A stress-strain model to evaluate the forest situation in Germany and the state of the art of damage research

The situation and the latest findings of forest damage research in Germany are discussed. A newly developed concept for this research is described. This concept allows to identify the drawbacks of the recent damage research concept but also the integration of results compiled up to now. The importance for including natural occurring stress factors such as climate, soil conditions or local situation of individual species is outlined.     

Split-hand/split-foot malformation with paternal mutation in the p63 gene

We report the prenatal diagnosis at 16 weeks' gestation of bilateral split-hand/split-foot malformation (SHSFM) with severe lobster claw deformity of hands and feet in a male fetus without associated malformations. A minor manifestation of SHSFM was present in the father with only mild bilateral foot involvement (syndactyly I–II; cleft II–III; left cutaneous syndactyly III–IV). Mutation analysis of the p63 gene on chromosome 3q27 showed a missense mutation 577A→G (predicting amino acid substitution K193E) in the father. This mutation has not been reported so far in SHSFM but resembles the previously reported 580A→G (predicting amino acid substitution K194E) in a family with SHSFM. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of atmospheric ammonia and ammonium sulphate on Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

Three-year-old Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) were fumigated with 180 microg m(-3) NH3 or clean (charcoal-filtered) air. During these fumigations the plants received 15 mm artificial rain weekly, supplemented with 20, 500 or 2500 micromol litre(-1) (NH4)2SO4. Exposure to NH3 and NH4+ for 14 weeks resulted in a change of the nutrient status of the needles. The most remarkable effect was the increase in the N/K ratio, due to both uptake of N and leaching of K. The action of NH3 was stronger than that of NH4+. Both NH3 and (NH4)2SO4 affected the epicuticular wax layer and decreased mycorhiza frequency. Following fumigation and artificial rain treatments, needles were incubated for 8 h in a medium containing 0, 50, 250, 500 and 2500 micromol litre(-1) (NH4)2SO4. Almost no exchange of Ca, Mg and K for NH4+ was found. Therefore this ion exchange probably explains only a minor part of the changes in nutrient status of the whole trees.     

Measuring water resource use efficiency of the Dong Nai River Basin (Vietnam): an application of the two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA)

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The recent growth of agriculture, industry and urban areas in Vietnam requires a large amount of water consumption as a production factor. This paper...     

Multivariate analysis of the bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the marine pelagic food web from the southern part of the Baltic Sea,Poland

The concentration, pattern, bioaccumulation and biomagnification features of many chlorobiphenyl congeners including non- and mono-ortho chlorine substituted members have been determined in a pelagic food chain including mixed phyto- and zooplankton, herring (Clupea harengus), harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and black cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) collected from the southern part of the Baltic Proper. TCDD (tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) toxic equivalents (TEQs) in plankton, herring, harbour porpoise and cormorants were 0.42, 5.3, 79 and 2,700 pg g(-1) lipid weight, respectively. Concentrations of total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in plankton, herring, harbour porpoise and cormorants were 1.9, 120, 8700 and 2,100 ng g(-1) wet weight (210, 1,300, 10,000 and 42,000 ng g(-1) lipid weight) respectively. Herring, harbour porpoise and black cormorant apparently bioaccumulate many PCBs found in their food, and the values of the bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) for PCBs were approximately 10 in herring, 35 in harbour porpoise and up to 300 in breast muscle of cormorants. Harbour porpoise clearly is able to metabolize the most toxic non-ortho PCBs (no. 77, 126 and 169) and a few mono-ortho PCBs (no. 114, 123 and 156), while all non- and mono-ortho PCBs are bioaccumulated by herring. Penta-, hexa- and hepta-CBs were the dominatant homologue classes both in the muscle tissue and liver. PCB congeners nos. 201, 209, 172/192, 194 and 195 were characterized by the largest BAFs (between 100 and 300). Principal component analysis has been used to analyse the interdependences and differences in the CB congener accumulation patterns between the components of the investigated pelagic food web.     

Control of rumen methanogenesis

During the last decades, considerable research on methane production in the rumen and its inhibition has been carried out. Initially, as methane production represents a significant loss of gross energy in the feed (2–15%), the ultimate goal of such intervention in rumen fermentation was an increase in feed efficiency. A second reason favouring research on methane inhibition is its role in the global warming phenomenon and in the destruction of the ozone layer. In this review, the authors describe briefly several interventions for reducing methane emission by ruminants. The objective can be reached by intervention at the dietary level by ration manipulation (composition, feeding level) or by the use of additives or supplements. Examples of additives are polyhalogenated compounds, ionophores and other antibiotics. Supplementation of the ration with lipids also lowered methanogenesis. More biotechnological interventions, e.g., defaunation, probiotics and introduction of reductive acetogenesis in the rumen, are also mentioned. It can be concluded that drastic inhibition of methane production is not unequivocally successful as a result of several factors, such as: instantaneous inhibition often followed by restoration of methanogenesis due to adaptation of the microbes or degradation of the additive, toxicity for the host animal, negative effects on overall digestion and productive performance. Therefore, methanogenesis and its inhibition cannot be considered as a separate part of rumen fermentation and its consequences on the animal should be taken into account.     

The analysis of monitoring data with the aid of time-series analysis

Methods derived from time-series analysis are proposed for processing monitoring data. The necessity for the use of these methods is demonstrated. In a case study time-series analysis was applied to assess the impact of the closure of the Grevelingen estuary (S. W. Netherlands) in 1971 on a local wintering population of Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) in the adjacent Oosterschelde estuary.Communication No. 328 of the Delta Institute for Hydrobiological Research.     

A study on the behaviour of pesticides and their transformation products in the Scheldt estuary using liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Off-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) combined with liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS-MS) was used to study the estuarine behaviour of the polar pesticides, atrazine, chloridazon, diuron and metolachlor, and their transformation products (TPs), hydroxyatrazine (HA), desisopropylatrazine (DIA), desethylatrazine (DEA), 3,4-dichlorophenylmethylurea (DPMU) and monuron. The compounds were identified by comparing their LC retention times and product-ion spectra with those of standard solutions. In all but one case the detection limits of the method were sufficient to determine the compounds of interest over the entire salinity range in the estuary. The concentrations of the dissolved pesticides ranged from 70 ng l-1 for chloridazon to 1350 ng l-1 for diuron. The levels of TPs were 3-8% of the levels of their parent pesticide. The mixing plots of polar pesticides and their TPs indicated that TPs, which are present in fresh river water, are conservatively transported to the sea and that no additional amounts of TPs are formed during their transport through the estuary. The one exception was HA, of which approximately 10% of the amount transported to the North Sea is formed in the lower part of the estuary by photochemical oxidation of atrazine. The latter was concluded from the ratios of each analyte over the sum total of the parent pesticide and all TPs along the salinity gradient, which proved to be a useful tool for identifying such estuarine transformations.