Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1935. / Bibliography: p. 42.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1935. / Bibliography: p. 42.

Thesis (M.P.H.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northern Michigan University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

An ecosytem-based spatial conservation plan for the South African sandy beaches. Sandy beaches are valuable ecosystems. They support a collection of species that is unique, comprising many endemic species, and provide a number of key ecosystem goods and services, including scenic vistas for human recreation, nesting sites for turtles and birds, and important areas for biogeochemical recycling, water filtration and purification. However, sandy beaches have not been well understood or appreciated as ecosystems, and consequently have a legacy of poor coastal management. In many instances this has lead to a "tyranny of small decisions", where multiple, seemingly insignificant management decisions and actions have resulted in complete transformation and degradation of the shoreline in several places. In addition to inappropriate management strategies, beaches are also poorly represented in conservation areas. Further, where they are recognised as being "conserved" in marine protected areas, this often is a false sense of protection because the far more sensitive dune portion of the littoral active zone is invariably not included in the reserve. In short, there is a need for a new way to approach sandy beach conservation and management that includes the system (dunes, intertidal beaches and surf zones) as a whole. On one hand, the approach should make provision for use of the abundant natural resources and opportunities associated with sandy shores in ways that are sustainable and contribute to biodiversity stewardship - through ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning. But, on the other hand, it must simultaneously contribute to securing a sufficient amount of the key ecological attributes of beaches (habitats, biodiversity and processes) in a network of reserves, to ensure that the ecosystem, natural resources, and services all persist in perpetuity - through systematic conservation planning. The aim of this Thesis is to integrate these into a single approach, which I call ecosystem-based spatial conservation planning for sandy beaches, using the South African sandy shores as a case study. To achieve this broad aim, the Thesis is divided into three parts. Part 1 deals with establishing baseline information by quantifying spatial patterns in sandy beach habitats (Chapter 1), biodiversity, key assemblages and processes, and outstanding physical features (Chapter 2). First, mapping sandy beach habitats is a challenge given the vast, linear extent of shorelines and significant resources required to complete the project. Therefore, a novel approach was derived using statistical techniques (conditional inference trees) to identify physical features of beaches that can be observed on Google Earth (or similar) imagery, and that can provide good predictions of beach morphodynamic (habitat) types. Based on the results of this analysis, sandy beaches (and all other coastal habitat types) were mapped digitally in ArcGIS. Second, spatial patterns in sandy beach biodiversity (vertebrates, macrofauna, microflora and foredune plants) were mapped by compiling existing data on the distributions of key species that have been well studied or mapped previously (vertebrates and foredune plants), and by niche modelling (macrofauna and microflora). For the latter, data from all previous sandy-beach sampling events in South Africa were compiled from published and unpublished sources, and supplemented with additional sampling of 23 beaches along the national shoreline, targeting macrofauna and phytoplankton. Altogether, the macrofauna database comprised data from 135 sites and 186 sampling events, and the microflora (phytoplankton and microphytobenthos) database comprised data from 73 sites and 510 samples. The probabilistic distribution of each "resident" species (present at 10 or more sites) was modelled in MaxEnt version 3.3.3k, probability thresholds were determined statistically (to convert the data into predicted presence-absence), and displayed as a digital map. A composite biodiversity map was compiled, and key trends in species richness and endemism along the national shoreline were quantified. To supplement biodiversity proper, additional valued-features of sandy beaches were mapped, including: important assemblages; unique habitat features; and sites associated with key ecological processes. Part 2 considers threats to sandy beaches in the context of deriving an appropriate management strategy that seeks to provide for use of the coast, but in a way that has least overall impact to the ecosystem. A method for assessing cumulative threats to sandy beaches is adapted from an existing framework (Chapter 4). This entailed compiling a list of threats to beaches, and scoring these (out of 10) in terms of the severity of their respective impacts to beaches, and how long it would take the ecosystem to recover should the threat be removed. The scoring was based on the collective expert opinion of the scientific community working on sandy beaches, at a workshop during the VIth International Sandy Beach Symposium 2012. To standardize the scores and ensure broad applicability, a base case scenario of a pristine beach was established, and maximum theoretical scores were provided for this context. The method for integrating these scores into a spatial, cumulative threat assessment was then determined. In Chapter 5, the maximum theoretical scores (from Chapter 4) were down-scaled to suit the current threat regime to the South African sandy beaches, and the cumulative threat assessment methodology was applied. From this analysis, the most threatened beaches in South Africa, and the most important threats were highlighted. A decision-support tool for managers was derived from the site-specific cumulative threat-impact scores, based first on the degree of permanent habitat transformation, and second on the cumulative impact of other stressors where the impacts these stressors have could potentially be mitigated or ameliorated. Part 3 concerns conservation of beaches explicitly. It addresses how much of which valued features of beaches is required to ensure their long-term persistence, and the design of a network of beaches in South Africa that are of ecological importance and should be set aside as reserves. Conservation targets are set in Chapter 6, using species-area curves to determine a baseline percentage-area required to protect sandy beach habitats, which is modified using heuristic principles based on habitat rarity and threat status (from a recent national assessment). A fixed target was applied to all species, also modified by heuristic principles, and another fixed target was applied to key assemblages and processes.

With congressional passage of the BEACH Act in October of 2000, Coastal and Great Lakes states were mandated to assess coastal recreation waters for the application of ambient water quality standards. This research encompasses two components involved in applying the BEACH Act statues to Oregon. The first component was to select beach sites in Oregon. The second component involves applying bacterial recreational water standards to select Oregon beaches. Using the guidelines provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this study develops a method to appraise Oregon marine recreational waters taking into account the following factors: use, available information, pollution threats, sanitary surveys, monitoring data, exposure considerations, economics, and development. In an effort to protect the public from swimming-associated illness attributable to microbial pollution, 24 beaches were identified in Oregon. Of these, 19 beaches were classified as tier 1, or high priority, and five sites were classified as medium priority, or tier 2. Future studies should be directed at ascertaining the beach lengths utilized by Oregon marine recreators since this is an important parameter in targeting bacterial monitoring. Ongoing monitoring of these 24 sites is warranted and new information could be used to update beach tier levels in Oregon. In the second phase of this study, bacterial monitoring data was used for comparison to recreational water quality standards. In October of 2002, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) sampled 26 beaches for enterococci and Escherichia coli (E. coli) densities. Of the water sampled from all 26 beach sites, nine exceeded s single sample maximum density of 104 enterococci colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliLiters (mL). The Oregon beach with the highest exceedance occurred at Otter Rock's South Cove where the enterococci concentration was 4352 most probable number (MPN)/100 mL. A comparison of the 26 sampled beaches to ODEQ's estuarine E. coli standard of 406 organisms/100 mL resulted in two beaches with exceedances. Otter Rock at South Cove had the highest E. coli concentration at 1850 MPN/100 mL. Based on the limited data used in this study, should Oregon adopt the enterococci standard in lieu of the current ODEQ estuarine E. coli standard, more beaches will have exceedances of the recreational water standard. Additional bacterial monitoring is warranted to further characterize the nature and extent of the problem in Oregon. To protect the health of the marine recreating public, future Oregon marine water quality studies should delineate the "no swim" zone around creeks and model the impacts of rainfall on beach sites. / Graduation date: 2004

Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-04T12:36:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010 / A Baía de Guanabara, por sua beleza é um dos mais conhecidos símbolos da cidade do Rio de Janeiro no exterior. É um ecossistema extremamente produtivo, apesar da grande quantidade e diversidade de poluentes lançados diariamente em suas águas. Isso compromete a saúde de quem a freqüenta e, como também a sustentabilidade econômica. Portanto é de suma importância o monitoramento da qualidade das praias para a saúde pública, sendo que a mesma sofre influência de poluentes vindos das águas e do continente. O presente estudo propôs-se a avaliar a qualidade sanitária de areia e água de quatro praias da Baía de Guanabara, duas situadas na Ilha de Governador e duas, na Ilha de Paquetá, nas quatro estações do ano. A metodologia utilizada foi a técnica de membrana filtrante, expressando os resultados em unidade formadora de colônia por grama e por mL por meio de análises colimétricas, na avaliação de Escherichia coli, coliformes totais e micológica, pela ocorrência de fungos filamentosos e de leveduras nas matrizes areia e água, os quais foram isolados, identificados e armazenados em coleções de cultura para futuras pesquisas biotecnológicas. Foi proposto um novo padrão para análise bacteriológica de areia, tendo como base o estudo de revisão epidemiológica, em que se associam doenças gastrointestinais com risco à saúde visto que a nova Resolução n° 468/10 da SMAC é menos restritiva do que a anterior, n° 081/00. Como também para avaliação de fungos em areia e água. A praia da Bica apresentou na areia seca no inverno a maior concentração de Escherichia coli em relação às outras praias analisadas, com níveis 800 vezes acima do limite permitido na legislação, assim como para análise de fungos filamentosos e de leveduras, encontrando maior ocorrência na mesma estação e matriz, com a prevalência do fenótipo Negra com borda branca, que teve 70 por cento de identificação para o gênero Aspergillus com (31/44) dos 88 identificados, mais freqüentes entre os 226 gêneros encontrados pertencentes à coleção. No teste paramétrico de correlação de Pearson entre o fenótipoacima e Escherichia coli foi observada correlação positiva ao nível de 1 por cento. Havendo duplo risco de contrair infecção por meio de areia de praia na classificação não recomendada, principalmente por crianças, ou indivíduos imunocomprometidos. Foi também observado que a contaminação da areia não está relacionada com a da água. E que as estações verão e outono foram as de maior concentração de E. coli em água. / Baía de Guanabara, for its beauty, is one of the most notorious symbols of Rio de Janeiro city abroad; it is an extremely productive ecosystem, in spite of the great amount and diversity of pollutants daily thrown on its waters, endangering the health of those people who attend it, as well as the economical sustainability. Nowadays it is a matter of concern for the public and environmental authorities due to the Olympic Games in 2016. The present study intended to evaluate the sanitary quality of sand and water in four beaches of Baía de Guanabara, two of them located on Ilha do Governador, and two of them located on Ilha de Paquetá, which due to their location represent the whole ecosystem of Baía de Guanabara, with four field duties in the four seasons of the year. The methodology used for the study was the membrane filter technique, showing the results in UFC/g and UFC/mL through coliform bacteria analyses, in the E. coli, total coliforms and mycologic evaluation, through the occurrence of filamentous fungi and yeast species in the sand and water sources, which were isolated, identified and are kept in culture collection for future biotechnological researches. A new pattern was proposed for bacteriological analyses of sand, based on the study of epidemiologic review, which associates gastrointestinal diseases to risk to health due to the new Resolution N °468/10 l to be less restrictive than the transitory one N °081/00. Bica beach obtained in the first field duty, during the winter, the largest concentration of E. coli in relation to the other studied beaches, with 800 times above the limits allowed in the legislation, as well as for analysis of filamentous fungi and yeast species, presenting larger occurrence in the same season and source, with prevalence of the Black phenotype with white border (NBB) belonging to the gender Aspergillus with (31/44) 70% among the identified genders, out of the 226 ones belonging to the collection of the 3 most presented phenotypes. In Pearson`s parametric test of correlation between NBB and E. coli it was observed positive correlation at a level of 1%., having double risk of contracting infection through beach sand in the non recommended classification, mainly for children, or individuals exempt of immunity. It was also observed that the contamination of the sand is not related with the one of the water. And that the summer and autumn seasons were the ones with larger concentration of E. coli, initial period of the secondary treatment in Alegria sewer treatment station in Caju district.