Description: Joint IAMSLIC/EURASLIC Conference held 14-19 October, 2001 at Brest, France

Description: An annotated checklist of the sharks and rays of the South China Sea is described, together with some global statistics on the status and use of elasmobranchs. For each of the 156 recorded species, the checklist contains scientific names, synonyms, common names, global distribution, distribution in the area, status of threat, human uses, key references on taxonomy, identification, reproduction, population dynamics, and a list of people who have contributed information. The checklist is a direct printout from FishBase, a global database on finfish, developed at ICLARM in collaboration with FAO, the California Academy of Sciences, and many other partners, and supported by the European Commission (see www.fishbase.org). The goal of FishBase is to further the conservation and sustainable use of fish by bringing together the knowledge of taxonomists, fisheries experts, and conservationists, providing tools for analysing and updating this knowledge, and making it available to concerned people. How a closer link between FishBase, taxonomists and country experts can benefit the specialists, as well as elasmobranch conservation, is discussed

Description: Given the variability of seasonal, annual, and in particular langer time-scales, the dispersal and fate of the river discharge and its influence on the hydrographical and sedimentological settings are the central tasks in understanding the Holocene history of the Laptev Sea shelf. The main goal of this study was to investigate short- and long-term environmental changes in the strongly coupled land-shelf system of the Laptev Sea using isotopic evidence in sediments and biogenic carbonates. In order to trace the modern spatial distribution of terrestrial organic matter, which is strongly affected by the riverine input and the thermal erosion of the ice-rich permafrost coast, stable carbon isotope ratios of total organic carbon in surface sediments were analyzed. The stable carbon isotope composition of surface sediments reveal a dominant impact of terrestrial organic matter on the modern depositional environment of the Laptev Sea shelf with distinct south to north and east to west gradients. Based on downcore 8 13Carg records in radiocarbon-dated sediment cores the spatial and temporal deposition of terrestrial organic matter during the past 12.7 ka is specified and can be related to depositional changes which occurred after the last glacial maximum when this region became flooded due to a global rising sea level. The major changes in the deposition of terrestrial organic matter occurred between 11 and 7 ka BP and comprise the main phase of the southward retreat of the coastline and river depocenters due to the postglacial sea level rise. Stable oxygen and carbon isotope profiles from recent and fossil bivalve shells were investigated in order to trace modern and past hydrographical conditions and their changes during the postglacial history of the Laptev Sea. The serial dissection of bivalve shell valves along their growth axis from the umbo towards the ventral margin provides an isotopic record of hydrographical and physiological changes during the life of the individual specimen. The oxygen isotopic profiles of modern bivalve species of Astarte borealis exhibit amplitude cycles interpreted as recording annual hydrographical cycles. Regarding the well-known relationship between the carbonate 8 180, temperature, and the isotopic composition of water (8180w), it is possible to relate isotopic phases to seasonal hydrographical phases like summer and winter. The within shell isotopic variations are mainly attributed to variations in the isotopic composition and in the salinity of bottom waters in the Laptev Sea. Seasonal temperature changes can be regarded of minor importance. Using a modern linear relationship between 8 180w and salinity of 0.50 %0/salinity, salinity records are reconstructed from the oxygen isotope records of the bivalve shells and can be directly compared with hydrographical parameters at the investigated sites. Carbon isotope profiles from modern specimens reveal a correspondence to the river breakup and to seasonal phytoplankton productivity. Trends towards lighter 8 13 C values through ontogeny suggest the effects of metabolic changes from a juvenile into a mature adult. Differences in the 8 13C of shell carbonate between the sites appear to reflect the regional distribution of the ö 13C of sedimentary organic matter. Given a good conformance between isotope profiles from modern bivalve shells and oceanographic observations, oxygen isotope profiles of radiocarbon bivalve shells from a sediment core from northeast off the Lena Delta are usecl to obtain in formation about passt hydrological conditions. Although isotope profiles from fossil bivalves of the Laptev Sea shelf reflect only a brief interval of time, they may offer new important insights into the paleohydrography during snapshots of the last 8.4 ka and their relation to the Holocene transgression. A reconstructed bottom water salinity of 29.5 at 8.4 ka BP indicates that the particular site was much more affectecl by riverine water than nowaclays causecl by the proximity to the coastline and to the paleo-1iver mouth. Due to the continuing southward retreat of the coastline ancl the Lena River mouth relative to the study site an increase in the bottom water salinity at 7.3 ka BP is reconstructecl. The oxygen isotope shell profile at 7.3 ka BP gives an evidence of a bottom water hydrography which is characterized by a high variability of summer and winter conditions on the level of modern bottom water conditions. The following time slices at 3.6 ka and 1.6 ka BP reveal that modern hydrological conditions are fully established. The presented salinity reconstruction enables us to make further presurnptions on the relative proximity of the study site to the coast and to the river rnouth during snapshot views of the Holocene history and thus can be related to the postglacial transgression of the Laptev Sea shelf.

Description: A policy framework for sustainable resource management (SRM) is required both to guarantee the materials and energy supply of the EU economy and safeguard the natural resource basis in the future. Goals and strategies for sustaining the metabolism of the economy are described. Data are presented on the material throughput and physical growth of the EU's economy, on total material requirements (TMR), its composition, the decoupling from economic growth, and the increased shift to other regions. A first future target Material Flow Balance (t- MFB) of the EU is outlined. Detailed data reveal the "top ten" resource flows. Policy design for SRM should aim at an integrated and balanced approach along the material flow, comprising resource extraction, the product cycle and final waste disposal. Strategies and potential instruments to manage fossil fuels, metals and industrial minerals, construction minerals and excavation are discussed. Possible priorities and examples are given for target setting, focusing on limited expansion of built-up area, reduced use of non-renewables, increased resource productivity, and shift to sustainable cultivation of biomass.

Description: The paper sketches out a theoretical framework for analysing the interplay between eco-efficiency, cognition and institutions. It derives from analytical shortfalls of the prevailing literature, which features strongly engineering and business economics, by using insights from New Institutional Economics, from Cognitive Sciences and, partly, from Evolutionary Economics. It emphasises the role cognition and institutions play in the adoption of "green" technologies by firms. A cognitive perspective derives from recent research on simple heuristics and context-based rationality; it is proposed that those recent findings can serve to analyse decision-making of individual actors or firms and, thus, should complement economic analysis. A second proposition is that eco-efficiency and normative rules such as a Factor Four strongly rely upon institutions, i.e. the ability of institutions to evolve over time and the development of those institutions that are most appropriate to enhance technological change. In this regard, business institutions and competition are crucial, but regulatory needs remain in order to safeguard continuity of knowledge creation. The framework allows for an analysis why overall adoption of eco-efficiency still can be considered relatively slow and why some markets and firms are far ahead. As a brief case study the article reflects upon German waste law’s ability to enhance eco-efficiency.