Variable within-brood maternal provisioning in newly extruded embryos of Homarus gammarus

Offspring quality of decapod crustaceans has been widely studied, with special emphasis on the sources of variability determining embryonic and larval quality. Nevertheless, maternal provisioning has commonly been overlooked as a potential source of offspring within-brood variability. In the present study, the existence of variable maternal provisioning was assessed through the analysis of the fatty acid (FA) profile of newly extruded embryos from different regions of the brooding chamber of Homarus gammarus. Significant differences in the FA profile of embryos sampled from different pleopods and sides of the brooding chamber were recorded. Significant deviations of the overall mean of each surveyed female were also observed for essential FA, particularly 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. Lipid energy available to fuel embryogenesis also varied among embryos sampled from different regions of the brooding chamber. Results suggest variable female investment at oocyte production, which may be amplified during the incubation period of developing embryos by differential lipid catabolism. For the first time, maternal provisioning is evidenced as an additional source for within-brood variability in the FA profile of embryos.     

Accommodation space limits plant invasion: Ammophila arenaria survival on New Zealand beaches

Purpose

Ammophila arenaria (marram grass) may invade remote beach-dune systems by the marine dispersal of rhizomes. In New Zealand, and elsewhere, the conservation of the remaining dune systems of high conservation value would be advanced by predicting where this species might successfully establish and undertaking appropriate surveillance. This paper examines the ability of A. arenaria to sustain growth in the stressful back-beach environment.

Methods

Shoots developed from rhizomes were subjected to burial, depth, salt spray and desiccation treatments in the glasshouse. Plants were also subjected to salt water inundation. Two field populations of A. arenaria were surveyed for a period of almost 3 years, following rhizome stranding in July 2007.

Results

Shoots were able to emerge from depths of up to 40 cm. Rhizomes failed to produce shoots when the moisture content of rhizomes was less than 18.25 %, which occurred after 3 days of drought. The survival of buried plants was significantly reduced compared to non-buried plants when burial exceeded 80 % of the plant height. No plants survived when burial exceeded 100 % of the plant height. No tillers survived without water for more than 3 weeks. Exposure to salt spray had no effect on shoot survival. Immersion in seawater significantly reduced survival—exposure to seawater, equivalent to only one high tide immersion event, was sufficient to reduce plant survival in the glasshouse.

Conclusions

Burial, desiccation and salt-spray may, on occasion, be responsible for either preventing the regeneration of A. arenaria rhizomes or limiting the survival of the resultant plants, but exposure to wave activity determines the viability of a population.     

DNA damage in oral epithelial cells of individuals chronically exposed to indoor radon (<Superscript>222</Superscript>Rn) in a hydrothermal area

Hydrothermal areas are potentially hazardous to humans as volcanic gases such as radon (²²²Rn) are continuously released from soil diffuse degassing. Exposure to radon is estimated to be the second leading cause of lung cancer, but little is known about radon health-associated risks in hydrothermal regions. This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the DNA damage in the buccal epithelial cells of individuals chronically exposed to indoor radon in a volcanic area (Furnas volcano, Azores, Portugal) with a hydrothermal system. Buccal epithelial cells were collected from 33 individuals inhabiting the hydrothermal area (Ribeira Quente village) and from 49 individuals inhabiting a non-hydrothermal area (Ponta Delgada city). Indoor radon was measured with Ramon 2.2 detectors. Chromosome damage was measured by micronucleus cytome assay, and RAPD-PCR was used as a complementary tool to evaluate DNA damage, using three 10-mer primers (D11, F1 and F12). Indoor radon concentration correlated positively with the frequency of micronucleated cells (r _s = 0.325, p = 0.003). Exposure to radon is a risk factor for the occurrence micronucleated cells in the inhabitants of the hydrothermal area (RR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.2–2.4; p = 0.003). One RAPD-PCR primer (F12) produced differences in the banding pattern, a fact that can indicate its potential for detecting radon-induced specific genomic alterations. The observed association between chronic exposure to indoor radon and the occurrence of chromosome damage in human oral epithelial cells evidences the usefulness of biological surveillance to assess mutations involved in pre-carcinogenesis in hydrothermal areas, reinforcing the need for further studies with human populations living in these areas.     

Optical fiber based methodology for assessment of thiocyanate in seawater

A new methodology for the assessment of thiocyanate (SCN(-)) is proposed based on optical fiber (OF) detection coupled to a liquid chromatography system (LC). The developed methodology showed an adequate performance for the analysis of SCN(-) comparable to a high performance liquid chromatography with UV detector (HPLC-UV) methodology: a detection limit of 3 μg L(-1), a linear range from 4 to 400 μg L(-1), and an analytical time of less than 6 min. The OF based methodology was of compact design and easy operation. This simple system has the potential to be used as a sensing approach for SCN(-) in seawater.     

Distribution and availability of trace elements in municipal solid waste composts

Trace element contamination is one of the main problems linked to the quality of compost, especially when it is produced from urban wastes, which can lead to high levels of some potentially toxic elements such as Cu, Pb or Zn. In this work, the distribution and bioavailability of five elements (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr and Ni) were studied in five Spanish composts obtained from different feedstocks (municipal solid waste, garden trimmings, sewage sludge and mixed manure). The five composts showed high total concentrations of these elements, which in some cases limited their commercialization due to legal imperatives. First, a physical fractionation of the composts was performed, and the five elements were determined in each size fraction. Their availability was assessed by several methods of extraction (water, CaCl(2)-DTPA, the PBET extract, the TCLP extract, and sodium pyrophosphate), and their chemical distribution was assessed using the BCR sequential extraction procedure. The results showed that the finer fractions were enriched with the elements studied, and that Cu, Pb and Zn were the most potentially problematic ones, due to both their high total concentrations and availability. The partition into the BCR fractions was different for each element, but the differences between composts were scarce. Pb was evenly distributed among the four fractions defined in the BCR (soluble, oxidizable, reducible and residual); Cu was mainly found in the oxidizable fraction, linked to organic matter, and Zn was mainly associated to the reducible fraction (iron oxides), while Ni and Cr were mainly present almost exclusively in the residual fraction. It was not possible to establish a univocal relation between trace elements availability and their BCR fractionation. Given the differences existing for the availability and distribution of these elements, which not always were related to their total concentrations, we think that legal limits should consider availability, in order to achieve a more realistic assessment of the risks linked to compost use.     

Modelling the temperature and the phytoplankton distributions at the Aveiro near coastal zone,Portugal

The main objective of this paper is to implement a coupled three-dimensional physical and ecological model for the Aveiro coast, and to apply it to study the temperature and the phytoplankton biomass spatial distributions along the coastal ecosystem. The Aveiro coast is located at Portugal within the upwelling system of the Atlantic Iberian coast, characterized by nutrients availability and phytoplankton biomass accumulation, from April to October. In order to implement the ecological model, its validation was assessed by comparing simulations to data relative to the horizontal and vertical distributions of the temperature, nutrients and phytoplankton biomass, obtained during the CICLOS I survey off the Portuguese coast [Moita, M.T., 2001. Estrutura, Variabilidade e Dinâmica do Fitoplâncton na Costa de Portugal Continental. PhD Thesis. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, 272 pp.]. A sensitivity analysis of the model has been performed in order to assess the influence of the main ecological model variables. The simulation results show that the model is capable of predicting realistic the temperature, the nutrients and the chlorophyll-a distributions for the study area. The scenarios evidence the setup of a thermal stratification pattern resulting from the upwelling of deep and rich in nutrients water to the surface layer and a chlorophyll-a maxima extending offshore, along the picnocline and the nutricline. The results confirm the crucial role played by the physical processes in the phytoplankton bloom along the Aveiro coast. They also evidence the close link between the surface phytoplankton distribution and the surface temperature distribution.     

El Niño platforms: participatory disaster response in Peru

Climate change is expected to lead to greater extremes (droughts and floods) in river regimes around the world. While the number of major calamities is predicted to rise, the efforts of the public sector, experts and local stakeholders are badly coordinated. Consequently, aid does not reach target groups, resulting in unnecessary losses. Hence, there is a need for more participatory and integrative approaches. To ensure a more concerted response to climate-induced disasters, stakeholders could coordinate and negotiate within Multi-Stakeholder Platforms. Such roundtables are increasingly being established for vision-building and integrated water resource management, but could be employed in disaster management as well. After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of participation, this article trace the rise of and the problems facing two 'El Ni?o' platforms: one in Ica, a city on the Peruvian coast that flooded unexpectedly in January 1998, and one in Ayacucho, which saw a climate change-induced drought around the same time. The issue of internal and external legitimacy receives particular emphasis.     

Variation in some chemical parameters and organic matter in soils regenerated by the addition of municipal solid waste

The organic fraction of a municipal solid waste was added in different doses to an eroded soil formed of loam and with no vegetal cover. After three years, the changes in macronutrient content and the chemical-structural composition of its organic matter were studied. The addition of the organic fraction from a municipal solid waste had a positive effect on soil regeneration, the treated soils being covered with spontaneous vegetation from 1 yr onwards. An increase in electrical conductivity and a fall in pH were noted in the treated soils as were increases in macronutrients, particularly N and available P and the different carbon fractions. Optical density measurements of the organic matter extracted with sodium pyrophosphate showed that the treated soils contained an organic matter with less condensed compounds and with a greater tendency to evolve than the control. A pyrolysis-gas chromatography study of the organic matter extracted with pyrophosphate showed large quantities of benzene both in the treated soils and control; pyrrole was also relatively abundant, although this fragment decreased as the dose rose. Xylenes and pyridine were present in greater quantities in the control and furfural in the treated soils. Three years after addition to the soil, the organic matter had a higher proportion of fragments derived from aromatic compounds and a smaller proportion derived from hydrocarbons. Similarity indices showed that, although the added and newly formed organic matter 3 yr after addition continued to differ from that of the original soil and to be more mineralizable, the transformations it has undergone made it more similar to the original organic matter of the soil than it was at the moment of being added.     

Prenatal diagnosis of thalassemia major by fetal blood analysis: Experience with 1000 cases

In this report we have summarized our experience with the prenatal diagnosis of β-thalassemia in 1000 pregnancies followed at least until 12 months after birth. In the majority of these cases, the thalassemia lesion was the nonsense mutation at the codon corresponding to amino acid 39, which produces the hematological phenotype of β-thalassemia. Fetal blood sampling was carried out by placental aspiration, by which a sufficient amount of fetal blood for analysis was obtained in the majority of cases (99 per cent). The fetal mortality associated with fetal blood sampling was 6·3 per cent. Those placental samples contaminated by maternal cells were successfully purified by Ørskov lysis. Fetal blood was analysed by globin chain synthesis on CM–52 columns, which gave reliable results. Two misdiagnoses (0·2 per cent) have been made of which one was due to a non-globin protein co-migrating with the β-chains while the other resulted from a misclassification of the type of thalassemia segregating in the family.