Hot Spots of Carbon and Alkalinity Cycling in the Coastal Oceans

Ocean calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) production and preservation play a key role in the global carbon cycle. Coastal and continental shelf (neritic) environments account for more than half of global CaCO₃ accumulation. Previous neritic CaCO₃ budgets have been limited in both spatial resolution and ability to project responses to environmental change. Here, a 1° spatially explicit budget for neritic CaCO₃ accumulation is developed. Globally gridded satellite and benthic community area data are used to estimate community CaCO₃ production. Accumulation rates (PgC yr⁻¹) of four neritic environments are calculated: coral reefs/banks (0.084), seagrass-dominated embayments (0.043), and carbonate rich (0.037) and poor (0.0002) shelves. This analysis refines previous neritic CaCO₃ accumulation estimates (~0.16) and shows almost all coastal carbonate accumulation occurs in the tropics, >50% of coral reef accumulation occurs in the Western Pacific Ocean, and 80% of coral reef, 63% of carbonate shelf, and 58% of bay accumulation occur within three global carbonate hot spots: the Western Pacific Ocean, Eastern Indian Ocean, and Caribbean Sea. These algorithms are amenable for incorporation into Earth System Models that represent open ocean pelagic CaCO₃ production and deep-sea preservation and assess impacts and feedbacks of environmental change.

Hand function in cerebral palsy: the effect of hip-flexion angle

This study tested the hypothesis that increasing hip flexion above 90 degrees would improve hand function in seated cerebral-palsied children with extensor spasticity. Hand function was measured objectively at four hip-flexion angles in an experimental group and a control group. The results showed no significant differences in performance. However, seat angles 10 degrees and 20 degrees above horizontal were least often described as uncomfortable. The results show that, contrary to current belief, increasing hip-flexion angle in seating for a child with cerebral palsy and extensor spasticity appears to have no effect on hand function.