Drift Wood Research Articles

Cadophora arctica (Ploettnerulaceae, Helotiales), a new species from Franz Josef Land

A novel species in genus Cadophora is described as Cadophora arctica. The new species was isolated from, Franz Josef Land, Russia and is represented by ex-type strain VKM F-5011. To characterize the species, we used a polyphasic taxonomic approach. A description based on morphological characters is given and it is shown that the new species is morphologically different from closely related species (to C. caespitosa, C. fastigiata, C. melinii and C. rotunda). Partial sequences of internal transcribed spacer rDNA region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2), D1/D2 region of 28S rDNA (LSU), the loci encoding β-tubulin (BenA) and partial translation elongation factor 1-α gene (TEF1) were analyzed as well. Sequences data, macro- and micromorphological characteristics distinguish C. arctica from all known species in genus Cadophora. C. arctica, isolated from Arctic drift wood, is able to grow at 2°C and is considered a psychrotolerant species.

Diversity of Microfungi on Wood of the Coastal Zone of Heiss Island (Franz Joseph Land Archipelago)

The material for the study was wood samples that were collected in the summer of 2021 on the coast of Heiss Island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. Heiss Island is located in the central area of the archipelago. The wood was 1) brought by the sea (“drift wood”) and was located on the shore at minor distances from the water line or 2) anthropogenic origin and was an external part of abandoned structures. As a result of investigations, we revealed complexes of microfungi on coniferous and deciduous wood, which include 30 species of microfungi, mainly from the Ascomycota division. Species of the genus Cadophora were found in the greatest number of examined samples. Indicators of species diversity and occurrence of representatives of the Basidio-mycota department were low. The yeast component (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) accounted for 23% of the identified species. A total of 25 species were found in wood samples of anthropogenic origin and 12 species in drift wood samples. Studies of the enzymatic activity of microfungi showed that ligninolytic activity was noted in 50% of the strains studied, amylazolytic in 62%, and cellulolytic in 85% of the strains studied. A group of psychrotrophic species with high ligninolytic activity, together with cellulolytic and amylase activity, and well adapted to decomposition of wood substrate in the extreme conditions of the Arctic was identified. Activity profiles of different isolates of the same species do not always coincide and expression of individual enzymatic activity factors in many cases has a strain character.

The origin of driftwood on eastern and south-western Svalbard

The Arctic is one of the regions where the effect of global change is most evident. Associated with warming are changes in snow, sea ice and hydroclimate, all which have significant impacts on environments and society. However, due to short observational records, it is difficult to set the current climate in a long-term context. Arctic driftwood (DW), available throughout the Holocene, is a paleoclimate resource that may shed information on past sea-ice, ocean current and atmospheric conditions because it is transported by sea ice across the Arctic. Moreover, DW tree-ring data can be used to interpret climate in the boreal forests where the trees grew. Here we present a study of 380 DW samples collected on eastern and south-western Svalbard. Combining species identification and dendrochronology, it was found that the DW mainly consisted of Pinus sylvestris, Picea sp. and Larix sp. (87% of all samples), mainly originating from northern Russia. In total, 60% of the DW could be dated and their provenance determined, and four tree-ring width chronologies representing Yenisei and Dvina-Pechora were constructed, facilitating extension and improvement of the existing chronologies representing those regions. Moreover, DW from relict beaches that can be subjected to dendrochronological analyses, provides possibilities to extend pan-Arctic tree-ring data even further back in time. Because there are several processes governing the temporal patterns of wood deposition in the Arctic, using DW as an indicator of sea-ice variations needs further investigation.

Organic debris and allochthonous coal in Quaternary landforms within a periglacial setting (Longyearbyen Mining District, Norway) - A multi-disciplinary study (coal geology-geomorphology-sedimentology)

High volatile bituminous coal C and B is currently exploited at Spitsbergen-Svalbard, Norway. Several coal seams formed during the Palaeocene, of which some were reworked by mass wasting (MW), (glacial)-fluvial (GF) and coastal-marine wave-dominated (WM) processes under periglacial conditions during the Quaternary. This supergene alteration resulted in different landforms and deposit bearing four different types of depositional environments in Svalbard: (1) Invisible floral and faunal remains, (2) visible floral remains, (3) drift wood, (4) coal placers s. The subaerial slow- and fast-moving MW was accompanied by chemical weathering giving rise to jarosite coatings indicative of acidic meteoric solutions, whereas the remaining subaquatic processes operated under neutral to slightly alkaline conditions. Fast-moving MW and WM are productive processes, whereas GF ones are destructive with regard to coal accumulation. The most efficient tools to study the origin of the OM-bearing coarse-grained deposits are the morphology and orientation of bioclasts while the LER/HER (= low exothermic / high exothermic reaction) ratio is used for finer-grained OM-bearing sediments. The maceral analysis revealed that the landforms accounted for by GF and WM were emplaced as a result of geogenic and anthropogenic processes and aged younger than 1900 CE, while MW is Quaternary and true geogenic. Driftwood is cast in the role of a marker for coal-bearing (fluvial-) marine environments different in age and rank of coalification. With this in mind it is an excellent tool to drawn the boundary in paralic settings between the marine and fluvial impact. In conclusion, coal fragments are markers for short-term, periodical and fast landform-building processes, whereas siliciclasts from the host and bedrock are markers for long-term and episodical geomorphological and sedimentological supergene alteration.

Influence of Sediment and Drift Woods in Flood Disaster and Sand Avalanches

Influence of Sediment and Drift Woods in Flood Disaster and Sand Avalanches

The oldest shipworms (Bivalvia, Pholadoidea, Teredinidae) preserved with soft parts (western France): insights into the fossil record and evolution of Pholadoidea

AbstractTeredinidae are obligate xylophagous bivalves that colonize drift wood. They display a highly derived anatomy with a reduced shell; most of their body consists of soft tissues. Consequently, fossil teredinids mostly correspond to burrows, shells or small terminal aragonite structures called ‘pallets’. We report, from mid‐Cretaceous logs of the Envigne Valley, France, exceptionally preserved wood‐boring bivalves with silicified soft parts. After characterizing the wood, we report both the molluscs’ anatomy and their distribution inside the wood (using computed tomography). The 3D‐reconstructions reveal rarely preserved soft tissues (mantle, respiratory siphons, visceral pouch) but surprisingly no mineralized pallets. Envigne shipworms display neat dorsal condyles and a vermiform body plan, making them the oldest known Teredinidae. To document the evolutionary or taphonomic origin of this lack of pallet, the mineralization of these bivalves was investigated, and it is concluded that pallets could have dissolved prior to other carbonate components. From a survey of the fossil wood‐boring bivalves and their characters, we provide a time scaled origin of the main pholadoid clades supported in recent phylogenies. Since we found no correlation between the presence of pallets in Pholadoidea and their occurrence in the stratigraphic record, we suggest that their absence during the Mesozoic could be the result of a taphonomic bias related to the ‘calcite vs aragonite seas’ paradigm. The Cenomanian Envigne Valley was an estuarine to intertidal environment in which the Teredinidae appear to have selected their wood habitat on the basis of size but not type.

FLOOD FLOW CHARACTERISTICS WITH FINE SEDIMENT SUPPLY AND DRIFT WOODS -ANALYSIS ON THE AKATANI RIVER FLOOD HAZARDS IN JULY, 2017-

FLOOD FLOW CHARACTERISTICS WITH FINE SEDIMENT SUPPLY AND DRIFT WOODS -ANALYSIS ON THE AKATANI RIVER FLOOD HAZARDS IN JULY, 2017-

On the Eocene mangroves of Wadi Al-Hitan World Heritage site, Fayum, Egypt

Wadi Al-Hitan is the first site in Egypt to be inscribed by UNESCO on the “Natural World Heritage List”. Wadi Al-Hitan mangrove plant bed lies in late middle Eocene (Bartonian) at the top of Birket Qarun Formation, underlying Qasr El-Sagha Formation (Priabonian). Plant fossils include casts of roots and rhizomes, an impression of a leaf and petrified drift woods. Problematic fossils include directly–preserved hard parts of Echinodermata and casts of closely-spaced, mineral-filled siphons of bivalves. All fossils are described, illustrated and discussed in detail.

Asperflavin, an Anti-Inflammatory Compound Produced by a Marine-Derived Fungus, Eurotium amstelodami.

In the present study, 16 marine-derived fungi were isolated from four types of marine materials including float, algae, animals and drift woods along with the coast of Jeju Island, Korea and evaluated for anti-inflammatory effects in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 24.7 cells. The broth and mycelium extracts from the 16 fungi were prepared and the broth extract (BE) of Eurotium amstelodami (015-2) inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells without cytotoxicity. By further bioassay-guided isolation, three compounds including asperflavin, neoechinulin A and preechinulin were successfully isolated from the BE of E. amstelodami. It was revealed that asperflavin showed no cytotoxicity up to 200 μM and significantly inhibited LPS-induced NO and PGE2 production in a dose-dependent manner. In the western blot results, asperflavin suppressed only inducible NOS (iNOS), but COX-2 were slightly down-regulated. Asperflavin was also observed to inhibit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. In conclusion, this study reports a potential use of asperflavin isolated from a marine fungus, E. amstelodami as an anti-inflammatory agent via suppression of iNOS and pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as no cytotoxicity.

Organic geochemical characteristics of Bulgarian jet

The paper presents the results of the organic geochemical studies of Bulgarian jet samples of early Jurassic and early Cretaceous age from two deposits located within the Moesian platform and the Balkan tectonic zone. Total organic carbon contents (71 and 78%daf) indicate sub-bituminous coalification rank. Moderately high to high sulfur contents (0.8–1.7%daf) support activity of sulfate reducing bacteria. High amounts of volatile matter (53–59%daf) and slightly enhanced HI values (185–249mgHC/g TOC) argue for organic matter bituminization. The latter is also confirmed by the very low Tmax values (~400°C), which are interpreted as a result of the release of bituminous substances during the early stages of pyrolysis.Extractable organic matter is consistent with the low maturity and is characterized by high portions of NSO compounds and asphaltenes (>80%). Hydrocarbons constitute about 10% and are characterized by the predominance of the saturated over the aromatics. The strongly short-chain homologs dominated n-alkanes distributions, with expressed maxima at n-C17 and n-C18, and CPI in the range 1–2, is consistent with the woody origin of the jet. In addition, the low C29/C27 (~1) sterane ratios denote possible impregnation of the drift woods with phytoplankton-derived lipids from the host rocks. Low Pr/Ph (0.42–0.65) and Pr/n-C17 (0.28–0.43) ratios, as well as high Ph/n-C18 (0.4–0.78) ratio outline anoxic conditions of jet formation. Furthermore, the absence of chromans in the jet extracts from the Moesian platform suggests depositional environment with reduced salinity, whereas low di-MTTC/tri-MTTS (0.32) in the sample from the Balkan tectonic zone points to normal marine conditions.The occurrence of pimaranes and α-phyllocladane in the extracts from Nikolaevo jet points to Taxodiaceae or Araucariaceae conifers as possible precursors, whereas the presence of α-cedrane and cuparene in the sample from Lesidren deposit argues for Cupressaceae origin. In addition, triterpenoid biomarkers with lupane and ursane skeletal structures in the Lesidren jet is tentatively interpreted as an impregnation of the conifer drift wood with lipids from pre-angiosperm plants.Results from the bulk and molecular analyses revealed that Bulgarian jet originates from conifer drift wood, deposited under anoxic environmental settings, and subsequently subjected to hydrogenation and biodegradation.

Experimental study on blockage of drift wood roots and sediment by steel open-type Sabo dam

Experimental study on blockage of drift wood roots and sediment by steel open-type Sabo dam

Habitat Selection of Dendrocygna javanica in Heterogeneous Lakes of Malaysia

Monitoring the habitat selection of lesser whistling Duck (Dendrocygna javanica) is highly crucial for species conservation and management. In this study, habitat selection of D. javanica in 14 heterogeneous lakes (direct visual observation and point sampling technique) and foraging ecology (scan through method) was investigated through April-September, 2016. It was observed that lake Belibis L1 was heavily preferred by D. javanica (i.e., 166.16 individuals) and less preferred lake Kemoning L11 (i.e., 0.2 individuals). However, three lakes i.e., Seroja L2, Telipok L3 and Drift Wood L4 were completely avoided by D. javanica (i.e., no individual was observed) during the study period. The highest pH value was observed in lake Grebe L8 (September 2016; 8.9) and the lowest one in lake Seroja L2(May 2016; 6.3). Likewise, the highest mean water temperature was recorded in lake Senduduk L6 (June 2016; 32.9 C°) and the lowest one was determined in lake Grebe L8 (July 2016; 20.7 C°). Multivariate analysis i.e., correlation matrix identified multi-collinearity relationship between relative abundance of lesser whistling Duck with Water Level Fluctuation (WLF),Water Quality Index (WQI), Lake Size (LS) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Inter-specific variation analysis showed that habitat selection by D. javanica occurs at a species-specific level in responses to changes inenvironmental factors. For example, the highest abundance occurred at minimum water depth (i.e., slope ± SE=-0.004 ± 0.309; P<0.001) while the lowest one at water quality index (slope ± SE=0.069±0.309;P<0.001), lake size (slope ± SE=0.028 ± 13.731; P<0.001), and NDVI (slope ± SE= 6.273 ± 13.731; P<0.001) respectively. This study indicated that habitat type and composition has a great effect on the population of D. javanica. Also it shows that D. javanica preferred shallow lakes rich with aquatic plants and aquatic invertebrates.

Dropstones in Rosso Ammonitico-facies pelagic sediments of the Southern Alps (southern Switzerland and northern Italy)

Sparse isolated pebbles and cobbles of extraformational lithologies are occasionally found in fine-grained deep-water sediments. In the Middle and Upper Liassic deep-water marly limestones and marlstones of Rosso Ammonitico facies (Morbio and Rosso Ammonitico Lombardo Formations) in the western Southern Alps, Lombardy and Ticino, outsized ‘exotic’ clasts of volcanic and basement rocks occur sporadically. The clasts, of pebble size, are typically rounded. The rhyolitic volcanic clasts can be related to the Permian volcanic succession of the western Southern Alps, from which they must have been reworked; a quartzite pebble is obviously derived from the Hercynian basement. The clasts are best interpreted, in analogy to other occurrences, as dropstones transported to the site of final deposition by drift wood that occasionally occurs in the pelagic sediments. The only possible source area must be situated to the west of Lago Maggiore where the Permian volcanic suite was exposed in a fault block uplifted in the course of latest Triassic–Early Jurassic rifting.

3 D-DEM による流木捕捉工の捕捉シミュレーション解析

3 D-DEM による流木捕捉工の捕捉シミュレーション解析

RECRUITMENT AND SUCCESSIONAL DYNAMICS DIVERSIFY THE SHIFTING HABITAT MOSAIC OF AN ALASKAN FLOODPLAIN

ABSTRACTWe measured plant recruitment patterns, successional dynamics, and biophysical processes on laterally expansive floodplains of the Kwethluk River, Alaska. The main channel of this gravel‐bed river frequently avulses and possesses an anabranching plan form. Fluvial processes were interactive with life history processes of riparian plants in determining initial stages of primary succession. Reproductive strategies and herbivory became important factors later in succession. We conducted plant age and compositional surveys to assess patterns of propagule deposition. We found that dispersal strategies of species were an important factor influencing recruitment patterns. Flood‐dispersed seeds resulted in even‐aged cohorts of species persistently segregated in space, based on age data. Sediment characteristics and inundation potential had little influence on seedling distributions. Recruitment was also segregated on the basis of dispersal strategy. At the heads of bars, where vegetative propagules (live drift wood) were entombed during floods, the distributions of species were random. This size‐selective nature of recruitment persisted through time. Vegetation age and distribution patterns were further diversified by the river's legacy of gravel deposition that diversified the primary successional pathway: one associated with ridges and another with swales. Interactions between these pathways and beaver herbivory initiated secondary succession. We used satellite imagery to quantify the extent of floodplain influenced by herbivory and to assess the importance of this driver of secondary succession. We also used high‐resolution aerial imagery and randomly selected sites to provide an unbiased analysis. We classified this imagery to quantify the spatial extent of herbivory and its influence on the initiation of secondary succession. The results showed, in addition to recruitment and successional dynamics, the flood‐plain habitat mosaic was diversified by the initiation of secondary succession. Patch and species composition within the vegetation mosaics were significantly different than those portions of the floodplain engaged in primary succession. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Divers Things: Collecting the World under Water

I do not pretend to have been to bottom of sea.Robert Boyle, 1670MATTER OUT OF PLACEConsider following object as shown in an early eighteenth-century engraving (Figure 1) . It is a piece of wood - not a highly worked thing, not ingeniously wrought, though it is an artefact of human labour rather than a natural body. Or is it? In engraving, piece of wood disappears: it is visible towards bottom of image, a sober pointed stump, but it is quickly subsumed by a second, enveloping entity that swirls about it in an embroidering corkscrew. What elements are here intertwining? The legend beneath engraving identifies artefact thus: Navis, prope Hispaniolam ann Dom 1659. Naufragium passae, asser, a davo ferreo transfixus, corallio aspero candicante I. B. Obsitus, & a fundo maris anno 1687 expiscatusV It describes a stake or spar from a ship wrecked off Hispaniola in 1659, which is transfixed by both an iron bolt rough whitish coral, fished out of depths in 1687. This collector's item is neither cliche of exemplarily beautiful coral nor straightforwardly a historical relic, but an intertwining of two: transfixing of a remnant of maritime technology by an aquatic agent. It exhibits very process of encrustation. The spar is juxtaposed with image of a jellyfish, more proximately, engravings of Spanish silver coins, also encrusted with coral: Nummus argenteus Hispanicus . . . incrustatus, one of labels reads.1 Still another illustration, in a separate engraving, bears legend Frustum Ugni e mari atlantico erutum cui adhaerescunt conchae anatiferae margine muricata - a piece of drift wood beset with bernecle [sic] shells. It poses a similar puzzle. What appears of interest to curious is neither barnacle nor wood as autonomous specimens but their physical relationship - fact that they are stuck together.2The engravings in question were commissioned by Hans Sloane for his two- volume Natural history of Jamaica (1707-25). Sloane had visited England's rising sugar colony during 1687-89 as physician to its then governor, Christopher Monck, second Duke of Albemarle, during a period of intense capital investment underwritten by acceleration of English involvement in African slave trade, in whose profits Sloane became a direct beneficiary. Although Sloane's voyage to Jamaica is noted for hundreds of plant specimens he brought back to London, origins of his Atlantic passage in fact lie under water, in that original motivation for Monck's acceptance of governorship was to make a fortune through salvage projects on sunken treasure ships in Caribbean Sea. Among Sloane's haul of specimens were numerous curiosities, including aquatic objects, such as his coral-encrusted spar coins. Several of these curiosities were later placed on public view in British Museum, which opened in 1759 to house collections Sloane had amassed. To Sloane's rival John Woodward, shipping physical context of specimens was at best a matter of necessity. For those pieces which are found lodged in marble or he advised collectors in 1696, and are not easily got out single, send pieces of said marble stone, of all sorts, with shells so lodged in them. Sloane's engraving of encrusted spar was neither accident nor instrumentality, however, but a display of learned attention to processes of mutual transformation between natural artificial forces, divine creativity human ingenuity.3Fusions of natural artificial entities also suggest relation between worlds of specimen gathering treasure-hunting in which collectors like Sloane trafficked. This essay pursues early modern curiosity culture's fascination with things encrusted transfixed into an intensely fetishised zone of collection signification: submarine. It aims to open up history of underwater realm in early modernity by examining what anthropologist Michael Taussig suggestively describes as the art of matter out of place. …

Experimental study on trap performance of drift wood capturing structure using root shape drift wood model

Experimental study on trap performance of drift wood capturing structure using root shape drift wood model

Investigation of drift wood caused by heavy rain at Shobara, Hiroshima on July 16, 2010

Investigation of drift wood caused by heavy rain at Shobara, Hiroshima on July 16, 2010

Deuteromycols A and B, two benzofuranoids from a Red Sea marine-derived Deuteromycete sp.

Two benzofuranoids, deuteromycol A, 6,7-dihydroxy-2-[1'-hydroxy-(1'→5″)-2″,3″,4″-trihydroxy-2″,3″-dihydropyran]benzofuran and deuteromycol B, 1-(6,7-dihydroxy benzofuran-2-yl)methyl acetate have been isolated from the ethanol extract of the marine-derived fungal strain MF 003 (Deuteromycete) obtained from Red Sea mangrove drift wood. Deuteromycols A and B contain a catecholic nucleus that to the best of our knowledge is unusual in association with marine fungi secondary metabolites. Structures were established on the basis of extensive 1D-and 2D-NMR spectroscopic studies as well as on mass spectrometric analysis. Besides, the extracts exhibited in vitro antibacterial activity.

砂防ダムと流木 (II):流木群の堆積機構と堰上げ機構

砂防ダムと流木 (II):流木群の堆積機構と堰上げ機構