1,805,450 research outputs found
Hispanic Ministries In the Rocky Mountain Conference
No full textSummary and overview of Methodist church work among Hispanics in the Rocky Mountain region of the United StatesHispanic Ministries In the Rocky Mountain Conferenc
Rocky shore biotic assemblages of the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean) : a conservation perspective
Full text linkLimestone rocky shores constitute ca 90.5% of the 272km coastline of the Maltese islands. Only some 40% of this rocky coastline is gently sloping and easily accessible. Such shores are heavily impacted with 96% of the accessible coastline dominated by tourist-related or by maritime activities. We characterized the biotic assemblages of lowland Maltese rocky shores and tested the popularly held view that given the scarce variation in physical characteristics, such shores form a homogenous habitat. Belt transects were laid perpendicular to the shoreline from biological zero to the adlittoral zone on seven Coralline Limestone and one Globigerina Limestone shores. Cover (for algae and encrusting species) or population density (for animals except sponges) were estimated using 0.5m X 0.05m quadrats placed contiguously for the first few metres and then at regularly spaced intervals. Overall, 19 faunal and 47 floral species, and 10 faunal and 8 floral species were recorded from the Coralline and Globigerina transects respectively, with 60.8% faunal and 25.6% floral species common to the two substrata. Hierarchical clustering showed that the Coralline and Globigerina transects harboured distinct biotic assemblages and identified an upper shore assemblage dominated by the littorinid Melarhaphe neritoides and barnacles, and a lower shore assemblage dominated by algae and molluscs; a mid-shore transition zone where certain species from both assemblages reached peaks of abundance was present in almost all Coralline and the majority of Globigerina transects. Differences in biota between the two types of shore are most likely primarily related to differences in microtopography and, to a lesser degree, to exposure. It is concluded that in spite of gross physical similarity, Maltese lowland rocky shores are biotically inhomogeneous, making conservation of individual sites much more important than previously thought.peer-reviewe
Community-level analysis of anthropogenic impacts on rocky shore communities in Sri Lanka
Full text linkHuman activities threat seashore communities in many areas of the world and their impacts on coastal ecosystem are a matter of increasing concern. Present study describes the anthropogenic disturbances on the rocky shore community structure by comparing the benthic communities of disturbed and non-disturbed areas in Sri Lanka where rocky shores remain virtually untouched so far by experimental studies. Impacts of human disturbances; trampling, handling and exploitation on the community structure of rocky macro benthic assemblages were tested in high-, mid- and low-intertidal area by stratified sampling method at Rumassala marine sanctuary and adjacent two localities at either side of the marine sanctuary, Galle and Unawatuna. Univariate measures, log series model and multivariate techniques were used to discriminate the communities with respect to the disturbances. Proximity of study localities and indistinguishable physicochemical parameters of sea surface water (temperature, Salinity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH) indicated that overall environment of the study area was relatively uniform and changes in community structure was due to human disturbances. Human disturbances documented as visitor censuses by transect walk method lead to categorize the Rumassala as non-disturbed, Unawatuna as disturbed with Galle being of moderately disturbance. Community abundance showed a decreasing trend along with increasing disturbances, albeit community biomass, due to opportunistic algae species, increased in parallel to disturbances. Computed Index of disturbance revealed that macrofauna was very sensitive to the disturbances and increased disturbances reduced their competitive pressure on macroalgae, leading to outstanding macroalgal growth. Macroalgal domination in disturbed communities contributed to lessen the heterotrophic dominance in Galle and Unawatuna. 96 macrobenthic taxa were encountered from the study and Species richness, Shannon and Fisher’s diversity index showed decreasing trend with increasing disturbances. Moreover, initial rising slope of species accumulation curves for three communities indicated that community evenness was low in disturbed communities. The community compositions from dominant conservative species to fast growing opportunistic species were well described by the log series model, showing left skewed distribution. The SIMPER analysis further confirmed that most biomass dominant species in stress status were the opportunistic species such as Valoniopsis pachynema, Gracilaria cassa and Padina boerggesenii. Providing strong support to the results highlighted from univariate measures and log series model, multivariate cluster analysis and nMDS plots completely separated three communities at ordinal scale. This separation was further confirmed by one-way ANOSIM test with significantly higher (2.9%) similarity of study sites within each community. Present study indicated that, allowing less time for recovery, human activities created press-type disturbance on macro-benthic assemblages, and subsequent changes in community structure could be attributed to less suitable substrata. Study proposed that ecological stress is the best measured by multiple methods, and results from different approaches provide the robustness necessary to judge the reliability of the conclusion. Present study strongly supports the growing concern that human activities impact on intertidal assemblages all over the world by changing community composition. Present finding is a contribution to the published literature that is scarcer from tropical rocky shores
ROCKY FORUM | The De-Italianization of Rocky Balboa: The Italian Stallion's Path to Becoming an American Hero
No full textAuthor: Juan Rodríguez Santos University of Alcalá Download PDF version If you polled Americans to identify which character in all cinema best represents American values, it is quite likely that many would choose Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Without a doubt, the image of Rocky fighting with the colors of the American flag and defeating the Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) is already a Hollywood icon. In Rocky Road: The Hero's Journey of Rocky Balboa Through the “Rocky” Ant..
Studies on the meiofauna of rocky shores
No full textBibliography: leaves 88-97.Annual macrofaunal and meiofaunal standing stocks were estimated on an exposed rocky shore along the west coast of False Bay, South Africa, using comparable area based sampling techniques. While meiofaunal densities exceeded those of macrofauna in all zones, by an overall ratio of approximately 400:1, macrofaunal biomass exceeded that of meiofauna by an overall ratio of 10:1. The numbers of meiofauna were not evenly distributed across the shore but varied with the algal standing stocks in each zone and their sediment load. By incorporating turnover ratios from the literature, mean annual productivity ratios were calculated which suggested that meiofauna were responsible for 25 of total (excluding bacterial) secondary production. To follow this up, the impact of wave exposure on the meiofauna of one species of alga (viz. Gelidium pristoides) was examined on five shores around False Bay. Meiofaunal densities (dominated by animals between 63um-280um) were significantly greater on sheltered than exposed shores. As the minimum width of Gelidium fronds exceeds that of these permanent meiofauna, and tufts offer little resistance to wave action, only those individuals living in the dense, holdfast region of plants could escape the impact of waves on exposed shores. Total meiofaunal biomass per plant remained constant irrespective of shore type, due to the greater numbers of juvenile bivalves and amphipods on exposed shores. Algal and herbivore biomass were not significantly different between shore types around False Bay and therefore, the proportional contribution by meiofauna to total secondary production on sheltered shores was predicted to be greater than on exposed shores, where the biomass of macrofaunal filter feeders was very high. It has previously been argued that differences in meiofaunal communities between plant species are a result of differential surface area, number of habitats and refugia from predation. The possible fate of meiofaunal productivity as food for higher trophic levels (fish) and the mediating role played by algal complexity was investigated in a series of carefully designed laboratory and field experiments
Consequences of climate-driven biodiversity changes for ecosystem functioning of North European rocky shores
Full text linkWe review how intertidal biodiversity is responding to globally driven climate change,
focusing on long-term data from rocky shores in the British Isles. Physical evidence of warming
around the British Isles is presented and, whilst there has been considerable fluctuation, sea surface
temperatures are at the highest levels recorded, surpassing previous warm periods (i.e. late 1950s).
Examples are given of species that have been advancing or retreating polewards over the last 50 to
100 yr. On rocky shores, the extent of poleward movement is idiosyncratic and dependent upon life
history characteristics, dispersal capabilities and habitat requirements. More southern, warm water
species have been recorded advancing than northern, cold water species retreating. Models have
been developed to predict likely assemblage composition based on future environmental scenarios.
We present qualitative and quantitative forecasts to explore the functional consequences of changes
in the identity, abundance and species richness of gastropod grazers and foundation species such as
barnacles and canopy-forming algae. We forecast that the balance of primary producers and secondary
consumers is likely to change along wave exposure gradients matching changes occurring
with latitude, thereby shifting the balance between export and import of primary production.
Increases in grazer and sessile invertebrate diversity are likely to be accompanied by decreasing
primary production by large canopy-forming fucoids. The reasons for such changes are discussed in
the context of emerging theory on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
KEY WORDS: Climate change · Intertidal · Range shifts · Biodiversity · Ecosystem functioning ·
Northeast Atlanti
1937 Rocky Mountain News Articles About Receding Glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park
Full text linkTwo Rocky Mountain News articles about Tyndall and Andrews glaciers receding in Rocky Mountain National Park. Includes Photos
Tyndall Glacier; Andrews Glacier;
Housed in National Archives at Denver; Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service; Rocky Mountain National Park, General Correspondence 1918-1954; Box 4, Folder: 732-06.1 Ice & Glaciers [Folder 3
A comparison between macrofaunal communities on mixed shores and rocky and sandy shores in False Bay
No full textBibliography: leaves 92-99.The community structures of three shore types namely: "mixed shores" (those where rocky and sandy-shore habitats are intermixed), pure rocky shores and pure sandy beaches in False Bay, South Africa are compared in this study. Four habitats were identified - pure rock (unaffected by sand), mixed rock (rock affected by sand), mixed sand (sand between emergent rocks) and pure sand (beaches with no emergent rock) - representing a gradation from pure rock to pure sandy beaches. The specific aims of this study were to: (1) Sample quantitatively and describe macrofaunal communities on mixed shores in False Bay; (2) make direct comparisons among both the four types of habitats and three types of shores; and (3) test the hypothesis that sand inundation increases diversity at both habitat (a-diversity) and shore (diversity) level. The biological communities of mixed shores are described in terms of species composition, trophic organisation and zonation. Mixed-shore zonation patterns are different from those previously described for pure rocky shores in the region. The ability of Charomytilus meridiana/is and inability of patellid limpets and various algae, to withstand sand inundation are largely responsible for these differences
1952 Rocky Mountain Nature Association List of Natural History Publications
Full text linkList of natural history publications related to Rocky Mountain National Park that were for sale through the non-profit cooperating society; Rocky Mountain Nature Association.
Rocky Mountain National Park; Rocky Mountain Nature Association;
Housed in National Archives at Denver; Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service; Rocky Mountain National Park, General Correspondence 1918-1954; Box 2, Folder: 700-1 Nature Study [Folder 2
Rocky Mountain Highway 1915
No full textShows tentative locations for part of a system of 100,000 miles of national highways. "Proposed by the Rocky Mountian Highway Association and also advocated by the National Highways Association."The National Highways Association (NHA) was established in 1911 to promote the development of an improved national road network in the United States. Under the slogan “Good roads for everyone!” the NHA advocated the building and permanent maintenance by the federal government of a system of 50,000 miles (some 80,500 kilometers) of highways. This map, issued by the NHA in 1915, shows the Rocky Mountain Highway, proposed by the Rocky Mountain Highway Association and endorsed by the NHA. The projected route runs from Glacier National Park in Montana to El Paso, Texas, on the U.S.–Mexico border, a distance of 1,825 miles (2,937 kilometers). The notes and table in the lower right indicate the numbers of states, counties, and cities of different sizes traversed by the route and the population expected to be served. Besides issuing brochures and circulars aimed at convincing citizens of the need for a national road system, the NHA was a prolific producer of maps. Cartographic work was done at an office in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, where approximately 40 people were employed on the property of Charles Henry Davis (1865–1951), president and cofounder of the NHA. Davis believed that these maps would be helpful to a national highways commission that he hoped would be established and that they would assist the states in integrating their roads into a national system. Congress never embraced the plan put forward by the NHA, but the organization and its maps helped to promote the cause of a national road network.Color1:5,000,00
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