Highly Skewed Tidal Circulation Pattern and Water Quality in Puerto Galera Bay, Mindoro Island, Philippines

Abstract

Coastal waters in and around Puerto Galera Bay, Mindoro, Philippines, is drastically contaminated generally due to poorly constructed sanitation and household facilities and runoff from the hillsides associated with the tourism development. In this study, a field survey on tidal currents and water quality in and around Puerto Galera Bay was conducted with hydrodynamic numerical simulations of tidal currents, in which a nesting technique was employed for properly incorporating the effects of complicated tidal fluctuation outside the bay. The results reveal the existence of a highly asymmetrical pattern of tidal flow fluctuation having strong tidal residual flow and the vulnerability of the flow field to water quality deterioration within the semi-enclosed innermost bay area. The highly asymmetrical tidal flow fluctuation is attributed to the asymmetrical generation of detached eddying § Corresponding author. 341 Coast. Eng. J. 2009.51:341-361. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN on 02/20/15. For personal use only. 342 H. Iizuka et al.motion around Puerto Galera as a highly nonlinear phenomenon producing strong tidal residual currents. These results are useful in understanding the physical conditions of the bay, which are needed for consideration in the local government's coastal management plan.

A New, Morphologically Cryptic Species of Fanged Frog, Genus Limnonectes (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae), from Mindoro Island, Central Philippines

“…obs. ), its ubiquitous persistence in Mindoro's chronically degraded lowland watersheds (Lizuka et al, 2009) suggests that poor water quality may be less of a threat to larval development in L. beloncioi than might otherwise be expected of amphibians with aquatic larval development (Wells, 2007). An important source of protein in the diets of many indigenous communities (including the eight ethnolinguistic Mangyan tribal groups of Mindoro; Lopez, 1976;Kikuchi, 1984), species of fanged frogs are widely hunted and consumed in alarming numbers throughout their ranges in the Philippines (RMB, CDS, and ELBR, pers.…”

Notes on the distribution, ecology and open sea mariculture trials of the Philippine blue sponge, Xestospongia sp. (Porifera)

“…It is one of the major tourist and SCUBA diving destinations in the Philippines, making it a large contributor to the local economy (Roche et al., 2016). It was also designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1977 (Iizuka et al., 2009; Dagamac et al., 2015).…”

Stable isotopes elucidate body-size and seasonal fluctuations in the feeding strategies of planktivorous fishes across a semi-enclosed tropical embayment

“…While evidence of dietary shifts across seasons was expected in the faster turnover liver, there was also clear seasonal variation detected in both muscle and eye tissue. Muscle is a longer turnover tissue, reflecting a dietary time frame of several weeks to months in the body size range relevant here [mean turnover δ 13 C at 28 • C temperature (Iizuka et al, 2009)]: Small 39.5 days, Large 67.9 days; (Thomas and Crowther, 2015) but the dietary time frame of whole fish eye tissue is not well constrained. Here, the size and seasonal patterns of fish muscle and eye tissue δ 13 C were comparable, and eye δ 15 N was consistently lower than muscle δ 15 N. This correlates with one of the few studies to consider fish eye tissue (including retina), which found a significant positive correlation between fish muscle and eye δ 13 C (with a regression relationship close to 1:1), and that eye δ 15 N was consistently lower (∼2 ) than muscle δ 15 N (Kanaya et al, 2019).…”

“…At MU, dry season liver δ 13 C values were comparable to those in the rainy season (more enriched). MU, being the most sheltered inshore site, has reduced water flow and is heavily influenced by surrounding terrestrial and anthropogenic inputs (Iizuka et al, 2009), evidenced by the higher concentrations of POC and PON. More consistent benthic foraging, i.e., enriched δ 13 C values, at this site may have precluded a significant seasonal difference in liver δ 13 C values from being observed.…”

“…These factors may be more relevant here than the temperature for explaining differences in δ 13 C of POM (phytoplankton) between the rainy and dry seasons. It seems that the POM data reflect some aspects of the benthic food chain; the snapshot nature of POM sampling coupled with the dynamic environment of the embayment, i.e., variable flushing rates influencing residence times and accumulated nutrients (San Diego-McGlone et al, 1995;Iizuka et al, 2009), may influence oceanic contributions evident from POM δ 13 C. The lack of seasonal variation in POC and PON concentrations could suggest that the change in resources may be of a similar magnitude, leading to variations in POM isotope ratios but not in concentrations (Wyatt et al, 2013). Interestingly, despite distinct temporal differences, there was no significant spatial isotopic gradient in POM δ 13 C or δ 15 N and the spatial variation in POC and PON was driven solely by the most inshore site (MU).…”