A framework for assessment and monitoring of small mammals in a lowland tropical forest

Development projects in tropical forests can impact biodiversity.Assessment and monitoring programs based on the principles of adaptive management assist managers to identify and reduce suchimpacts. The small mammal community is one important component ofa forest ecosystem that may be impacted by development projects. In 1996, a natural gas exploration project was initiated in a Peruvian rainforest. The Smithsonian Institution's Monitoring andAssessment of Biodiversity program cooperated with Shell Prospecting and Development Peru to establish an adaptive management program to protect the region's biodiversity. In thisarticle, we discuss the role of assessing and monitoring small mammals in relation to the natural gas project. We outline theconceptual issues involved in establishing an assessment andmonitoring program, including setting objectives, evaluating the results and making appropriate decisions. We also summarizethe steps taken to implement the small mammal assessment, provideresults from the assessment and discuss protocols to identifyappropriate species for monitoring.     

Morphological and Physiological Damage by Surfactant-Polluted Seaspray on Pinus pinea and Pinus halepensis

This paper reports morphological and physiological damage caused by polluted seaspray to coastal pine forests in Liguria (Northern Italy) and suggests the most reliable parameters for surfactant-pollution biomonitoring. Concentrations of surfactants in surface seawater, seaspray, and that deposited on Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinea needles were determined in samples from five sites. Decline of the pines in the Western part of Liguria was greater than in the East, and was associated with higher surfactant levels deposited on the crowns. Chloride content of needles was higher in damaged pines, even if it did not reach toxic levels. Stomata micromorphologies did not differ between species in the crown parts facing the sea, while differences were significant in the back crown parts that were not directly exposed to polluted sea breezes. Water content and noon water potential indicated interference in water relations of damaged trees. In conclusion, none of the investigated parameters was by itself a comprehensive index of surfactant damage. A simultaneous survey of several parameters is suggested to investigate the impact of surfactants on coastal vegetation. The most useful parameters were: directionality of crown damage, surfactant depositions on the needles, chloride accumulation in the needles, structural injury to epistomatal chambers, needle water content and potential.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments and mussels of Corral Bay, south central Chile

PAHs were measured in sediments and mussels (Mytilus chilensis) from Carboneros and Puerto Claro, located in Corral Bay, Valdivia. According to the ratio of phenanthrene/anthracene and fluoranthene/pyrene concentrations, these sites are medium polluted with PAHs originating mainly from pyrolytic sources. Fluoranthene was the major component measured in mussels (3.1-390 ng g(-1) dry weight) and sediments (6.9-74.1 ng g(-1) dry weight). In general, mussels were mainly exposed to the dissolved fraction of the lower molecular weight PAHs (tri- and tetra-aromatics) while the higher molecular ring systems (penta- and hexa-aromatics) were more bioavailable to sediments. Mussel PAHs content was relatively constant, with the exception of the 1999 summer season (March), when higher concentration values were found in both sites; however, PAHs residues in sediments showed a temporal variation.     

Bioaccumulation of cyclopenta[cd]pyrene and benzo[ghi]fluoranthene by mussels transplanted in a coastal lagoon

The bioaccumulation of two isomeric non-alternant non-priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), namely cyclopenta[cd]pyrene and benzo[ghi]fluoranthene, was investigated in caged mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) exposed for 30 days in three sites of a coastal lagoon (Pialassa Baiona, Ravenna, Italy) contaminated by pyrogenic PAHs. The concentration of cyclopenta[cd]pyrene and benzo[ghi]fluoranthene increased from undetectable levels in reference mussels withdrawn from the Adriatic sea to 10-30 ng g(-1) dry weight in transplanted mussels. Other contaminants bioaccumulated by caged mussels included pyrene, fluoranthene and mercury. Whilst the isomer concentration ratio pyrene/fluoranthene in biota was comparable to that observed in sediments, the cyclopenta[cd]pyrene/benzo[ghi]fluoranthene ratio was much lower in mussels than in sediments. The lower sediment biota accumulation factor of cyclopenta[cd]pyrene with respect to that of benzo[ghi]fluoranthene was tentatively attributed to the greater biological activity of the former compound, which contains a reactive olefinic bond in the cyclopenta fused ring moiety. Given the higher mutagenic activity of cyclopenta[cd]pyrene with respect to other priority PAHs, its bioaccumulation from contaminated sediments may rise considerably the overall toxicity of PAH residues in exposed biota.     

Mechanical properties and microstructure of cement mortars incorporating Cd-zeolitized fly ash

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - A solid enriched with NaA zeolite was synthesized from a coal fly ash, and the so-obtained zeolitized material was used as ion exchanger for...     

Potential for gene flow from genetically modified <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica napus</Emphasis> on the territory of Russia

Gene flow from genetically modified crops has been studied for more than 20 years, but public concern still remains. A lot of data on this matter is obtained on the territory of EU and the USA, but in the majority of countries, such experiments were never carried out. Here, we present the first study of interspecific and intraspecific hybridization of transgenic Brassica napus on the territory of Russia. The experiment was conducted using two different models of coexistence. Cross-pollination with related species was more frequent in mixed than that in separated populations. We observed maximum 4.1% of transgenic seeds in the progeny of Brassica rapa and 0.6% in the progeny of Brassica juncea. The highest intraspecific hybridization rate of 0.67% was observed in separated populations. DNA fragments, typical to both parents, were present in the genome of the hybrids. The risk of gene flow in Russia is relatively low, but it will be problematic to do environmental monitoring on such a big territory. However, instead of banning the cultivation of genetically modified crops, some new varieties with visually detectable selective traits could be designed and approved for cultivation.     

Project house water: a novel interdisciplinary framework to assess the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of flood-related impacts

Protecting our water resources in terms of quality and quantity is considered one of the big challenges of the twenty-first century, which requires global and multidisciplinary solutions. A specific threat to water resources, in particular, is the increased occurrence and frequency of flood events due to climate change which has significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts. In addition to climate change, flooding (or subsequent erosion and run-off) may be exacerbated by, or result from, land use activities, obstruction of waterways, or urbanization of floodplains, as well as mining and other anthropogenic activities that alter natural flow regimes. Climate change and other anthropogenic induced flood events threaten the quantity of water as well as the quality of ecosystems and associated aquatic life. The quality of water can be significantly reduced through the unintentional distribution of pollutants, damage of infrastructure, and distribution of sediments and suspended materials during flood events. To understand and predict how flood events and associated distribution of pollutants may impact ecosystem and human health, as well as infrastructure, large-scale interdisciplinary collaborative efforts are required, which involve ecotoxicologists, hydrologists, chemists, geoscientists, water engineers, and socioeconomists. The research network “project house water” consists of a number of experts from a wide range of disciplines and was established to improve our current understanding of flood events and associated societal and environmental impacts. The concept of project house and similar seed fund and boost fund projects was established by the RWTH Aachen University within the framework of the German excellence initiative with support of the German research foundation (DFG) to promote and fund interdisciplinary research projects and provide a platform for scientists to collaborate on innovative, challenging research. Project house water consists of six proof-of-concept studies in very diverse and interdisciplinary areas of research (ecotoxicology, water, and chemical process engineering, geography, sociology, economy). The goal is to promote and foster high-quality research in the areas of water research and flood-risk assessments that combine and build off-laboratory experiments with modeling, monitoring, and surveys, as well as the use of applied methods and techniques across a variety of disciplines.     

Genotoxic biomonitoring of agricultural workers exposed to pesticides in the north of Sinaloa State, Mexico

Genotoxic damage was evaluated in 70 agricultural workers, 25 women and 45 men, exposed to pesticides in Las Grullas, Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico, with an average of 7 years of exposure. The effect was detected through the sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in lymphocytes of peripheral blood and micronuclei (MN) and other nuclear anomalies (NA) in buccal exfoliated cells. Also, the influence on cellular proliferation kinetics (CPK) was studied by means of the replication index (RI) and the cytotoxic effect was examined with the mitotic index (MI). The non-exposed group consisted of 70 other persons, 21 women and 47 men from the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Significant differences between the exposed and the non-exposed groups were observed in SCE, CPK, MI, MN and NA. Analysis of variance revealed that age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumption did not have a significant effect on genetic damage. However, there was a correlation between exposure time to pesticides and SCE frequency. These results could have been due to the exposure of workers to pesticides containing different chemical compounds. This study afforded valuable data to estimate the possible risk to health associated with pesticide exposure.