Anthropogenic activity,hydrological regime,and light level jointly influence temporal patterns in biosonar activity of the Yangtze finless porpoise at the junction of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake,China

Under increasing anthropogenic pressure,species with a previously contiguous distribution across their ranges have been reduced to small fragmented populations.The critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise(Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis),once commonly observed in the Yangtze River-Poyang Lake junction,is now rarely seen in the river-lake corridor.In this study,static passive acoustic monitoring techniques were used to detect the biosonar activities of the Yangtze finless porpoise in this unique corridor.Generalized linear models were used to examine the correlation between these activities and anthropogenic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and boat navigation,as well as environmental variables,including hydrological conditions and light levels.Over approximately three consecutive years of monitoring(2020–2022),porpoise biosonar was detected during 93%of logged days,indicating the key role of the corridor for finless porpoise conservation.In addition,porpoise clicks were recorded in 3.80%of minutes,while feeding correlated buzzes were detected in 1.23%of minutes,suggesting the potential existence of localized,small-scale migration.Furthermore,both anthropogenic and environmental variables were significantly correlated with the diel,lunar,monthly,seasonal,and annual variations in porpoise biosonar activities.During the pandemic lockdown period,porpoise sonar detection showed a significant increase.Furthermore,a significant negative correlation was identified between the detection of porpoise click trains and buzzes and boat traffic intensity.In addition to water level and flux,daylight and moonlight exhibited significant correlations with porpoise biosonar activities,with markedly higher detections at night and quarter moon periods.Ensuring the spatiotemporal reduction of anthropogenic activities,implementing vessel speed restrictions(e.g.,during porpoise migration and feeding),and maintaining local natural hydrological regimes are critical factors for sustaining porpoise population viability.

Fabric characteristics of in situ sand with/without liquefaction verified by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility

It is well known that fabric of sand may significantly affect mechanical behaviors and liquefaction resistance of sand.Various optical techniques are currently utilized to visualize the fabric,especially the distribution of the long axis of soil particles.However,none of these methods provides an ideal solution in laboratory tests and in situ observation.In this study,anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility(AMS)was first proposed as a convenient and efficient way to evaluate the liquefaction of clean sand.At first,investigations with scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and AMS were simultaneously conducted on two groups of soil specimens with different initial fabrics to verify the feasibility of the AMS technique.Then,80 in situ samples were collected to analyze the feature of liquefied and non-liquefied sand layers through AMS tests.It is clearly known from the test results that the natural sedimentary fabric was destroyed during liquefaction and the fabric anisotropy was greatly changed after liquefaction.The feasibility of evaluating soil fabric using the AMS survey was verified by the laboratory tests.Furthermore,the applicability of AMS in detecting liquefied layer in situ was confirmed for the first time.