Morphological and habitat divergence in the intertidal limpet Patelloida pygmaea

In the intertidal limpet Patelloida pygmaea, two distinctive morphs, the forms pygmaea and conulus, have been recorded. The former possesses a flat elongated shell, and the latter has an extremely high round shell. It has been observed in the field that pygmaea is found on oyster shells Crassostrea gigas. The form conulus uses an unusual substrate for attachment. It is found on the living shells of the intertidal gastropod Batillaria cumingi. Although conulus is normally found only on shells of Batillaria, it can also be found on oyster shells when pygmaea and Batillaria shells are not present in nature. An electrophoretic analysis of allozymes showed that these two forms are reproductively isolated from each other and coexist without gene exchange on the same mudflat. Laboratory experiments showed that pygmaea prefers oyster shells and conulus prefers Batillaria shells as substrates for attachment when both oyster and Batillaria shells are present. The form pygmaea did not attach to Batillaria shells, even when only Batillaria shells were available. However, conulus also attached to oyster shells when Batillaria shells were not available. The proportion of individuals of conulus that attached to oyster shells decreased significantly when pygmaea was attaching to the oyster shells. These results suggest that pygmaea is ecologically more specialized to living on oyster shells than conulus.     

Soil frost control: agricultural adaptation to climate variability in a cold region of Japan

In the northernmost region of Japan (Hokkaido Island), earlier onsets of thick snowcover in recent years (post 1980) have reduced the penetration depth of soil frost, resulting in over-winter survival of unharvested small potato (Solanum tuberosum) tubers that emerge as weeds in the spring in rotation crop fields. To prevent the occurrence of potato weeds, a method was developed to manipulate soil-frost depths by artificially controlling snowcover thickness, guided by a simple numerical model that simulates soil freezing-thawing processes using daily mean air temperature and snowcover thinckness as input variables. The method involves removal of snowcover to expose the soil surface in the beginning of winter until the soil freezes to a sufficient depth. After that time, snow is deposited back or allowed to accumulate naturally to prevent further penetration of frost, which may cause undesirable delay in the seeding of spring crops. Field trials indicated that the model predicted frost depths within several centimeters of observed values, when measured temperature and snowcover thickness were used as model input. Based on the field and laboratory data, a soil temperature of −3°C is necessary for complete elimination of potato tubers. To achieve this temperature in potato-burial zones without causing excessive freezing, an optimal frost depth is 0.3 to 0.4 m. The method is being adopted by progressive potato producers in the region, who use tractor-mounted snow ploughs to manipulate snowcover over a large scale. This is an emerging new technology for agricultural adaptation to climate variability.     

Investigation of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic and sulfonic acids in leachates from industrial and municipal solid waste landfills,and their treated waters and effluents from their closest leachate treatment plants

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are used in products, such as aqueous film-forming foam and fluorochemical surfactants, because of...     

Sediment tolerance of Sargassum algae inhabiting sediment-covered rocky reefs

Although sediment deposition has detrimental effects on macroalgal settlement and recruitment, fucoid algae (mainly Sargassum duplicatum) thrive on rocky reefs always overlaid with fine sediments in sheltered sites of Kagoshima, Japan. The aim of the present study was to assess their ability to settle and recruit onto sediment-covered substrata. A transplant experiment using boulders with Sargassum juveniles attached showed that the 30-day survival rate was as high as 50% even for the juvenile stage (<10 mm) on boulders completely buried with sediment. In addition, an outdoor tank experiment testing the effects of different sediment thicknesses (0–4 mm) on already settled 4-day old S. duplicatum germlings indicated significant reductions in growth by the presence of sediment cover even at 0.5 mm but no significant increase in mortality up to 2 mm. Furthermore, an in situ experiment in which sterilized cobbles were placed at a sediment-covered site to allow sediment to settle over them before the embryo release showed a uniformly high recruitment of Sargassum over the cobbles. This suggests the presence of unknown mechanisms to allow the settlement of propagules on substrata thinly but completely covered by fine sediments.     

Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate and mono(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in media for in vitro fertilization

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of the most important treatments of infertility to provide a chance of conceiving. In IVF treatment, sperm are washed and motile sperm are isolated with sperm washing media (SWM) for the purpose of fertilization; fertilized ova are then incubated for a maximum of 5 or 6 d in media for IVF (IVFM). The exposure of fertilized ova to chemicals via such media has not been studied. We determined the concentrations of two contaminants; di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and its hydrolyzed product mono(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (MEHP) in IVFM, SWM, and protein sources (PS: human serum albumin or serum substitute) for IVFM and SWM. The DEHP and MEHP in these media were extracted by a liquid-liquid extraction method and their concentrations determined by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Fifteen IVFM, nine SWM, and six PS obtained in Japan were examined. The concentrations of DEHP and MEHP in IVFM and SWM were <10-114 and <2.0-263 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The concentrations of both DEHP and MEHP were higher in the media containing PS than in those without PS. Either MEHP alone or both DEHP and MEHP were detected in PS. The concentrations of DEHP and MEHP in PS were <10-982 and 47.0-1840 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The DEHP and MEHP detected in these media were derived from PS. This is the first study on the chemical contamination of IVFM, SWM, and PS.     

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in waterbird eggs of Hong Kong, China

Concentrations of PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PBDEs were measured in 56 egg samples collected from waterbirds of different species (Great Egret, Little Egret, Night Heron and Chinese Pond Heron) from different regions of Hong Kong (Ho Sheung Heung, Mai Po Village and Mai Po Lung Village) during 2000 and 2006. Dominance of 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF indicates a signature associated with commercial usage of PCBs. Although no significant variations were observed within- and between-site in the levels of PCDD/Fs, coplanar PCBs and PBDEs, the concentrations of coplanar PCBs were much higher than PCDD/Fs. Similarity in composition profiles of PCDD/F and coplanar PCBs from different egretries is possibly associated with non-point sources of these contaminants to Hong Kong. Predominant accumulation of BDE-47, BDE-99 and BDE-100 suggested the penta-BDE technical mixtures usage in Hong Kong and its vicinity. Toxic equivalency and Monte Carlo simulation technique showed potential risks on waterbirds due to their exposure to PCDD/Fs.     

Determination of dioxin concentrations in fish and seafood samples using a highly sensitive reporter cell line, DR-EcoScreen cells

There is a strong need for the development of relatively rapid and low-cost bioassays for the determination of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) in environmental and food samples. In this study, we applied a reporter gene assay using DR-EcoScreen cells (DR-cell assay), which is highly sensitive to dioxins, to the determination of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in fish and seafood samples. The PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs were extracted from homogenated samples (10 g) of 30 fish and shellfish, purified by clean-up procedure using a multilayered silica gel column and an alumina column, and applied to DR-cell assay. Interestingly, the bioanalytical equivalent (BEQ) values obtained from the DR-cell assay [<0.1 ∼ 5.4 pg BEQ g⁻¹ wet weight (ww)] were closely correlated with the toxicity equivalent (TEQ) values from conventional high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC-HRMS) analysis (r² = 0.912), and the slope of regression line was 0.913. Therefore, we multiplied the BEQ values from the DR-cell assay by a conversion coefficient (1.095, the reciprocal of 0.913) to approximate the TEQ values from the HRGC-HRMS analysis. Furthermore, we used this DR-cell assay to perform a prescreening test of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in 16 fish and seafood samples purchased from a supermarket, revealing that a sample from the fatty flesh of a bluefin tuna exceeded 8 pg TEQ g⁻¹ ww (the European Union-tolerance limit). Taken together, these results suggest that the DR-cell assay might be applicable as a rapid and low-cost prescreening method to determine dioxin levels in fish and seafood samples.     

Assessment of exposure to PCB 153 from breast feeding and normal food intake in individual children using a system approach model

Investigators have typically relied on a single or few discrete time points as measures of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) body burden, however health effects are more likely to be the result of integrative exposure in time, optionally expressed as an area under the time curve (AUC) of PCB serum concentration. Using data from a subgroup of 93 infants from a birth cohort in eastern Slovakia—a region highly polluted by PCBs—we fit a system type model, customized to our longitudinal measures of serum PCB concentrations in cord, 6, 16, and 45 month blood specimens. The most abundant congener, PCB 153, was chosen for modeling purposes. In addition to currently used methods of exposure assessment, our approach estimates a concentration time profile for each subject, taking into account mean residence time of PCB 153 molecules in the body, duration of breast feeding, hypothetical PCB 153 concentration in steady-state without breast feeding and alternately without normal food intake. Hypothetical PCB 153 concentration in steady-state without normal food intake correlates with AUC (r = 0.84, p < 0.001) as well as with duration of breast feeding (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). It makes possible to determine each subject’s exposure profile expressed as AUC of PCBs serum concentration with a minimum model parameters. PCB body burden in most infants was strongly associated with duration of breast feeding in most, but not all children, was apparent from model output.