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Meiofauna are frequently overlooked in biodiversity assessments, resulting in a lack of understanding regarding their current status, the potential impact of anthropogenic activities, and climate change. This study on the intertidal zone of the Small Beach of Ostend marks a new effort to characterize meiofaunal communities along the Belgian coast. Sampling was carried out on five separate occasions throughout the year, with abiotic data collected during each event. Collected specimens were sorted according to their taxonomic group, resulting in a retrieval of 1742 organisms. Among these, Platyhelminthes and Nematoda were most abundant. Through metabarcoding of the 18S ribosomal region, a biodiversity assessment was conducted, yielding a total of 106 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs). After filtering out rare reads, 65 metazoan ASVs were retained: 18 representing Platyhelminthes, 16 Nematoda, 15 Copepoda, 12 Polychaeta, and 4 Acoela. Identification of the ASVs through blasting generated 23 unique species-level identifications. The highest species richness was observed among Proseriata and Nematoda, each comprising six different species. Additionally, four different species of Polychaeta and Copepoda, two species of Acoela, and one species of Rhabdocoela were identified. Compared to findings on similar beaches along the Belgian coast from about 40 years ago, the meiofaunal communities on this beach exhibit an overall low species richness. Finding fewer and other species might be linked to the potential impact of beach nourishments, human trampling, and climate change. However, confirming this hypothesis requires future research. Full article

To address the problem of damage to adjacent buildings (structures) caused by bench blasting construction, blasting in a sand and gravel mine in Guizhou Province was used as the background. Through on-site monitoring and numerical simulation, the blasting vibration propagation law and dynamic effect characteristics under the joint action of different bench heights and horizontal distances were studied. The regression model was established. The results show that: the peak vibration speed in all three directions with the increase in the horizontal distance of the burst center is a decaying trend, and the field measurements are basically consistent with the safe vibration speed and do not exceed 1.5 cm/s, so the house is in a safe state; shear stress with the increase in the horizontal distance of the burst center strictly decays, so the source of the shear stress and vibration speed decay faster in the near zone, with the slow decay in the far zone; analysis found that the shear stress and vibration speed are quadratic and exponential. Through the analysis of the regression model, it is obtained that there is no co-linearity among the influencing factors, which has a significant effect on the regression equation and regression coefficient, and so the multiple linear regression equation fits well. The model can predict the blast vibration intensity, which can be used as a safety criterion for buildings under the action of blasting, and provides a reference for blast vibration control, hole network parameters, and the design index. Full article