Assessing the global zoo response to the amphibian crisis through 20‐year trends in captive collections

Global amphibian declines are one of the biggest challenges currently facing the conservation community, and captive breeding is one way to address this crisis. Using information from the International Species Information System zoo network, we examined trends in global zoo amphibian holdings across species, zoo region, and species geographical region of origin from 1994 to 2014. These trends were compared before and after the 2004 Global Amphibian Assessment to assess whether any changes occurred and whether zoo amphibian conservation effort had increased. The numbers of globally threatened species (GTS) and their proportional representation in global zoo holdings increased and this rate of increase was significantly greater after 2004. North American, European, and Oceanian GTS were best represented in zoos globally, and proportions of Oceanian GTS held increased the most since 2004. South American and Asian GTS had the lowest proportional representation in zoos. At a regional zoo level, European zoos held the lowest proportions of GTS, and this proportion did not increase after 2004. Since 1994, the number of species held in viable populations has increased, and these species are distributed among more institutions. However, as of 2014, zoos held 6.2% of globally threatened amphibians, a much smaller figure than for other vertebrate groups and one that falls considerably short of the number of species for which ex situ management may be desirable. Although the increased effort zoos have put into amphibian conservation over the past 20 years is encouraging, more focus is needed on ex situ conservation priority species. This includes building expertise and capacity in countries that hold them and tracking existing conservation efforts if the evidence‐based approach to amphibian conservation planning at a global level is to be further developed.     

Physicochemical characterization of hydroxyapatite and its application towards removal of nitrate from water

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of hydroxyapatite (HAP) towards removal of nitrate from synthetic nitrate solution. In the present research HAP synthesized from egg-shell was characterized using SEM, XRD, FTIR and TGA–DSC. The removal of nitrate was 96% under neutral conditions, using 0.3 g of adsorbent in 100 mL of nitrate solution having an initial concentration of 100 mg/L. An adsorption kinetic study revealed that the adsorption process followed first order kinetics. Adsorption data were fitted to a linearly transformed Langmuir isotherm with correlation coefficient (R²) > 0.98. Thermodynamic parameters were also calculated to study the effect of temperature on the removal process. In order to understand the adsorption type, equilibrium data were tested with the Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm. The process was rapid and equilibrium was established within the first 40 min.     

Potential of flavonoids as anti-Alzheimer’s agents: bench to bedside

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases are challenging because of the presence of blood–brain barrier and Alzheimer being one of...     

Motor-vehicle boarding and alighting injury--how large a problem?

The Journal of Safety Research has partnered with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, to briefly report on some of the latest findings in the research community. This report is the fifth in a series of CDC articles.     

Characterization and modeling of nutrient-deficient tomato-processing wastewater treatment using an anaerobic/aerobic system

Tomato-processing wastewaters are typical of slowly biodegradable high strength wastewaters generated from the food canning industry. Three different samples of influent and three samples of anaerobic effluents corresponding to the three influents collected from an on-site pilot-scale anaerobic/aerobic system were characterized using respirometric methods. Respirometric studies demonstrated that the pretreatment in the anaerobic reactor of the pilot-scale system increased the readily biodegradable fraction from an average of 40% of the SCOD in the influent to 50% of the SCOD in the anaerobic effluent, improved kinetics from an average micro(max) of 1.5d(-1) in the influent to 3.5d(-1) in the anaerobic effluent, and eliminated nutrient deficiency. Furthermore, the system was calibrated and simulated by application of wastewater characterization and biokinetic data derived form respirometric tests of influent and anaerobic effluent in Activated Sludge Model no.1 (ASM1).     

Prediction models for the flash point of pure components

The flash point for a liquid is defined as the lowest temperature at which its vapor forms a spontaneously ignitable mixture when brought in contact with air. Having a good estimation of the flash point temperature at normal conditions is relevant because it is one of the main properties used to characterize fire and explosion hazards for liquids. Most of predictive correlations in the literature include a physical effect by including the normal boiling temperature in their formulation. To achieve combustion, sufficient evaporation is required and then a part of the liberated energy from the combustion is used to support the evaporation. Thus the evaporation energy and a chemical effect given by the heat of reaction are incorporated in this work. It is firstly verified that the relation between the flash point temperature and the normal boiling temperature tends to be a constant. Thus a heuristic approach based on 611 chemical species of diverse families indicates that this relation is around 0.75. The dispersion of the error has been reduced by using two proposed correlations where both physical and chemical properties are included in the model. In particular, the second equation is based on the group contributions method, which has been developed for alkanes. This method is in fact a combination of the group contributions method and the first model to overcome the difficulties in predicting isomeric differences.     

Removal of arsenate from water by adsorbents: a comparative case study

Laboratory and field filtration experiments were conducted to study the effectiveness of As(V) removal for five types of adsorbent media. The media included activated alumina (AA), modified activated alumina (MAA), granular ferric hydroxide (GFH), granular ferric oxide (GFO), and granular titanium dioxide (TiO?). In laboratory batch and column experiments, the synthetic challenge water was used to evaluate the effectiveness for five adsorbents. The results of the batch experiments showed that the As(V) adsorption decreased as follows at pH 6.5: TiO? > GFO > GFH > MAA > AA. At pH 8.5, however, As(V) removal decreased in the following order: GFO = TiO? > GFH > MAA > AA. In column experiments, at pH 6.5, the adsorbed As(V) for adsorbents followed the order: TiO? > GFO > GFH, whereas at pH 8.5 the order became: GFO = TiO? > GFH when the challenge water containing 50 μg/L of As(V) was used. Field filtration experiments were carried out in parallel at a wellhead in New Jersey. Before the effluent arsenic concentration increased to 10 μg/L, approximately 58,000 and 41,500 bed volumes of groundwater containing an average of 47 μg/L of As(V) were treated by the filter system packed with GFO and TiO?, respectively. The As(V) adsorption decreased in the following sequence: GFO > TiO? > GFH > MAA > AA. Filtration results demonstrated that GFO and TiO? adsorbents could be used as media in small community filtration systems for As(V) removal.     

Effect of biochar on fate and transport of manure-borne estrogens in sandy soil

The feasibility of using two types of biochars to reduce steroid hormone pollution from poultry and swine manure application on agricultural land was evaluated.The sorption affinity and desorption resistance of softwood and hardwood biochars were also determined for two estrogen hormones,17β-estradiol(E2) and its primary metabolite estrone(E1).The softwood and hardwood biochars demonstrated high retention capacity for both estrogens.The effective distribution coefficient(K_d~(eff)) of soil-softwood-derived biochar(SBS_(450)) was significantly higher than soil-hardwood-derived biochar(SBH750),indicating the stronger sorption affinity of SBS450 for estrogens.To validate the laboratory results,a field lysimeter experiment was conducted to study the fate and transport of E2 and E1 in soil and leachate in the presence of 1% softwood-biochar(BS450) in topsoil and to compare it with soil without any amendments.The spatio-temporal distribution of both estrogens was monitored at four depths over a 46-day period.The lysimeters,in which the surface layer of soil was amended with biochar,retained significantly higher concentrations of both estrogen hormones.Although they leached through the soil and were detected in leachates,collected at 1.0 m depth,the concentrations were significantly lower in the leachate collected from biochar-amended lysimeters.The result confirmed the efficacy of biochar amendment as a remediation technique to alleviate the manure-borne hormonal pollution of groundwater.     

Pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide residues on potato leaves and in soil under field conditions.

Residues of pyrethrin-I (Py-I) and pyrethrin-II (Py-II), the major insecticidal components of the pyrethrum daisy (Tanacetum cinerariifolium) as well as residues of piperonyl butoxide (PBO, a pyrethrum synergist) were determined in soil and on potato foliage grown under field conditions. A pyrethrum formulation (Multi-Purpose Insecticide) containing the three active ingredients was sprayed twice at the rate of 6 lbs of formulated product.acre(-1) ( 5.4 and 27.2 g A.I. of pyrethrin and PBO, respectively) on potato foliage during the growing season. In soil, three management practices (yard waste compost, grass filter strips, and a no mulch treatment) were used to study the impact of surface soil characteristics on the amount of pyrethrins (Pys) and PBO retained in soil. Soil samples and potato leaves were collected at different time intervals after spraying. Samples were purified and concentrated using solid-phase extraction columns containing C18-Octadecyl bonded silica. Residues were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatograph equipped with a UV detector. The first spray resulted in mean initial deposits of 0.18, 0.40, and 0.99 microg.g(-1) potato leaves for Py-I, Py-II, and PBO, respectively. Residues in soil were higher in compost treatments compared to no mulch treatments.