Metal accumulation risks in regularly flooded and non-flooded parts of floodplains of the River Rhine: Extractability and exposure through the food chain

Ecotoxicological risks of sediment contamination in floodplains are supposed to be highest in the regularly flooded parts. Therefore, in risk assessments, the non-flooded parts are neglected or considered to be reference areas. We investigated the metal extractability and levels in important food sources for vertebrates, viz. grass shoots and earthworms, in flooded as well as non-flooded parts and compared these with total metal concentrations. A comparison of these areas in the moderately polluted 'Afferdensche en Deestsche Waarden' floodplains along the River Rhine showed that total Zn, Pb, and Cd concentrations were highest in the regularly flooded parts. However, CaCl₂-extractable Zn concentrations were highest in non-flooded areas, and those of Pb and Cd were equal in both areas. Total Cu concentrations were not significantly different between the two areas, but CaCl₂-extractable Cu concentrations were highest in the regularly flooded areas. The metal concentrations in grass shoots of non-flooded areas were equal to (Zn, Cu, Cd) or higher than (Pb) those in regularly flooded areas. Zn concentrations in earthworms in regularly flooded areas were higher, but concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Cd were not. Ecotoxicological risk assessments require analysis of the total and potentially bioavailable metal concentrations in soils as well as concentrations in biota. This study shows that the less contaminated non-flooded areas in moderately polluted floodplains cannot be neglected in metal accumulation studies and cannot be used as pristine reference areas.     

The effects of oil sands wetlands on wood frogs (Rana sylvatica)

Extraction of crude oil from oil sand produces solid (sand) and liquid (water with suspended fine particles) tailings materials, called oil sands process-affected materials (OSPM). These waste materials are stored on the mine site due to a “zero discharge” policy and must be reclaimed when operations end. The liquid tailings materials are known to contain naphthenic acids and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and have high pH and salinity. One method of reclamation is the “wet landscape” approach, which involves using oil sands tailings materials to form wetlands that would mimic natural wetland ecological function. This study investigated the effects of wetlands formed with oil sands tailings materials on the survival and growth of wood frog (Rana sylvatica) larvae. In spring 2007, in-situ caging studies were completed in 14 wetlands that were of four different classes; young or old, reference or reclaimed. Tadpole survival was different between types of wetlands, with young tailings-affected wetlands (≤7 years old) having 41.5%, 62.6%, and 54.7% higher tadpole mortality than old tailings-affected (>7 years old), young reference, and old reference wetlands, respectively. Since old wetlands created from OSPM showed effects on tadpoles similar to those of reference wetlands, which had markedly lower toxicity than young tailings-affected wetlands, we provide evidence that wetlands, at least 7 years old, can sustain amphibian life.     

Patterns of the Remnant Cichlid Fauna in Southern Lake Victoria

During the years 1984–1987 Lake Victoria in East Africa experienced what is probably the largest mass extinction of contemporary vertebrates. Within a decade about 200 endemic species of haplochromine cichlids disappeared. The extinctions that occurred in the 1980s have been documented predominantly on species of offshore and sub-littoral waters in the Mwanza Gulf of southern Lake Victoria. Although the littoral fauna of southern Lake Victoria had not been examined in detail, their diversity seemed less affected by the changes in the ecosystem. We give results of the first comprehensive inventory of the littoral cichlid fauna in southern Lake Victoria and discuss its conservation status. We also report on new developments in the sub-littoral fauna after 1990. More than 50 littoral and 15 sub-littoral stations were sampled between the years 1991 to 1995. Of the littoral stations, 34 were sampled for the first time. One hundred sixty three species of haplochromines were collected. Of these, 102 species were previously unknown. About two thirds of them live in rocky areas that were sampled for the first time. Littoral rocky habitats harbored the highest diversity. Since 1990, however, 13 more species disappeared from established sampling stations in littoral habitats. Fishing practices, spreading of exotic fishes, water hyacinth, and eutrophication are considered important threats to the littoral fauna. Also in the upper sub-littoral the number of species declined further. On deeper sub-littoral mud bottoms individual and species numbers increased again, although they are nowhere close to those found before the Nile perch (Lates niloticus) upsurge. This fauna differs from the well studied pre-Nile perch fauna. At well-established sampling stations, the sub-littoral zone is dominated by previously unknown species, and some known species have performed dramatic habitat shifts.     

Disrupted bone metabolism in contaminant-exposed white storks (Ciconia ciconia) in southwestern Spain

In 1998, the Aznalcóllar mine tailings dyke in southwestern Spain broke, flooding the Agrio-Guadiamar river system with acid tailings up to the borders of one of the largest breeding colonies of white storks in the western Palearctic, Dehesa de Abajo. Over the following years, a high proportion of nestlings developed leg defects not seen before the spill, prompting this study. Nestlings with deformed legs had significantly lower plasma phosphorous (P) and higher Ca:P ratios than non-deformed cohorts in the first two years, but in the third year, when more, younger birds were studied, plasma P ranged from much higher to much lower in the affected colony compared with reference birds. Coefficients of variation for phosphorous were 19% and 60%, in reference and contaminated colonies, respectively. Storks from the contaminated colony were unable to control P levels and Ca:P ratios within the narrow limits necessary for normal bone development.     

淡水水体底泥中厌氧氨氧化菌的原位鉴别

采用16S rRNA方法对江苏省新沂河的底泥样品进行了厌氧氨氧化菌的原位检测,建立了样品的16S rRNA克隆文库,共包括6个16S rRNA克隆序列.对文库中克隆序列利用ARB软件包进行了排队分析及系统发育树的绘制.分析结果表明,新沂河底泥样品中含有与已知厌氧氨氧化菌Candidatus“Brocadia anammoxidans”相似性为91%的16S rRNA基因,经鉴定为厌氧氨氧化菌Brocadia分支的新种类.样品中还含有组成Planctomycetes新分支的16S rRNA基因,它们与已知厌氧氨氧化菌序列的遗传距离较远,其微生物特性还有待进一步研究.厌氧氨氧化菌在淡水环境中的发现将有助于进一步研究厌氧氨氧化过程在受损淡水生态系统修复重建中的作用,重新认识其中的氮循环过程.     

The effect of turbation on zinc relocation in a vertical floodplain soil profile

Turbation is hypothesized to affect the redistribution of heavy metals in polluted floodplain soils by effects on mobility. This hypothesis was tested in microcosms by turbation of zinc-spiked sediment top layers. Manual turbation caused a fast decrease of the zinc content in the upper 15 cm of the soil, even though turbation was only applied to the upper two centimetres. It was especially zinc attached to colloid and organic matter particles that was redistributed from the top layer. Percolation processes resulted in the attached zinc being drained to depths of more than 15 cm. The decrease in zinc content of the topsoil was even stronger in combination with inundation. No indications were found for the redistribution of zinc as a result of an increase of the extractability with 0.01 M CaCl2 or changes in pH. The findings suggest that mechanical turbation and bioturbation may redistribute heavy metals from topsoils in polluted floodplains just after inundation as observed in these turbation experiments.     

Compromised metamorphosis and thyroid hormone changes in wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) raised on reclaimed wetlands on the Athabasca oil sands

The wet landscape approach to oil sands tailings reclamation in the Athabasca Oil Sands region involves creating wetlands from fluid tailings in mined-out pits. We measured time to metamorphosis, thyroid hormone status, and detoxification enzyme (EROD) induction in Wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) tadpoles raised on reclaimed oil sands wetlands of different ages [young (≤7 yr) vs. old (>7 yr)] and compared data with tadpoles raised on reference (control) wetlands. Metamorphosis was delayed or never occurred in tadpoles raised in young tailings; those exposed to older tailings developed similarly to those in reference wetlands. Thyroid hormone disruption likely played an important role in the metamorphosis delay as the T3:T4 ratio was lowest in tadpoles raised in young, tailings-affected wetlands. Our findings suggest tailings wetlands become less toxic with age, and that these amphibians will be able to complete their life cycle in tailing wetlands that have sufficiently detoxified with age.     

Reducing the Maladaptive Attractiveness of Solar Panels to Polarotactic Insects

Abstract: Human‐made objects (e.g., buildings with glass surfaces) can reflect horizontally polarized light so strongly that they appear to aquatic insects to be bodies of water. Insects that lay eggs in water are especially attracted to such structures because these insects use horizontal polarization of light off bodies of water to find egg‐laying sites. Thus, these sources of polarized light can become ecological traps associated with reproductive failure and mortality in organisms that are attracted to them and by extension with rapid population declines or collapse. Solar panels are a new source of polarized light pollution. Using imaging polarimetry, we measured the reflection–polarization characteristics of different solar panels and in multiple‐choice experiments in the field we tested their attractiveness to mayflies, caddis flies, dolichopodids, and tabanids. At the Brewster angle, solar panels polarized reflected light almost completely (degree of polarization d ≈100%) and substantially exceeded typical polarization values for water (d ≈30–70%). Mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Trichoptera), dolichopodid dipterans, and tabanid flies (Tabanidae) were the most attracted to solar panels and exhibited oviposition behavior above solar panels more often than above surfaces with lower degrees of polarization (including water), but in general they avoided solar cells with nonpolarizing white borders and white grates. The highly and horizontally polarizing surfaces that had nonpolarizing, white cell borders were 10‐ to 26‐fold less attractive to insects than the same panels without white partitions. Although solar panels can act as ecological traps, fragmenting their solar‐active area does lessen their attractiveness to polarotactic insects. The design of solar panels and collectors and their placement relative to aquatic habitats will likely affect populations of aquatic insects that use polarized light as a behavioral cue.