province, Ca Mau, is threatened by sea level rise and land subsidence. Little is known of the expected combined impact of these processes, or of the perceptions of farmers towards these threats. This study first projected the combined effects using the most accurate extant elevation data. Next, to assess perceptions, we interviewed 53 farmers from six communes within the province. We found that 43% of the province could be at risk of submersion by 2030, and 75% by 2050. The interviews revealed that the farmers were largely unaware of the imminence of submersion and did not fully comprehend the nature and magnitude of the underlying processes. Constrained by the requirements of their developmental trajectory, they were focused on short term threats to their livelihood (weather, salinization, pollution). Consequently, far from adapting to the larger threats, they are engaged in practices, such as groundwater extraction for aquaculture, that are hastening the demise of the region. Their plight offers warnings to similar regions around the world. We hope that our findings can inform the development of future outreach programs.

Drowning is a leading cause of fatality among children in the United States, and pool/spa aquatic structures represent common locations of submersion incidents. This study employed narrative case review to understand characteristics related to permission, supervision, and precipitating events in childhood submersion incidents. Retroactive analysis of 1537 fatal and non-fatal submersion incidents among children age 13 years old and younger was conducted using the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission In-Depth Investigations dataset from 2000–2017. Narrative descriptions were coded according to the themes of permission, supervision, and precipitating events. In most (86%) incidents, the child did not have permitted water access, and 80% of narratives indicated the child was alone at time of incident. These attributes were significantly associated with a fatal outcome (No permission: OR 11.98, 95% CI 7.97–18.06, Alone: OR 34.93, 95% CI 19.69–61.96). The average length of inactive supervision time was 15.6 min, this duration significantly differed by non-fatal (3.2 min) and fatal (16.1 min) outcomes (p &lt, 0.001). More than half of cases occurred under the supervision type of a parent (56%), followed by grandparents (14%) and childcare provider (10%). Submersion incidents with a non-parent supervisor were two times more likely to result in a fatal outcome (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.07–3.64). The most frequently occurring precipitating events included outdoor play (46%), a social gathering (36%), and previous water play (15%). Narrative excerpts further illustrate how tragic submersion events can unfold quickly and unpredictably. Education campaigns should target all adults that supervise children and reiterate key findings in that many submersion incidents occur (1) without permitted pool use, (2) without active supervision, and (3) when a caregiver is distracted. Multiple strategies should be utilized to add layers of projection against submersion injury.

Objective The intact cognitive processing capacity in highly demanding and dynamically changing situations (e.g., in extreme environmental conditions) is of central relevance for personal safety. This study therefore investigated whether underwater physical exercise (PE) affected cognitive performance by comparing these effects during underwater fin-swimming as opposed to inactivity under normal environmental conditions. Background Although acute bouts of PE can modulate cognitive performance under highly controlled and standardized laboratory conditions, no previous study has determined whether PE acutely modulates cognitive performance in non-laboratory testing conditions involving extreme environments (e.g., underwater). Method A total of 27 healthy volunteers (16 males and 11 females; 28.9 ± 7.4 years of age) participated in two experiments involving either moderate or high PE intensity. A PRE/POST crossover design was employed among participants while performing cognitive tests in a counterbalanced order (i.e., before and after 20 min of PE in submersion [WET] and once before and after inactivity [DRY] while in the laboratory). Cognitive performance was measured as a combination of executive functions through the Eriksen Flanker (inhibition) and Two-Back (working memory) Tasks using an underwater tablet computer. Results ANOVAs revealed enhanced reaction times only in the Flanker test after moderate PE for the WET condition. No other effects were detected. Conclusion These findings indicate that cognitive performance is exercise-intensity-dependent with enhanced effects during moderate PE, even in extreme environments (i.e., underwater). Application These results should be relevant in recreational and occupational contexts involving underwater activity and may also apply to microgravity (e.g., during extra-vehicular activities). Description This study compared the acute effects of physical exercise (PE) on cognitive performance in an underwater environment while participants fin-swam with SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) gear. Findings revealed that 20 min of moderate PE positively affected cognitive performance (i.e., inhibitory control ability). However, no changes were observed after high-intensity exercise.

Distant swells produced by high latitude storms are poorly studied despite their significant impact on almost all major ocean basins. This article studies the consequences of extreme southern swells on the islands and atolls of French Polynesia by focusing on lagoon water filling. This phenomenon is a product of great water influx in the lagoon coming from waves breaking on the reef. This analysis is based on archives in Tahiti, and on surveys and interviews conducted in the Makemo Atoll (Tuamotu Archipelago) to identify the impacts of giant swells during August 2011 and July 1996. These swells have strongly affected all the archipelagos of the Western Pacific and have been strongly felt on the entire Pacific coastline of the American continent. In French Polynesia they caused a rise in the lagoons that reached 2.75 m (above the lowest astronomical tide), causing a major submersion event that strongly impacted the life of the inhabitants by destroying many resources on which they depended. Comparing the swells of 1996 and 2011, this article shows that the filling of the lagoon is largely determined by the duration of the intense wave event and not only by the maximum intensity reached by the swell. Finally, this article raises the question of how this phenomenon is taken into account in town / atoll planning, and the vulnerability of the coastlines of the intertropical zone to distant swells in the context of sea level rise and changes of atmospheric circulation.

The rise of inexpensive, user-friendly cameras and editing software promises to revolutionize data collection with minimal disturbance to marine mammals. Video sequences recorded by aerial drones and GoPro cameras provided close-up views and unique perspectives of humpback whales engulfing juvenile salmon at or just below the water surface in Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound. Although humpback feeding is famous for its flexibility, several stereotyped events were noted in the 47 lunges we analyzed. Engulfment was rapid (mean 2.07 s), and the entrance through which the tongue inverts into the ventral pouch was seen as water rushes in. Cranial elevation was a major contributor to gape, and pouch contraction sometimes began before full gape closure, with reverberating waves indicating rebounding flow of water within the expanded pouch. Expulsion of filtered water began with a small splash at the anterior of the mouth, followed by sustained excurrent flow in the mouth's central or posterior regions. Apart from a splash of rebounding water, water within the mouth was surprisingly turbulence-free during engulfment, but submersion of the whale's head created visible surface whirlpools and vortices which may aggregate prey for subsequent engulfment.

The phosphonate herbicide glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in the commercial formulation Roundup®, is currently the most globally used herbicide. In aquatic ecosystems, periphytic biofilms, or periphyton, are at the base of food webs and are often the first communities to be in direct contact with runoff. Microcosm experiments were conducted to assess the effects of a pulse exposure of glyphosate on community composition and chlorophyll a concentrations of lake biofilms at different colonization stages (2 months, 1 year, and 20 years). This is the first study that uses such contrasting submersion periods. Biofilms were exposed to either environmental levels of pure analytical grade glyphosate (6 μg/L, 65 μg/L, and 600 μg/L) or to corresponding phosphorus concentrations. Community composition was determined by deep sequencing of the 18S and 16S rRNA genes to target eukaryotes and cyanobacteria, respectively. The results showed that submersion period was the only significant contributor to community structure. However, at the taxon level, the potentially toxic genus Anabaena was found to increase in relative abundance. We also observed that glyphosate releases phosphorus into the surrounding water, but not in a bioavailable form. The results of this study indicate that environmental concentrations of glyphosate do not seem to impact the community composition or metabolism of lake biofilms under pulse event conditions.

A human being causes extensive destruction to the environment, water, land, various elements of the environment, and the ecosystem itself. There are so much human-made pollution and environmental degradation that the nightmare that awaits us is enough to shake us all. Looking at the overall scenario, there are a few trends underway. Earth atmosphere is excessively polluted at the global and regional levels. The accumulation of greenhouse gases will lead to significant changes in weather patterns in the near future leading to global warming. The destruction of the ozone layer and the further warming of the earth's surface leading to a tragic consequences such as outbreaks of cancerous and tropical diseases, disruption of the ocean food chain, sea level rise, the submersion of many islands and the melting of small landmasses. In Iraq, there are many environmental violations that threaten human life, which leads to making Iraq an inappropriate country to live in the near future due to outbreaks of incurable diseases and the difficulty of environmental adaptation to massive environmental disasters. In this paper, we are aiming to present a case study about Wasit-Iraq regarding environmental violations and environmental pollution threatening human life.

The ongoing phenomenon of climate change is leading to an upsurge in the number of extreme events. Territories must adapt to these modifications in order to protect their populations and the properties present in coastal areas. The adaptation of coastal areas also aims to make them more resilient to future events. In this article, we examine two strategies for adapting to coastal risks: holding the coastal line through hard constructions such as seawalls or ripraps and the managed retreat of activities and populations to a part of the territory not exposed to hazards. In France, these approaches are financed by a solidarity insurance system at the national level as well as local taxes. These solidarity systems aim to compensate the affected populations and finance implementation of the strategies chosen by local authorities. However, the French mainland coast generally attracts affluent residents, the price of land being higher than inland. This situation induces the presence of inequalities in these territories, inequalities which can be maintained or reinforced in the short and medium term when a defence strategy based on hard constructions is implemented. In such a trajectory, it appears that these territories would be less resilient in the long term, because of the maintenance costs of the structures and the uncertainties relating to the hazards (submersion, rising sea levels, erosion). Conversely, with a managed retreat strategy, inequalities would instead be done away with, since property and populations would no longer be exposed to hazards, which would cost society less and would lead these territories towards greater resilience in the long term. Only one social group would be strongly impacted by this strategy in the short term when they are subjected to a managed retreat to another part of the territory.

Sea level rise (SLR), driven by anthropogenic climate change, can be a major threat to coastal ecosystems. Among the most biologically diverse but SLR-threatened coastal ecosystems are rocky shores, especially in regions with a small tidal range. Nonetheless, the impacts of SLR on rocky shore biodiversity, community structure and ecosystem functions have rarely been studied. Here, we use the biogenic intertidal ecosystem, Mediterranean vermetid reefs on the Israeli coast, as case study for testing the potential impact of SLR on reef communities, with surveys, 3D topographic mapping plus SLR simulations, and a manipulative community translocation experiment. We show that: (1) biodiversity is much lower on very shallow, permanently submerged, horizontal rocky surfaces compared to that on intertidal reef platforms, (2) the extensive intertidal platforms will permanently drown under even modest SLR scenarios, (3) the rich intertidal community will transform, when permanently submerged, either to a very different but still rich community when protected from grazing by highly abundant invasive fish (rabbitfish), or to a much poorer turf community when exposed to such fish grazing, and (4) the reef community net production will drastically drop under permanent submersion. Because the main ecosystem engineer of the vermetid reefs, Dendropoma anguliferum (Monterosato, 1878), is nearly extinct in the southeast Levant, it is unlikely that new reefs will be formed higher on the shore in the future, presumably resulting in extensive coastal ecological shifts. Considerable coastal community shifts are forecasted for many regions globally due to SLR, as many shorelines are predicted to suffer from "coastal squeeze". Hence, similar manipulative experiments are encouraged in other regions to test for generality vs. context dependency in SLR ecological impacts. We suggest that in cases where essential/unique intertidal habitats like vermetid reefs are expected to vanish by SLR, constructing carefully-planned, ecologically friendly, artificial alternatives should be considered.

The Atlantic coast of Morocco has been confronted with several marine submersion events. Historically, some of them have resulted in significant economic and human damage, including the 1755 AD event (known as the tsunami of Lisbon). This indicates the need to implement adaptation and mitigation strategies, based on long-term studies of these extreme events to deduce their spatial and temporal variability. Using two cores (TAH17-1 and TAH17-3) collected from the Tahaddart estuary (NW of Morocco), this work aims to identify deposits, set up by these high energy events during the mid to late Holocene period. The sedimentological, geochemical and geochronological analyses carried out on these geological archives show two fining-upward sequences, indicating a progressive change from a purely sandy marine facies, between 6500 and 3500 BP, to another finer and more terrigenous one. The fine sedimentation, which has dominated in the estuary during the last 3500 years, has facilitated the recording of several marine submersion events in the form of isolated sandy layers. Chronological data have made it possible to date four deposits. Two (1-E1 and 3-E1) were put in place about 250 years ago, which corresponds, according to historical records, to the 1755 AD Lisbon tsunami. Two other deposits (1-E13 and 1-E14) are dated around 3200 BP and represent unknown submersion events on the Moroccan Atlantic coast.

Climate change driven Sea Level Rise (SLR) is creating a major global environmental crisis in coastal ecosystems, however, limited practical solutions are provided to prevent or mitigate the impacts. Here, we propose a novel eco-engineering solution to protect highly valued vegetated intertidal ecosystems. The new ‘Tidal Replicate Method’ involves the creation of a synthetic tidal regime that mimics the desired hydroperiod for intertidal wetlands. This synthetic tidal regime can then be applied via automated tidal control systems, “SmartGates”, at suitable locations. As a proof of concept study, this method was applied at an intertidal wetland with the aim of restabilising saltmarsh vegetation at a location representative of SLR. Results from aerial drone surveys and on-ground vegetation sampling indicated that the Tidal Replicate Method effectively established saltmarsh onsite over a 3-year period of post-restoration, showing the method is able to protect endangered intertidal ecosystems from submersion. If applied globally, this method can protect high value coastal wetlands with similar environmental settings, including over 1,184,000 ha of Ramsar coastal wetlands. This equates to a saving of US$230 billion in ecosystem services per year. This solution can play an important role in the global effort to conserve coastal wetlands under accelerating SLR.

Animals inhabiting the intertidal zone are exposed to abrupt changes in environmental conditions associated with the rise and fall of the tide. For convenience, the majority of laboratory studies on intertidal organisms have acclimated individuals to permanently submerged conditions in seawater tanks. In this study, green shore crabs, Carcinus maenas, were acclimated to either a simulated tidal regime of continuous emersion–immersion (‘tidal’) or to permanently submerged conditions (‘non-tidal’) to assess their physiological responses to subsequent emersion. Tidal crabs exhibited an endogenous rhythm of oxygen consumption during continuous submersion with lower oxygen consumption during periods of anticipated emersion, which was not detected in non-tidal crabs. During emersion, tidal crabs were able to buffer apparent changes in acid–base balance and exhibited no change in venous pH, whereas non-tidal crabs developed an acidosis associated with a rise in lactate levels. These results indicate that tidal crabs were better able to sustain aerobic metabolism and had lower metabolic costs during emersion than non-tidal crabs. It is likely that the elevated levels of haemocyanin exhibited by tidal crabs allowed them to maintain oxygen transport and buffer pH changes during emersion. This suggests that acclimation of C. maenas to submerged conditions results in a loss of important physiological mechanisms that enable it to tolerate emersion. The results of this study show that caution must be taken when acclimating intertidal organisms to submerged conditions in the laboratory, as it may abolish important physiological responses and adaptations that are critical to their performance when exposed to air.

This study aims to present new additional data regarding the relative sea-level (RSL) changes and the vertical ground movements (VGM) occurred in Campi Flegrei caldera since the Early Roman period (3rd century BC), commenting also on the accompanying changes of the coastal landscape and its implications in terms of human adaptation. The study area is located along the western sector of the Campi Flegrei caldera, one of the active volcanic systems of the Mediterranean region that started its activity more than 60 ka BP. Despite the human occupation of Campi Flegrei started not later than the Early Bronze Age (about 3.5 ka BP) and the earliest coastal settlements date back to the first Greek colonization of Southern Italy (ca. 800 BC), nowadays, the numerous coastal archaeological sites that are scattered in the studied area belong to the Roman period. The geoarchaeological interpretation of these remains allows detecting and dating of ancient positions of relative sea levels (RSLs), reconstructing of past coastal conformations, and measuring ancient VGM. The coastal sector between the modern Baia and Miseno was surveyed with a transdisciplinary and multi-proxy approach by means of direct and indirect methods, including, among others, paleo-environmental and archaeo-stratigraphic well logs analysis, geo-acoustic maps interpretation, and measurements of archaeological indicators of ancient sea levels. By comparing our measurement of RSL with the eustatic models of Peltier (2004) and Lambeck et al. (2011), the VGMs history of the coastal sector in the last 2300 years was reconstructed. Even if several volcano-tectonic oscillations were recorded, the obtained multi-proxy indications allow reconstructing two different behaviours in terms of vertical displacements: an overall subsiding trend affecting the area between the Early Roman period and the Middle Age, and a prevailing uplift after that period. The main coastal changes that occurred in the same period can be summarized in a coastal retreat ranging between 40 and 300 m, mainly due to the submersion of the pre-existing coastal area and leading to the submersion of villas, thermae, and other structures built on it. However, based on our measurements, the time span covered by the high-resolution data obtained from the three fish tanks here studied (60 BC – 12 AD) appears to be a period of volcano-tectonic stability, without significant VGMs.

During tidal cycles, semi-terrestrial fiddler crabs are subject to alternating periods of submersion and desiccation. Here, we compare physiological and biochemical adjustments to forced submersion and desiccation in two fiddler crabs from the Galapagos archipelago: the indigenous Leptuca helleri, and Minuca galapagensis. We examine ecological distributions and habitat characteristics using transect analysis; survival after 6 h forced submersion at different salinities (0, 21 and 42 ‰S), and after 6 or 12 h desiccation challenge, including alterations in hemolymph osmolality; and, oxidative stress responses in the gills and hepatopancreas, accompanying glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities, and lipid peroxidase (LPO). We provide an integrated biomarker response (IBR) index for each species based on oxidative stress in each tissue and condition. Our transect study revealed that L. helleri occupies an intertidal niche while M. galapagensis is supralittoral, L. helleri being less resistant to submersion and desiccation. After 6 h submersion, L. helleri survived only at 21 ‰S while M. galapagensis survived at all salinities. Hemolymph osmolality decreased at 0 ‰S in M. galapagensis. After 6 h desiccation, osmolality decreased markedly in L. helleri but increased in M. galapagensis. Enzyme assays were not performed in L. helleri owing to high mortality on submersion/desiccation challenge. After submersion in M. galapagensis, hepatopancreas GPx activities decreased in 0 and 21 ‰S while GR activity was strongly inhibited at all salinities. Gill LPO decreased in 42 ‰S. On desiccation in L. helleri, GPx activity was inhibited in the hepatopancreas but increased in the gills. GST activity increased while LPO decreased in both tissues. After desiccation in M. galapagensis, hepatopancreas GPx activity increased. Both hepatopancreas and gill GST and GR activities and LPO were strongly inhibited. The IBR indexes for L. helleri were highest in fresh caught crabs, driven by gill and hepatopancreas LPO. For M. galapagensis, submersion at 21 ‰S contributed most to IBR, LPO in both tissues responding markedly. Leptuca helleri appears to be a habitat specialist adapted to a narrow set of niche dimensions while M. galapagensis survives over a much wider range, exhibiting little oxidative stress. The species’ physiological flexibilities and limitations provide insights into how fiddler crabs might respond to global environmental change on semi-arid islands.

International audience; Storm Xynthia (2010) brought to the fore marine submersion as a great concern to French authorities and communities. This storm illustrates how a single major event can have long lasting effects on climate risk management. To discern this effect, we conduct two studies analysing the emergence and evolution of concerns related to marine submersion in French national and regional newspapers prior to and after the storm (2005-2018). In Study 1, we examine trends in issue coverage and how ‘marine submersion’ was appropriated by French media discourse over the selected period, identifying and segmenting specific topical sequences. In Study 2, a computer-assisted content analysis of 260 articles highlights a dichotomy of themes before and after Storm Xynthia. Articles published prior to Xynthia (2005-2009) warned of marine submersion among the expected impacts of climate change. Those published just after Xynthia (2010-2013) present highly structured and technical descriptions of national risk management policies. In recent years (2014-2018), articles focus on local stakeholders’ challenge to national risk management policies, described as too far removed from local dynamics. Our studies reveal the emergence and amplification, via public debate in French newspaper media, of ‘marine submersion’ as a hazard, and the objectification of the risk through Storm Xynthia.

The coastline is an area of ecological and environmental balance between the continent and the sea. The coastline from Saidia to Cap de l'Eau, located on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, is the subject of this study. The goal of this work is to produce maps of the risk of marine submersion. The methodology followed consists of entering storm meteorological data and land use data into the Iber 2D software. In addition, we mapped the hazard as well as the vulnerability of this submersion. The results of this 2D modeling of the hazard have shown that the coastline of Saidia - Cap de l'Eau presents a high risk of marine submersion, and this by the water levels rises to more than 4 meters and overflow on a width of more than 20 meters towards the mainland. In addition, the coastal strip constitutes a zone of high vulnerability compared to the continent.

Many coastal areas need to be protected from both rain and coastal flooding as their proximity to the sea is a necessity. In the framework of the development of a Probabilistic Flood Hazard Assessment (PFHA) approach, several flood phenomena should be considered to estimate the joint contribution of each of them. Coastal floods are mainly generated by storms that raise the sea level over the tide. In addition, coastal floods may be more severe when a marine submersion is combined with fluvial or pluvial floods. In addition, global warming has a direct effect on flood phenomena. It can induce a strong rise in sea level and a marked evolution of the characteristics of storms and more extreme coastal floods will occur more frequently. The combination of the flooding phenomena and their dependence is also likely to change as a result of climate change. This work aims to develop a new probabilistic approach taking into account the outcome of the combined action of several flood phenomena. The epistemic and random uncertainties, as well as the impact of climate change, are also considered and integrated through the theory of belief functions. The proposed PFHA approach is applied to the city of Le Havre, a French city located on the Channel coast which is likely to be flooded by rain and sea level.

Areas of the Mediterranean Sea are dynamic habitats in which human activities have been conducted for centuries and which feature micro-tidal environments with about 0.40 m of range. For this reason, human settlements are still concentrated along a narrow coastline strip, where any change in the sea level and coastal dynamics may impact anthropic activities. We analyzed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and Copernicus Earth observation data. The aim of this research is to provide estimates and detailed maps (in three coastal plain of Sardinia (Italy) and in the Pontina Plain (southern Latium, Italy) of: (i) the past marine transgression occurred during MIS 5.5 highstand 119 kyrss BP, (ii) the coastline regression occurred during the last glacial maximum MIS 2 (21.5 krs cal BP), and (iii) the potential marine submersion for 2100 and 2300. The objective of this multidisciplinary study is to provide maps of sea level rise future scenarios using the IPCC RCP 8.5 2019 projections and glacio-hydro-isostatic movements for the above selected coastal zones (considered tectonically stable), which are the locations of touristic resorts, railways and heritage sites. We estimated a potential loss of land for the above areas of between about 146 km2 (IPCC 2019-RCP8.5 scenario) and 637 km2 along a coastline length of about 268 km.

Among the many factors that influence the cardiovascular adjustments of marine mammals is the act of respiration at the surface, which facilitates rapid gas exchange and tissue re-perfusion between dives. We measured heart rate (fH) in six adult male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) spontaneously breathing at the surface to quantify the relationship between respiration and fH, and compared this with fH during submerged breath-holds. We found that dolphins exhibit a pronounced respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during surface breathing, resulting in a rapid increase in fH after a breath followed by a gradual decrease over the following 15–20 s to a steady fH that is maintained until the following breath. RSA resulted in a maximum instantaneous fH (ifH) of 87.4±13.6 beats min−1 and a minimum ifH of 56.8±14.8 beats min−1, and the degree of RSA was positively correlated with the inter-breath interval (IBI). The minimum ifH during 2 min submerged breath-holds where dolphins exhibited submersion bradycardia (36.4±9.0 beats min−1) was lower than the minimum ifH observed during an average IBI; however, during IBIs longer than 30 s, the minimum ifH (38.7±10.6 beats min−1) was not significantly different from that during 2 min breath-holds. These results demonstrate that the fH patterns observed during submerged breath-holds are similar to those resulting from RSA during an extended IBI. Here, we highlight the importance of RSA in influencing fH variability and emphasize the need to understand its relationship to submersion bradycardia.

The rise in sea-level and the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (i.e., storms and associated surges) are expected to strongly impact coastal areas. The gradual impacts of sea-level rise may allow species to display adaptive responses to overcome environmental changes. In contrast, the abruptness of marine submersions during extreme weather events can induce changes that may exceed the ability of species to respond to brutally changing environments. Yet, site-specific topographical features may buffer the expected detrimental effects of marine submersions on wildlife. In order to test such topographical effects, we examined the long-term consequences of a major marine submersion (storm Xynthia) on the amphibian communities of two French Atlantic coastal wetlands that slightly differ in their topography and, thus, their susceptibility to marine submersion. Amphibians were monitored on 64 ponds for up to 13 years, using acoustic and visual methods, in conjunction with environmental parameters (e.g., pond topology, vegetation, salinity). We found that the amphibian communities at the two neighboring sites displayed different responses to the marine submersion linked to storm Xynthia. As predicted, slight differences in local topography induced strong differences in local magnitude of the landward marine surge, influencing salinization dynamics and associated consequences on wildlife (amphibians). The different species responses show that amphibian richness can recover to that of pre-storm conditions, but with significant changes in the composition of the community. Our results suggest that amphibian presence post-submersion in coastal wetlands results from an interaction between species traits (e.g., tolerance to elevated salinity), site-specific topography, and environmental parameters. Finally, our study emphasizes that relatively modest landscaping management may be critical to allow wildlife to successfully recover after a marine submersion.

Acquiring in-situ data of tidal flooding is key for the successful restoration planning of intertidal wetlands such as salt marshes and mangroves. However, monitoring spatially explicit inundation time series and tidal currents can be costly and technically challenging. With the increasing availability of low-cost sensors and data loggers, customized solutions can now be designed to monitor intertidal hydrodynamics with direct applications for restoration and management. In this study, we present the design, calibration, and application of the Mini Buoy, a low-cost bottom-mounted float containing an acceleration data logger for monitoring tidal inundation characteristics and current velocities derived from single-axis equilibrium acceleration (i.e. logger tilt). The acceleration output of the Mini Buoys was calibrated against water-level and current velocity data in the hypertidal Bay of Fundy, Canada, and in a tidally reconnected former aquaculture pond complex in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Key parameters, such as submersion time and current velocities during submergence can be determined over several months using the Mini Buoy. An open-source application was developed to generate ecologically meaningful hydrological information from the Mini Buoy data for mangrove restoration planning. We present this specific SE Asian mangrove restoration application alongside a flexible concept design for the Mini Buoy to be customized for research and management of intertidal wetlands worldwide.

Qu, K.; Sun, W.Y.; Ren, X.Y.; Kraatz, S., and Jiang, C.B., 2021. Numerical investigation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of coastal bridge decks under the impact of extreme waves. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(2), 442–455. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Extreme waves, such as freak waves or rogue waves, occur unexpectedly in the ocean and have extremely large wave heights. Extreme waves often are attributed to the process of wave focusing. Coastal structures such as bridges are highly susceptible to extreme waves and have caused substantial damage to coastal infrastructure in the past. Although impacts of various types of waves on coastal bridges have been studied in the past, hydrodynamic loads on bridge deck under the impact of extreme waves have not yet been investigated. This work adds to the existing body of work by systematically carrying out numerical investigations on the hydrodynamic characteristics of coastal bridge decks under the impact of extreme waves generated by wave focusing. Simulations were carried out by creating a numerical wave tank (NWT) using the open-source flow solver REEF3D, which numerically solves the governing equations of the incompressible two-phase flow on a staggered mesh and captures the interface between air and water using a high-resolution level-set method. The NWT was validated for the case of focused waves and wave impact loads on a two-dimensional (2D) rectangular cylinder in a straight channel and compared to experimental measurements. The NWT was then used to study the hydrodynamic loads of a coastal bridge deck by considering the effects of four prominent factors, i.e. submersion depth, wave height, wave period, and water depth. The findings made in this paper enhance the understanding of the damage mechanisms of coastal bridges under the impact of extreme waves.

Due to high productivity, periodic submersion, and rapid sedimentation rate, mangroves are important carbon sinks in tropical-subtropical coastal zones. Mangrove expansion can significantly enhance burial carbon storage in coastal zones and has been reported in many subtropical regions due to climate change in recent years. To better understand the response of carbon storage to climate change in subtropical-tropical coastal zones, it is necessary to estimate the change in burial organic carbon (OC) storage in mangroves undergoing expansion. In the Nanliu River estuary of South China, the total mangrove area has increased from 72 to 622 ha in recent decades. Based on a sedimentology study combined with historical satellite images analysis, the accumulation rate of burial OC in these mangroves is estimated to be 400–500 g‧m−2‧y−1, of which the part imported to the stratigraphy beneath the mangrove deposit layer is approximately 130 g‧m−2‧y−1. Globally, the reported OC accumulation rate is linearly correlated to the accretion rate in mangroves. The accumulation rate of mangrove burial OC estimated in this study is significantly higher than the corresponding value on this fitted curve, indicating that the OC accumulation rates may be underestimated in such mangroves because the OC imported to the lower root layer has been not been taken into account. Based on the estimated OC accumulation rate and the time-series data of the mangrove area, the increase in burial OC storage in the mangroves of the Nanliu River estuary from 1988 to 2018 is estimated at more than 35 Gg. This study provides an example of estimating soil OC storage increase in expanding mangroves, which can help us better understand the response of coastal carbon pool to climate change.

The Tunisian coast has been affected in the past by many events of extreme marine submersion (storms and tsunamis). A high-resolution study along two sediment cores GEM3 and GEM4 taken from the lagoon of the Ghar el Melh was performed to identify the different paleo-extreme events and to reconstruct the paleo-environmental changes of the North-eastern part of Tunisia during the Late Holocene. A very high-resolution of analysis (sedimentological, granulometric, and geochemical) was applied on these cores. These cores were also dated with isotopic techniques (137Cs, 210Pbex, 14C) and the outcomes reveal fives phases of paleoenvironmental changes of this lagoonal complex. The first phase dated from −275 to 200 Cal AD characterized by a high percentage of Silt and Clay (fine particles) indicating a protected lagoon. The second phase synchronous with the Dark Age Climatic Period dated from 200 to 1100 Cal AD, is marked by an increase in the coarse sediment and could be explained by a weakening of the sandy barrier due to an increase of storm events. The third phase is characterized by a return to a closed lagoon during the Medieval Warm Period (from 1100 to 1690 Cal AD). The fourth phase dated from 1690 to 1760 Cal AD coincide with the Little Ice Age and is marked by one specific sedimentological layer attributed to a marine submersion event. This layer could be associated to the 1693 tsunami event in southern Italy or an increase of extreme storm events. The fifth phase covering the last 250 years present a reclosing of the lagoon.

For tropical tree species, wood density can vary greatly both within and between species depending on environmental conditions. In Amazonian seasonally flooded forests, yearly flood pulses influence tree growth and floodplain trees have developed specialised strategies to cope with prolonged submersion during flooding. We therefore hypothesised that seasonal floods significantly affect the capacity of trees to store carbon as woody biomass per unit volume and that forest hydrology would be an important factor in determining above-ground woody biomass and carbon stocks across the Amazon Basin. To test these hypotheses, we collected and analysed wood cores from 44 species occurring in both seasonally flooded (varzea) forests and adjacent unflooded (terra firme) forests along the Jurua River, western Brazilian Amazon. We used wood specific gravity (WSG) as a proxy of woody biomass and carbon. We compared WSG values within species, genera and families and found higher WSG in unflooded forest trees compared to their conspecifics in seasonally flooded varzea. Moreover, the effect of forest type on WSG was strongest at the family level and weakest at the species level. We further assessed the implications of WSG accuracy on above-ground woody tree biomass and found significant differences in AGWB as a function of WSG. Again, the differences became greater with lower taxonomic specificity, but also increased with lower site-specificity and greater tree dimensions. In conclusion, habitat specific WSG is important to quantify and map the spatial distribution of above-ground woody biomass and carbon in Amazonian forests.

The conservation and recovery of increasingly threatened tropical freshwater turtle populations depends on effective management plans and actions. Here we show that community-based actions saved Yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) eggs submerged by unseasonal flooding and ensured the release of hatchlings. We recovered 926 eggs and 65 premature hatchlings from 74 submerged nests at 16 flooded nesting areas along 75 km of waterways. The rescued eggs were transferred to a rearing center and incubated. Hatchlings emerged from eggs that had remained underwater for up to two days. Hatchlings were maintained in 250–500 L nursery tanks until yolk sac scars had closed. Healthy hatchlings were then immediately released around the original nesting areas. We released 599 hatchlings (60.4%) from 991 submerged eggs and hatchlings. Egg survival (61.7% (571/926)) was substantially less than hatchling survival (94.2% (599/636)) but within the expected range of values reported for this species. These findings suggest that Yellow-spotted river turtle eggs and embryos are resistant to short-term submersion, which could help explain the widespread distribution of this species across highly seasonal Amazonian rivers. Management plans should take the possible survival of submerged eggs into consideration as part of species conservation and recovery actions.

As part of efforts to restore fishery resources and recover damaged coastal ecosystems, artificial reefs are often anchored on the seafloor in coastal zones, to provide new habitats for marine organisms. The aim of the study was to describe the structure of a community of benthic invertebrates colonising a niche-type artificial reef (AATN in Spanish). Nine structures were anchored at depths of 16 ± 1.5 m for 99 weeks (22 months) in the Area of Benthic Resource Management and Exploitation (AMERB) in coastal waters of the Region of Bio Bio, Chile.The results showed that, at 3 months from submersion of the NTAR, much of the artificial substrate remained bare and there were only low levels of specimens of Balanus sp. barnacles, showing mean coverage of 11.26%, and even lower proportions of Rhodophyta, with mean coverage of 0.34%. At 6 months, the presence of hydrozoans was seen, decreasing the coverage of the barnacles, which was aided further at 8 months with the arrival of barnacle predatory invertebrates. At 8 months, new benthic invertebrates appeared and competed for the substrate. These included sponges and algae. At 99 weeks, the hydrozoans dominated the substrate, followed by barnacles and Rhodophyta, the first colonising organisms, leading to colonisation by motile macro-invertebrates, mainly consisting of crustaceans, echinoderms and molluscs.The AATN artificial system provides an ideal substrate for the development of early ecological succession and the use of this technology should be feasible in the recovery process of habitat damaged by anthropogenic actions and climate change.

The estimation of the time since death (minimum Post Mortem Interval, minPMI) is an essential aspect of forensic investigations. This is particularly complex when a human body is found submerged, floating or beached in a marine environment. When a cadaver is found in a terrestrial environment the minPMI estimation is generally based on the presence of carrion insects. However, when a cadaver is found in an aquatic environment, a correct crime scene reconstruction is more complex and requires the consideration of the time the remains spent submerged underwater (minimum Post Mortem Submersion Interval, minPMSI) and/or floating (Floating Interval, FI). In marine crime scene scenarios, the use of barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia) has recently received some attention, due to their permanent settlement on human remains and their accompanying clothing. Previous research considered barnacle growth on human shoes, but the present research is the first to focus on the colonisation of barnacles on clothing materials (fabrics). Polystyrene floats were covered by either cotton, velvet, satin or neoprene and submerged underwater over a period of six months off the coast of Perth, Western Australia. The aims of this research were 1) the identification of marine species colonising the fabrics, with special attention to barnacles; 2) the identification of which fabric type provides the most desirable environment for colonisation; and 3) the identification of factors that affect the growth rate of the different species. Three species of barnacles, Balanus trigonus Darwin, Amphibalanus reticulatus (Utinomi) and A. variegatus (Darwin), were present in varying numbers and sizes. The colonisation process of the barnacles occurred rapidly, with the first sighting of barnacles observed within the first month on neoprene and control floats. The surface that attracted the largest number of barnacles was neoprene, followed by satin and cotton, while velvet showed an inconsistent colonisation rate. The largest size barnacles were observed on the control floats, while all fabrics showed a similar smaller size. Overall, time spent in water and water temperature had a significant positive relationship with both number and size of the colonising barnacles. This study is the first to provide information that will aid in the investigation of human remains recovered from Western Australian marine waters, using the barnacle colonisation on different fabric types.

Blow-fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) immatures are the main colonizers of decomposing remains, and any information on what influences their growth and development are important to forensic entomologists when they are required to estimate post-mortem intervals during a death investigation. Much of this work has been qualified and quantified in terrestrial environments, but is deplete in aquatic environments. When considering a blow-fly's life history, the longest immature life stage goes from the formation of the puparium to adult emergence, and involves metamorphosis. In an aquatic scenario a corpse may be completely submerged, floating on the surface and or it could be associated with water but neither submerged or floating (e.g. beached on a seashore or washed up after a flood event). The present study concerns two blow-fly species, Lucilia sericata (Meigen) and Calliphora vomitoria (L.), and the effects of the age of the intra-puparial forms ("pupal age") and resultant survival, when submerged in tap, river or salt water for varying times - up to 3 days. The experiment was conducted in two localities, L. sericata in Boston USA and C. vomitoria in Turin, Italy, and full puparia of both species were divided into 4 age cohorts ("white", "young", "medium", and "old') before submergence. L. sericata intra-puparial forms showed a three time greater survival rate compared to C. vomitoria intra-puparial forms when submerged in each of the three water types. Both species had the highest survival rate in tap water. Overall, younger and older intra-puparial forms showed a greater and significant survival rate than medium intra-puparial forms when submerged. The eclosion time following submersion of C. vomitoria and L. sericata was mainly influenced by both the age at which the intra-puparial forms were submerged, and by the type of water, but the duration of the submersion also influenced the eclosion time of L. sericata. These results are discussed considering blow-fly physiology. A deeper understanding of the dynamics of survival and growth rate of blow-fly intra-puparial forms on human remains that have undergone a period of submergence could assist in the estimation of the time of death in criminal cases connected to different aquatic environments.

The Algerian coastal zone is under high pressure occurring from natural origin (seismic and tsunamis risks, erosion/accretion, salt water intrusion, etc.) and from human sources (pollution, loss of biodiversity, economic value, etc.). The lack of data, particularly time series over natural coastal process, is an impediment for decision making. In many cases, the implemented coastal protection measures even exacerbate the vulnerability of these zones, particularly the hard engineering solutions. The aim of this work is to produce coastal vulnerability and exposure index maps to erosion and marine submersion, by adapting the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) into coastal risk index (CRI) according to the new vision of the risk adopted by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This index turned out to be a relevant tool to adjust coastal planning and management decision making, by confirming the vulnerability of some physiographic units and give at local and regional levels a broad image of coastal zone sensitivity to erosion and submersion. This index should be integrated in Integrated Coastal Zones Management policy and management decision making. The mapping of coastal vulnerability and exposure in Bou Ismail Bay shows that it is 80% moderately vulnerable to erosion and submersion. Also, 45% of the bay is highly exposed to coastal hazards. Some sectors are more vulnerable and exposed than others especially in the East side of the bay. The mapping of coastal risk index using coastal hazard component, combined with vulnerability and exposure maps, has led us to identify the degree of erosion and submersion risk in Bou Ismail Bay. The risk mapping shows that 40% of the bay is at high risk level; it means that some procedures should be made to decrease the level of sensitivity and improve resilience of this heavily populated area.

International audience; The dynamics of the sandy coast between Castellaneta and Taranto (Southern Italy) has been influenced by many natural and anthropogenic factors, resulting in significant changes in the coastal system over the last century. The interactions between vertical components of sea-level changes and horizontal components of the sedimentary budget, in combination with anthropogenic impact, have resulted in different erosion and accretion phases in the past years. Local isostatic, eustatic, and vertical tectonic movements, together with sedimentary budget changes, must be considered in order to predict the shoreline evolution and future marine submersion. In this study, all morpho-topographic data available for the Gulf of Taranto, in combination with Vertical Land Movements and sea-level rise trends, were considered by assessing the local evolution of the coastal trend as well as the future marine submersion. Based on the predicted spatial and temporal coastal changes, a new predictive model of submersion was developed to support coastal management in sea-level rise conditions over the next decades. After that, a multi-temporal mathematical model of coastal submersion was implemented in a Matlab environment. Finally, the effects of the relative sea-level rise on the coastal surface prone to submersion, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports (AR) 5 Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, were evaluated up to 2100.