published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

The Best MPhil Thesis in the Faculties of Architecture, Arts, Business& Economics, Education, Law and Social Sciences (University of HongKong), Li Ka Shing Prize, 2009-2010 / published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Applied Geosciences / Master / Master of Science

The marine environment is likely to experience profound climate change in the coming 100 years and beyond. Ocean acidification (OA) is one of the climate change issues attracting the attention of researchers all over the world. The decreasing pH of the oceans might threaten marine biofouling organisms. However, climate change is not only involved with ocean acidification (OA) but the change of other environmental variables, such as temperature and salinity. These environmental factors act as multiple stressors and synergistically affect shell-forming biofoulers, in which, the calcium carbonate skeleton structure plays an important role of protection. Previous studies regarding the response of marine biofoulers to the environmental stressors were generally summarized in this article. Then a calcifying biofouling tube worm, Hydroides elegans, were reared from larval stage to early juvenile stage under control and treatment conditions to examine the combined effects of temperature (24, 30°C), pH (8.1, 7.7) and salinity (34, 27ppt). Juvenile growth and chemical composition (Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca) of their calcareous tubes were tested and used as assessment of effects of the three environmental stressors. The experiment revealed that H. elegans was robust to the environmental change because juvenile development positively responded to temperature and the interaction between temperature and salinity. Other combinations did not exert significant effect. The results suggest the need of further study of proteomics and transcriptomics to reveal the mechanisms of calcification as well as long-term studies to examine the energy costs of adaptation. In addition, the non-significant chemical composition (Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca) of the tube of this organism suggest a need of further exploration of the same animal but not only focus on three factors but the seawater chemical composition as well. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

abstract / Geography / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text

No description available.

Contract #DACW 72-78-Q-0046 / US Army Coastal Engineering Research Center Requisition Purchase Request #IWR-B-78-119 / The objectives of this report are, first, to summarize the findings to date of the dendroclimatic work performed by our research team at the University of Arizona with respect to the broad patterns of climatic variations over North America since 1600 AD. A secondary objective, as stated in the contract, is to select set(s) of those past climatic patterns which most closely resemble or provide a perspective for conditions of climatic variability expressed as possessing a substantial degree of mobility of occurrence by the National Defense University (1978) study of climatic changes.

No description available.