Derivation of predicted no effect concentrations (PNEC) for 2,4,6-trichlorophenol based on Chinese resident species

2,4,6-Trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) is a common chemical intermediate and a by-product of water chlorination and combustion processes, and is a priority pollutant of the aquatic environment in many countries. Although information on the toxicity of 2,4,6-TCP is available, there is a lack of information on the predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) of 2,4,6-TCP, mainly due to the shortage of chronic and site-specific toxicity data. In the present study, acute and sub-chronic toxicity of 2,4,6-TCP on six different resident Chinese aquatic species were determined. PNEC values were calculated and compared by use of two approaches: assessment factor (AF) and species sensitivity distribution (SSD). Values for acute toxicity ranged from 1.1 mg L⁻¹ (Plagiognathops microlepis) to 42 mg L⁻¹ (Corbicula fluminea) and the sub-chronic no observed effect concentrations (NOECs) ranged from 0.05 mg L⁻¹ (Mylopharyngodon piceus) to 2.0 mg L⁻¹ (C. fluminea). PNECs obtained by the assessment factor approach with acute (AF = 1000, 0.001 mg L⁻¹) or chronic (AF = 10, 0.005 mg L⁻¹) toxicity data were one order of magnitude less than those from SSD methods (0.057 mg L⁻¹). PNEC values calculated using SSD methods with a 50% certainty for 2,4,6-TCP was less than those obtained by use of the USEPA recommend final chronic value (FCV) method (0.097 mg L⁻¹) and the one obtained by use of the USEPA recommend acute-to-chronic (ACR) methods (0.073 mg L⁻¹). PNECs derived using AF methods were more protective and conservative than that derived using SSD methods.     

Damage, autotomy and arm regeneration in starfish caught by towed demersal fishing gears

Arm damage and loss were examined in the starfish Asterias rubens that had been caught in a variety of towed commercial fishing gears deployed on different sea bed types. Between 7% and 38% of the starfish in each catch lost one or more arms, and arm loss was positively correlated with the volume of the catch for two of the fishing gears examined. Subsequent monitoring of damaged animals showed that arms were autotomised for at least 3 weeks following capture. Mortality was highest in starfish with damaged or missing arms, compared with those that appeared intact after fishing. Arm regeneration was delayed in a small proportion of the animals caught by commercial gears. In a parallel study, 17% of starfish caught by a 4 m beam trawl had a damaged ambulacral ossicle at the point of autotomy (cf. none from a control group that were induced to autotomise under controlled conditions). There was no difference in regeneration rates between the animals caught by commercial gears and a control set (caught by a small trawl and forced to autotomise an arm in the laboratory) once the animals that delayed regeneration were excluded from the dataset. After 1 year under laboratory conditions the starfish had, on average, regenerated the missing arm to 75% of the length of the other four arms. During this time period the lengths of the undamaged arms increased by ca. 50%. The implications of this study for using arm loss in starfish as an indicator of fishing disturbance are discussed. Received: 16 August 2000 / Accepted: 20 October 2000     

Invest in arms: behavioural and energetic implications of multiple autotomy in starfish (Asterias rubens)

The autotomy of body parts as a means of escaping predation or renewing damaged tissues has evolved in a number of animal groups. Starfishes are unique in that they can autotomise >75% of their body mass and continue to survive. Presumably, multiple autotomy of tissue has energetic costs in terms of potential fitness and may affect the allocation of energy reserves accordingly. We investigated arm autotomy, predatory capabilities and subsequent regeneration in common starfish, Asterias rubens, that were induced to lose one, two or three arms. Initially, both regeneration of autotomised arms and the rate of growth of intact arms was slowest in animals that had lost the most arms (i.e. three arms missing vs two arms missing vs one arm missing). However, 8 months later, the growth of intact arms since the start of the experiment was not significantly different between groups of starfish that had autotomised different numbers of arms. However, the average dry weight per regnerating arm was significantly higher in starfish that had autotomised the most arms. Arm loss decreased the ability of starfish to open mussels and those that had autotomised two arms were significantly less likely to feed successfully on a mussel in a 24-h period than intact starfish. Our data suggest that proportionally more energy is allocated to arm regeneration in starfish that have suffered multiple arm loss and this may compensate a potential decrease in fitness that results from decreased feeding capability.     

Defining core outcomes of reproductive genetic carrier screening: A Delphi survey of Australian and New Zealand stakeholders

Objective

Understanding the value, benefits and harms of health interventions is needed to inform best practice and ensure responsible implementation of new approaches to patient care. Such value is demonstrated through the assessment of outcomes; however, which outcomes are assessed is often highly varied across studies and can hinder the ability to draw robust conclusions. The Core Outcome Development for Carrier Screening study aims to understand the outcomes that can meaningfully capture the value of reproductive genetic carrier screening (RGCS).

Method

The authors report an iterative, two-round online Delphi survey of Australian and New Zealand stakeholders to determine the degree of consensus regarding the core outcomes of RGCS. Panellists ranked 83 outcomes according to their perceived importance on a nine-point Likert scale. Using the distribution of rankings, outcomes were grouped into tiers representative of their perceived level of importance and agreement between groups.

Results

The top tier outcomes represent those agreed to be critically important for all future studies of RGCS to assess and were used to define a preliminary core outcome set encompassing the domains (1) primary laboratory outcomes, (2) pregnancy outcomes, (3) resource use and, (4) perceived utility of RGCS.

Conclusion

These findings can guide the selection of meaningful outcomes in studies aiming to demonstrate the value of RGCS. A future international consensus process will expand on these findings and guide the inclusion of diverse perspectives across the range of settings in which RGCS is offered.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

Ornamental Plants as Invasive Aliens: Problems and Solutions in Kruger National Park,South Africa

The most widespread invasive alien plant species in South Africa’s Kruger National Park (KNP) were either introduced unintentionally along rivers and roads, or intentionally for use as ornamentals. We examine the spatial distribution of ornamental alien plants in KNP, look at the link between human population size, history, and species richness, and show how the distribution of particular species reflects the likely history of ornamental plantings. Results are used to assess whether past management actions have been appropriately directed. Two hundred and fifty-eight alien species have been recorded in the 36 tourist camps and staff villages. The number of staff housed in villages explains much of the diversity of cultivated alien plant species. Older camps also tend to have more ornamental alien plant species. However, the lack of a strong link between camp age and number of cultivated species suggests that ornamental plants have been widely spread around the KNP by humans. We also show that increased camp activity (either size or age) has led to more ornamental species, while, with the notable exception of Skukuza, camp activity has had a much smaller effect on the number of noncultivated species. Noncultivated species tend to be naturally dispersed, as opposed to directly spread by humans between camps. Past management prioritized certain species on the basis of their potential to invade KNP and on the prevailing national legislation. These species were removed manually and follow-up control was carried out. Once the priority species were deemed to be under control, less invasive species were targeted. All alien species were removed from vacated houses, regardless of the potential invasiveness of the species. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Impacts of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) on Macrobenthic Assemblages on Sandy Beaches

Sandy beaches are the prime sites for human recreation and underpin many coastal economies and developments. In many coastal areas worldwide, beach recreation relies on the use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) driven on the shore. Yet, the use of ORVs is not universally embraced due to social conflicts with other beach user groups and putative environmental consequences of vehicle traffic on sandy shores. Such ecological impacts of ORVs are, however, poorly understood for endobenthic invertebrates of the intertidal zone seawards of the dunes. Consequently, this study quantified the degree to which assemblages of intertidal beach invertebrates are affected by traffic. The study design comprised a series of temporally replicated spatial contrasts between two reference sites (no ORVs) and two beaches with heavy ORV traffic (in excess of 250,000 vehicles per year) located in South-East Queensland, Australia. Macrobenthic assemblages on ORV-impacted beaches had significantly fewer species at substantially reduced densities, resulting in marked shifts in community composition and structure. These shifts were particularly strong on the middle and upper shore where vehicle traffic was concentrated. Strong effects of ORVs were detectable in all seasons, but increased towards the summer months as a result of heavier traffic volumes. This study provides clear evidence that ORVs can have substantial impacts on sandy beach invertebrates that are manifested throughout the whole community. Demonstrating such an ecological impact caused by a single type of human use poses a formidable challenge to management, which needs to develop multi-faceted approaches to balance environmental, social, cultural, and economic arguments in the use of sandy shores, including management of “beach traffic.”     

The acceptability of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in Europe: An assessment of the key determining factors: Part 1. Scientific,technical and economic dimensions

The ACCSEPT project, which ran from January 2006 to December 2007, identified and analysed the main factors which have been influencing the emergence of CO₂ capture and geological storage (CCS) within the European Union (EU). The key clusters of factors concern science and technology, law and regulation, economics, and social acceptance. These factors have been analysed through interviews, a large-scale questionnaire conducted in 2006, and discussions in two stakeholder workshops (2006 and 2007). In Part I of this paper, we aim to distil the key messages and findings with regards to scientific, technical, legal and economic issues. There are no compelling scientific, technical, legal, or economic reasons why CCS could not be widely deployed in the forthcoming decades as part of a package of climate change mitigation options. In order to facilitate this deployment, governments at both the EU and Member State levels have an important role to play, in particular in establishing a robust and transparent legal framework (e.g. governing long-term environmental liability) and a strong policy framework providing sufficient and long-term incentives for CCS and CO₂ transportation networks.     

Oxygen and carbon stable isotopic profiles of the fan mussel, Pinna nobilis, and reconstruction of sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope profiles ('¹⁸O_skeletal and '¹³C_skeletal), taken along the direction of growth from the umbo to the shell margin in shells of the pinnid Pinna nobilis, were used to reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SST) in the south-east Mediterranean and ontogenetic records of metabolic CO₂ incorporation. Comparison of the seasonal cycle of SST, predicted from the '¹⁸O_skeletal record of a small (young) rapidly growing pinnid and temperature measured with a continuous in situ recorder showed that P. nobilis calcifies under isotopic equilibrium with surrounding seawater, thus indicating that P. nobilis shells can be used as a reliable predictor of SST. A 10-year SST record for the south-east Mediterranean was reconstructed from the shell profiles of four pinnid shells of different sizes and ages collected in 1995 and 1996. Reliable resolution of the seasonal SST could only be achieved during the first 4 years of shell growth. As the pinnids grew older, the temperature record was poorly resolved because the shell growth had diminished with age, resulting in time-averaging of the record. The amplitude of the generated seasonal temperature cycle compared favourably (DŽ°C) with a long-term temperature record from northern Mediterranean waters. Clear seasonal cycles in '¹³C_skeletal were observed with an amplitude of ~1.0‰, similar to the calculated seasonal changes in '¹³C of seawater (0.6‰) overlying seagrass meadows. An ontogenetic trend towards less positive '¹³C_skeletal values was too large to be attributed to any decrease in '¹³C in seawater resulting from the invasion of anthropogenic CO₂. It is suggested that the temporal changes of '¹³C_skeletal are due to incorporation of respiratory CO₂ into the extrapallial fluid and reflect changes in the metabolic activity of the pinnid rather than changes in the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon within the surrounding seawater.     

Sulfate-enriched water effects on a floodplain forest in Florida

Sulfate-enriched water that was discharged experimentally into a floodplain forest in Florida caused H₂S formation, and trees showed signs of stress within one year. Chloride-enriched water also caused trees to show signs of stress. Trees in this ecosystem may also be sensitive to changes in hydroperiod.