Book Reviews

HUMIC SUBSTANCES by G.G. Choudhry. 185 pp. University of Amsterdam Gordon & Breach Science Publishers: New York, London, Paris. $44. ISBN 0-677-06440-3

ENERGY AND CHEMISTRY Edited by R. Thompson. Royal Society of Chemistry, 1981. Special Publication No. 41, 359pp., £11.50, Soft Cover ISBN 0-85186-845-2.

SALT MARSH ECOLOGY Tertiary Level Biology Series by Steven P. Long and Christopher F. Mason. 160 pp. Blackie: Glasgow, 1983. Limp £7.95, Cased £16.95. ISBN 0-216-91439-6 ISBN 0-216-91438-8 Pbk.     

Book Review

AN ENVIRONMENTAL ODYSSEY: People, Pollution and Politics in the Life of a Practical Scientist. Merril Eisenbud, published University of Washington Press, March 1991, 276 pp., illustrated, indexed. ISBN 0-295-96949-0.

“chemistry, Agriculture and the Environment” (Ed. M.L. Richardson) 546 pages, published by Royal Society of Chemistry, 1991. ISBN 0-85186-228-4 E69.50.     

Book Reviews

QUANTITATIVE ECOLOGICAL THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION TO BASIC MODELS, by M. R. Rose, Croom Helm, London & Sidney 1987. 203pp. ISBN 0-7099-2289-2. Price £2.50 (paper); £10.95 (hardback)

CHEMISTRY AND ECOLOGY, by Merril Eisenbud, Environmental Radioactivity from Natural, Industrial and Military Sources. Third Edition, publ. 1987, Academic Press, New York, London, 475 pp.; hardback $55. ISBN 0-12-235153-3     

Book Reviews

HUMIC SUBSTANCES by G.G. Choudhry. 185 pp. University of Amsterdam Gordon & Breach Science Publishers: New York, London, Paris. $44. ISBN 0-677-06440-3

ENERGY AND CHEMISTRY Edited by R. Thompson. Royal Society of Chemistry, 1981. Special Publication No. 41, 359pp., £11.50, Soft Cover ISBN 0-85186-845-2.

SALT MARSH ECOLOGY Tertiary Level Biology Series by Steven P. Long and Christopher F. Mason. 160 pp. Blackie: Glasgow, 1983. Limp £7.95, Cased £16.95. ISBN 0-216-91439-6 ISBN 0-216-91438-8 Pbk.     

Book Reviews

Toxic Metals and Their Analysis by E. Berman. 304 pp. Heyden: London, 1980. £18.00. ISBN 0 85501 468 7

Environment and the Industrial Society edited by N. Holmes. 247pp. Hodder and Stoughton: London 1976. £2.95. ISBN 0 340 17192 8

Foundations of Food Science by John Hawthorn. 195pp. W.H. Freeman; Oxford 1981. Board ISBN 0-7167-1295-4, £10.00 Paper ISBN 0-1767-1296-2, £4. 95.

Trends in Fish Utilization by J.J. Connell and R. Hardy. A Buckland Foundation book. 103pp. Fishing News Books: Farnham, Surrey. ISBN 0-85238-120-4, £6.00

Seminari internazionali sull'inquinamento marina: held in the University of Genoa 16th May to 27th June 1980. 151pp. edited by N. Della Croce. Published by Instituto Scienze Ambientali Marine, Universita di Genova, 1982.     

Book Reviews

INTERACTIONS OF PLANT RESISTANCE AND PARASITOIDS AND PREDATORS OF INSECTS by D. J. Boethel and R. D. Eikenbary, Editors. 224 pp. Ellis Horwood Limited 1986. ISBN 0-85312-836-7, £32.50.

ORGANIC TRACE ANALYSIS, by Klaus Beyermann, Translation editor: R. A. Chalmers. Ellis Horwood, Chichester. £35-00. ISBN 0853126380.

CADMIUM IN THE ENVIRONMENT. Part II: Health Effects. Edited by Jerome O. Nriagu. 908p. Wiley-Interscience, New York and Chichester. £85.00. I.S.B.N. 0-471-0554.     

Book Reviews

INTERACTIONS OF PLANT RESISTANCE AND PARASITOIDS AND PREDATORS OF INSECTS by D. J. Boethel and R. D. Eikenbary, Editors. 224 pp. Ellis Horwood Limited 1986. ISBN 0-85312-836-7, £32.50.

ORGANIC TRACE ANALYSIS, by Klaus Beyermann, Translation editor: R. A. Chalmers. Ellis Horwood, Chichester. £35-00. ISBN 0853126380.

CADMIUM IN THE ENVIRONMENT. Part II: Health Effects. Edited by Jerome O. Nriagu. 908p. Wiley-Interscience, New York and Chichester. £85.00. I.S.B.N. 0-471-0554.     

A review of: “Waste Treatment and Disposal”

Ed. R. E. Hester and R. M. Harrison, Publ. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1995, Isbn 0-85404-210-5, 158pp. Price £15.00.     

A review of: “Ecological Physical Chemistry”

C. Rossi & E. Tiezzi (Ed). 651 pp. Elsevier, 1991. ISBN 0444874305, £225.50 US.     

Spring abundance and distribution of the ctenophore Pleurobrachia pileus in the Seine estuary: advective transport and diel vertical migration

Several sets of plankton and hyperbenthos samples were collected from the Seine estuary in late May-early June of 1991, 1992 and 1994, and the abundance, size-frequency, horizontal and vertical distribution, and short-term fluctuations of Pleurobrachia pileus (O.F. Müller, 1776) were determined. In the Seine estuary, P. pileus was more abundant than reported for any other European shallow waters. Its depth-averaged density was 33 individuals m^-3 in 1991 and 32 individuals m^-3 in 1992, with a maximum density of 808 individuals m^-3. The ctenophores displayed passive tidal advection and active diel vertical migration. In the outer estuary, high abundances were observed around low tide, and diel vertical migration was very pronounced. However, many individuals remained aggregated near the bottom at all times. In spring, the distribution of P. pileus coincided with the 33 and 150 S isohalines, with high abundances on the marine side of the estuary. It is suggested that aggregation of ctenophores near the bottom and diel vertical migration play an important role in the retention of P. pileus in the estuary. Two schemes of P. pileus life cycle in the Bay of Seine are proposed.     

Aggravation of membrane fouling and methane leakage by a three-phase separator in an external anaerobic ceramic membrane bioreactor

The existence of three-phase separator did not affect COD removal in the EAnCMBR. The existence of three-phase separator aggravated methane leakage of EAnCMBR. The existence of three-phase separator aggravated membrane fouling rate of EAnCMBR. Start-up of EAnCMBR equipped three-phase separator was slightly delayed. The three-phase separator is a critical component of high-rate anaerobic bioreactors due to its significant contribution in separation of biomass, wastewater, and biogas. However, its role in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor is still not clear. In this study, the distinction between an external anaerobic ceramic membrane bioreactor (EAnCMBR) unequipped (R1) and equipped (R2) with a three-phase separator was investigated in terms of treatment performance, membrane fouling, extracellular polymers of sludge, and microbial community structure. The results indicate that the COD removal efficiencies of R1 and R2 were 98.2%±0.4% and 98.1%±0.4%, respectively, but the start-up period of R2 was slightly delayed. Moreover, the membrane fouling rate of R2 (0.4 kPa/d) was higher than that of R1 (0.2 kPa/d). Interestingly, the methane leakage from R2 (0.1 L/d) was 20 times higher than that from R1 (0.005 L/d). The results demonstrate that the three-phase separator aggravated the membrane fouling rate and methane leakage in the EAnCMBR. Therefore, this study provides a novel perspective on the effects of a three-phase separator in an EAnCMBR.     

Book Reviews

SOVIET SCIENCE REVIEWS-SECTION B., CHEMISTRY REVIEWS. Edited by M. E. Vol'pin. Volume 5. Organofluorine Chemistry pp 397. Volume 6. Organophosphorous Chemistry pp 442. OPA Ltd., for Harwood Academic Publishers, 1984. $170 each. Hardback. ISBN 3-7186-0139-7 and ISBN 3-7186-0139-7.

CURRENT TOPICS IN CHINESE SCIENCE-SECTION B., CHEMISTRY. Volume 2, pp 572 and Volume 3, pp 563. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1984. $64 and $68 both soft covers. ISBN 0-677-06230-3 and ISBN 0-677-40385-2.

THE EXPORT OF HAZARD. Transnational Corporations and Environmental Control Issues. edited by Jane H. Ives. 229 pp. Routledge and Kegan Paul: Boston, London and Henley. £14.95. ISBN 07102 0072 2

ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY by Peter O'Neill. 232 pp. Allen and Unwin 1985. ISBN 0-04-551085-7, £20. ISBN 0-04-551086-5 Pbk, £8.95.     

Digestive enzymes in marine invertebrates from hydrothermal vents and other reducing environments

The present study demonstrates the potential hydrolytic activities in the symbiont-containing tissues of the vent invertebrates Riftia pachyptila, Bathymodiolus thermophilus (collected in 1991 at the East Pacific Rise) and the shallow-water bivalve Lucinoma aequizonata (collected in 1991 from the Santa Barbara Basin). Activities of phosphatases, esterases, -glucuronidase and leucineaminopeptidase were comparable to those of digestive tract tissues of other marine invertebrates. A lack in most glycosidases as well as in trypsin and chymotrypsin was observed. Activities of lysozyme and chitobiase were rather high. In all vent invertebrates with symbionts and in L. aequizonata, the symbiont-containing tissues and the symbiont-free tissues had similar levels of enzymatic activities, indicating that polymeric nutrients could be hydrolysed after release from the symbionts and cellular uptake. The high activities of -fucosidase in all vent invertebrates as well as in the shallow-water bivalve L. aequizonata could point to the existence of a yet undescribed substrate available to hydrolysation. The ectosymbionts-carrying polychaete Alvinella pompejana (collected in 1991 at the East Pacific Rise, EPR) shows high lysozyme activities in its gut, consistent with the proposed food source of bacteria. For the vent crab Bythogrea thermydron (also collected in 1991 at the EPR) hydrolytic activities were highest in the gut, dominated by esterase and peptidase activities which support their proposed carnivorous food source. A snail and a limpet collected from R. pachyptila tubes showed high levels of chitobiase suggesting a food source of grazed bacteria or ingested R. pachyptila tube.     

Book reviews

Pollution: Ecology and Biotreatment, S. Mceldowney, D.J. Hardman, S. Waite, Publ. John Wiley and Sons, New York, Usa. Isbn 0-582-08655-8 322 Pp. Uk Price (£19.99) (Soft Covers)

Fish Ecotoxicology and Ecophysiology, Ed. T. Braunbeck, W. Hanke & H. Seger. Proceedings of an International Symposium, Heidelberg, September 1991. 1993. 418 Pages with 204 Figures and 50 Tables. Isbn 3-527-30010-4 £76.00, Vhc Weinheim.

Method in Ecology: Strategies for Conservation. K.S. Shrader-Frechette and E.D. Mccoy (University of South Florida). Cambridge University Press, 1993. Price, £40.00 Isbn 052/41861 5 (Hardbook); £17.95 Isbn 0 521 44693 7 (Paperback)     

Effects of El Niño/Southern Oscillation on the population dynamics of a Gari solida population (Bivalvia: Psammobiidae) from Bahía Independencia,Peru

Population dynamics of a Gari solida (Gray, 1828) population from Bahía Independencia, Peru (14°S) was studied between November 1989 and February 1995 (except for 1991) in order to investigate the effects of the climate phenomenon El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) which occurred in 1992/93. Results indicate that ENSO had negative effects on gonad production in 1992, when temperatures were very high, and positive effects in 1993, when temperatures were lower, but the warm period lasted longer than in 1992. Higher reproductive output in 1993 was achieved by several spawning events in addition to the normal pattern. Growth rate in 1990 was higher (K=0.495) than in 1993/94 (K=0.346). A possible explanation could be that more energy was allocated to reproduction, and thus less surplus energy remained for growth. The negative effect of ENSO on production in 1992 is indicated by the low P/B ratio (0.298); in all other years P/B was consistently higher (1990: 0.570; 1993: 0.597; 1994: 0.597). From 1990 to 1994 a reduction of mean annual biomass from 189.3 to 14.4 g ash-free dry weight m^-2 was also observed which may be related to fishery activities. The consistency of P/B ratio is best explained by the higher somatic production of the smaller individuals remaining after the larger individuals had been removed selectively by fishermen. Based on the results presented in this study and from the literature, a model is proposed depicting how ENSO may negatively affect bivalve populations. Two main factors are mentioned, increased temperature and reduction of assimilated energy.Contribution No. 991 of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Germany     

Environmental Monitoring of Fresh Waters

UN (Unesco, WHO and UNEP) WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENTS: A GUIDE to the USE of BIOTA, SEDIMENTS and WATER in ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING, ed. D. Chapman, publ. E. & F.N. Spon, London, ISBN O-419-21600-6, price $ 22.95. pp. xxi + 626, figures and tables; index.

SIMPLE GUIDE ON MANAGEMENT and CONTROL of WASTES, Royal Society of Chemistry, publ. Royal Society of Chemistry, Letchworth, Herts, UK, price $ 9.95, ISBN 0-85404-990-8, pp. xii + 61, 6 figures, 13 tables, index.     

Book Reviews

SOVIET SCIENCE REVIEWS–SECTION B., CHEMISTRY REVIEWS. Edited by M. E. Vol'pin. Volume 5. Organofluorine Chemistry pp 397. Volume 6. Organophosphorous Chemistry pp 442. OPA Ltd., for Harwood Academic Publishers, 1984. $170 each. Hardback. ISBN 3-7186-0139-7 and ISBN 3-7186-0139-7.

CURRENT TOPICS IN CHINESE SCIENCE-SECTION B., CHEMISTRY. Volume 2, pp 572 and Volume 3, pp 563. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1984. $64 and $68 both soft covers. ISBN 0-677-06230-3 and ISBN 0-677-40385-2.

THE EXPORT OF HAZARD. Transnational Corporations and Environmental Control Issues. edited by Jane H. Ives. 229 pp. Routledge and Kegan Paul: Boston, London and Henley. £14.95. ISBN 07102 0072 2

ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY by Peter O'Neill. 232 pp. Allen and Unwin 1985. ISBN 0-04-551085-7, £20. ISBN 0-04-551086-5 Pbk, £8.95.     

Aerobic granular sludge formation based on substrate availability: Effects of flow pattern and fermentation pretreatment

• Penetration depth and substrate characters affect AGS formation and performance. • The relationship between substrate gradient and particle size affects AGS stability. • The fermentation process is proposed as a pretreatment to improve AGS stability. The influences of flow patterns (mixed-flow and plug-flow) and fermentation pretreatment on aerobic granular sludge (AGS) formation with various substrate availability levels were investigated by running four identical laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors (R1–R4), comparing two anaerobic feeding strategies and three kinds of substrates. R1 achieved faster granulation with a fast influent fill step followed by a modified anaerobic mixed-flow phase, but the AGS showed poorer stability with a cracked structure and a high suspended solids concentration in the effluent. The anaerobic plug-flow feeding mode (with influent fed slowly from the bottom) in R2 provided deeper penetration depth for the substance to reach the core of AGS and accordingly strengthen AGS stability. An acidogenic up-flow sludge bed reactor was introduced as a pretreatment to improve the AGS performance by enhancing glucose pre-fermentation (R4). AGS fed with mixed volatile fatty acids (VFA) after glucose fermentation showed similar performance compared with the reactor fed with acetate in the aspects of stability, structure, size distribution and nitrogen removal efficiency, and 74% similarity in the microbial community. For actual wastewater with low VFA concentrations, fermentation treatment was suggested as a promising pretreatment for stable AGS granulation and operation.     

Reproductive effort in relation to maternal social rank in reindeer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rangifer tarandus</Emphasis>)

In polygynous mammals, high-quality females may increase their fitness by providing superior care to their offspring. Based on the agonistic interactions of female reindeer in an experimental herd during two consecutive years (1997 and 1998), we tested whether maternal social rank influenced: (1) winter body-mass change of females, (2) preparturition reproductive effort (measured as fecundity, the birth mass and the birth date of their calves), (3) preweaning maternal effort (measured as calves preweaning mortality, early preweaning and late preweaning growth rate and September body mass of calves), and (4) postweaning maternal effort (measured as calves body-mass change during their first winter). In the models, we included September females body mass as a covariate to separate the effects of maternal rank and body mass. We also tested whether the effect of social rank on maternal efforts was dependent on offspring sex. High-ranked females gained body mass whereas low-ranked females lost weight during the winter. Fecundity was higher and date of birth was earlier in high-ranked females than in subordinates, whereas no effect of females rank on birth mass of calves was found. Early preweaning growth rate and September body mass of calves increased with increasing females social rank, whereas late preweaning daily growth rate of calves was not influenced by females rank. Calves preweaning mortality was only influenced by year, which also explained most of the variance in the winter body-mass change of calves. The effects of females rank on the reproductive-efforts parameters studied were not specific to offspring sex. These findings suggest that females rank influences reproductive effort during the preparturition, as well as the preweaning, period, the effect being sex independent.Communicated by R. Gibson     

Nutrition studies in the nauplius larva of Calanus pacificus (Copepoda: Calanoida)

Nauplii of Calanus pacificus were raised on a mixture of algae. Details of the mouth-parts, such as denticles, labial palps and lobes, setations and structure of the masticatory teeth were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Under the experimental conditions (15°C and 300 gC l^-1), exponential growth coefficients for the period Nauplii II–VI were 0.179 for carbon and 0.228 for nitrogen. C:N ratios dropping from 5.1 to 4.7. Growth was isochronous, each stage lasting 1.5 days. Respiratory losses were 15 to 19.6% of body carbon daily. Nauplii raised on a given alga showed higher rates of ingestion in the presence of this food, compared to nauplii switched to other algae. Minimal threshold concentrations for feeding were found, depending on the size of the food offered and ranging from 5.8 gC I^-1 for Lauderia borealis (28.7 m spherical diameter) to 47.1 gC 1^-1 for Chlamydomonas sp. (11.0 m). Unlike the Copepodite I stage, Nauplii II–VI larvae were not able to ingest small cells such as Isochrysis galbana (4.3 m), or very large ones such as Ditylum brightwellii (47.5 m) at more than maintenance rations. Below the critical concentration for maximal feeding, ingestion was clearly dependent on size of the cells offered, but the size-dependent relationship was different for diatoms and non-diatoms. Filtering rates increased from a threshold concentration to a maximal rate at about 50 gC 1^-1, and decreased at higher concentrations. Critical concentrations ranged from 125 gC 1^-1 for L. borealis to 1000 gC 1^-1 for Chlamydomonas sp. Maximal daily rations ranged between 100 and 150% of body carbon.