Tropical fishes in a temperate sea: evolution of the wrasse <Emphasis Type="Italic">Thalassoma pavo</Emphasis> and the parrotfish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sparisoma cretense</Emphasis> in the Mediterranean and the adjacent Macaronesian and Cape Verde Archipelagos

The northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea share geological histories and display great faunal affinities. The majority of the Mediterranean species have Atlantic origins, with a few species with tropical affinities. These include the parrotfish Sparisoma cretense and the wrasse Thalassoma pavo that are restricted to the subtropical northeastern Atlantic, the Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, and Canaries) and the southern Mediterranean. The Pleistocene glaciations have been described as having different effects on the fauna of the two regions. During glacial peaks, Mediterranean waters remained warmer than those of the adjacent Atlantic. Within the eastern Atlantic, the effects of Pleistocene glaciations were differentiated. Here, we perform a comparative analysis focusing on T. pavo and S. cretense populations from the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean to assess the effects of Pleistocene glaciations in these two species. Sequences from the mitochondrial control region were obtained and analyzed combining phylogeographic and demographic approaches. Gene flow between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations was shown to be very high. The Mediterranean populations of T. pavo and S. cretense showed high levels of genetic diversity, even in the eastern basin, pointing to an ancient colonization event. This suggests that both species must have been able to persist in the Mediterranean during the cold Pleistocene periods. Historical migration estimates revealed a Mediterranean towards Atlantic trend in the case of T. pavo, which may reflect the re-colonization of areas in the Atlantic by fish that survived the cold phases in relatively warmer Mediterranean refugia. Our data also showed that within the Macaronesian Archipelagos, migrations occurred from Madeira towards the Azores, for both T. pavo and S. cretense, thus supporting a post-glacial colonization of the Azores by fish that persisted in the warmer region of Madeira. Similar geographic distributions, thermal affinities, and means of dispersion for T. pavo and S. cretense resulted in a similar response to the effects of Pleistocene glaciations, as evidenced by identical phylogeographic patterns.     

Phylogeography, historical demography, and the role of post-settlement ecology in two Hawaiian damselfish species

Coral reef fish generally have relatively sedentary juvenile and adult phases and a presumed highly dispersive pelagic larval phase, yet previous studies that have tried to relate pelagic larval duration (PLD) to population structure have given inconsistent results. In the present study, the population structures of two damselfishes, Stegastes fasciolatus and Dascyllus albisella, were examined using mitochondrial control region sequences. The two species have similar PLDs (∼25 and 27 days respectively), but consistently differ in their settlement preferences, habitat, and densities in populations throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago, from Hawaii north to Kure Atoll, and south to Johnston Atoll. Information on habitat preferences and population densities were collected between September 2000 and October 2002, and tissue samples for the genetic studies were collected between January and April 2004. Based on the differences in habitat and abundance of the two species, the expectation was that S. fasciolatus would have high genetic variability but little population structure compared to D. albisella, and this was largely confirmed. Stegastes fasciolatus had little population structure in most of the Hawaiian Islands, and D. albisella showed evidence of strong population structure throughout its range. An exception to this pattern was the large difference between the Kure Atoll population of S. fasciolatus and all others. These results suggest that the interaction of several biological factors (e.g. species-specific spawning habitat and season) with environmental factors (e.g. seasonal wind and current patterns) may have more influence on population structure than single life history characteristics, such as the PLD.     

Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S release in milk under household conditions from baby bottles marketed in Italy

A simple and sensitive validated analytical method based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem fluorescence (FD) and ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry was applied to monitor the presence of bisphenol A and bisphenol S in plastic baby bottles marketed in Italy. The limits of detection (LOD) were 3.75 ng mL^?1 and 80.00 ng mL^?1, and those of quantification (LOQ) were 12.51 ng mL^?1 and 260.00 ng mL^?1 for BPA (FD detection) and for BPS (UV detection), respectively. BPA was found in only four samples, two samples undergone to microwave heating and two samples undergone to bottle warmer heating either at 40°C or at 80°C. Although the quantities of leached BPA were well below the reference dose for daily intake established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (4.0 µg kg^?1 bw/day), the release of BPA and BPS from these plastic materials should be carefully considered by the government authorities to increase people's awareness on this issue and to protect the most vulnerable population group.     

Analysis of individual year-classes of a marine fish reveals little evidence of first-generation hybrids between cryptic species in sympatric regions

As settled juveniles and adults, blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) are nonmigratory inhabitants of kelp and rocky reef habitats along the California coast, USA, and prior to settlement, they possess a pelagic larval and juvenile stage lasting 3–5 months. A previous study of adults revealed two cryptic species within S. mystinus and evidence of reproductive isolation in a region where both cryptic adults co-occur. Given this pattern of reproductive isolation, we investigated the degree of hybridization or introgression in individual year-classes shortly after juvenile settlement in two different years (2001 and 2002). Using microsatellite markers, we found little indication of hybridization in new juvenile year-classes despite an adult population that comprised both cryptic species. However, we found an average of two percent of hybrid or introgressed individuals in regions with a low frequency of one of the two species. Therefore, while the lack of hybrids or introgression supports the hypothesis of reproductive isolation between the cryptic species within S. mystinus, the age-structured analysis also revealed a spatial pattern of low-frequency differences in the number of introgressed individuals. These results suggest that reproductive barriers may breakdown when one of the two species predominates the regional adult gene pool.     

Application of domino effect quantitative risk assessment to an extended industrial area

Escalation of primary accidental scenarios triggering a “domino effect” have caused extremely severe accidental events in the chemical and process industry. The identification of possible escalation events is required in the safety assessment of sites where relevant quantities of hazardous substances are stored or handled. In the European Union, “Seveso-II” Directive requires the assessment of on-site and off-site possible escalation scenarios in sites falling under the obligations of the Directive. In the present study, a methodology developed for the quantitative assessment of risk due to domino effect was applied to the analysis of an extended industrial area. Recently developed equipment damage probability models were applied for the identification of the final scenarios and for escalation probability assessment. The domino package of the Aripar-GIS software was used for risk recomposition. The results evidence that quantitative risk assessment of escalation hazard is of fundamental importance in order to identify critical equipment and to address prevention and protection actions.     

Autotrophic nitrogen removal for decentralized treatment of ammonia-rich industrial textile wastewater: process assessment,stabilization and modelling

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Digital textile printing (DTP) is a game-changer technology that is rapidly expanding worldwide. On the other hand, process wastewater is rich in...     

A flux-based assessment of the effects of ozone on foliar injury, photosynthesis, and yield of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Borlotto Nano Lingua di Fuoco) in open-top chambers

Stomatal ozone uptake, determined with the Jarvis' approach, was related to photosynthetic efficiency assessed by chlorophyll fluorescence and reflectance measurements in open-top chamber experiments on Phaseolus vulgaris. The effects of O₃ exposure were also evaluated in terms of visible and microscopical leaf injury and plant productivity. Results showed that microscopical leaf symptoms, assessed as cell death and H₂O₂ accumulation, preceded by 3-4 days the appearance of visible symptoms. An effective dose of ozone stomatal flux for visible leaf damages was found around 1.33 mmol O₃ m⁻². Significant linear dose-response relationships were obtained between accumulated fluxes and optical indices (PRI, NDI, ΔF/F_m^′). The negative effects on photosynthesis reduced plant productivity, affecting the number of pods and seeds, but not seed weight. These results, besides contributing to the development of a flux-based ozone risk assessment for crops in Europe, highlight the potentiality of reflectance measurements for the early detection of ozone stress.     

Estimates of ozone AOT40 from passive sampling in forest sites in South-Western Europe

Weekly-fortnightly ozone (O3) concentrations measured by passive sampling at 81 forest monitoring plots in France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland over the period 2000-2002 were used to estimate the cumulative exposure index AOT40. The estimation method is based on a deterministic model which describes the O3 daily profile as a function of relative altitude (the difference between the altitude of the site and the lowest altitude within a 5 km radius) and the time of the day. Estimated AOT40 values (AOT40(e)) were evaluated against co-located automatic measurement stations and with 14 independent automatic stations located throughout Italy whose weekly mean O3 values were used to simulate passive samplers. AOT40 can be predicted by modelling passive sampling data (R2: 0.90; P<0.0001, SE of estimates: 3271 ppb h), although considerable deviations can occur for individual sites. Estimated AOT40 shows a distinct, significant latitudinal and altitudinal gradient. Taking the 3-year average as a whole, exceedance of critical level of 5000 ppb h occurs at 77-100% of the monitored sites, respectively.     

Remediation of heavy metals contaminated soils by ball milling

In the present work, the use of ball milling reactors for the remediation of lead contaminated soils was investigated. Lead immobilization was achieved without the use of additional reactants but only through the exploitation of weak transformations induced on the treated soil by mechanical loads taking place during collisions among milling media. The degree of metal immobilization was evaluated by analyzing the leachable fraction of Pb(II) obtained through the "synthetic precipitation leaching procedure". The reduction of leachable Pb(II) from certain synthetic soils, i.e., bentonitic, sandy and kaolinitc ones, was obtained under specific milling regimes. For example, for the case of bentonitic soils characterized by a Pb(II) concentration in the solid phase equal to 954.4 mg kg(-1), leachable Pb(II) was reduced, after 7 h of mechanical treatment, from 1.3 mg l(-1) to a concentration lower than the USEPA regulatory threshold (i.e., 0.015 mg l(-1) for drinkable water). Similar results were obtained for sandy and kaolinitic soils. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron dispersive spectroscopy and granulometric analyses revealed no significant alterations of the intrinsic character of sandy and bentonitic soils after milling except for a relatively small increase of particles size and a partial amorphization of the treated soil. On the other hand, the mechanical treatment caused the total amorphization of kaolinitic soil. The increase of immobilization efficiency can be probably ascribed to specific phenomena induced by mechanical treatment such as entrapment of Pb(II) into aggregates due to aggregation, solid diffusion of Pb(II) into crystalline reticulum of soil particles as well as the formation of new fresh surfaces (through particle breakage) onto which Pb(II) may be irreversibly adsorbed.