Advancement of renewables in Bangladesh and Thailand: Policy intervention and institutional settings

This article reviews and analyses the advancement of renewable sources of energy in Bangladesh and Thailand in terms of policy intervention and institutional settings. Since renewable forms of energy emit far smaller amounts of greenhouse gas compared with fossil fuels, their use should mitigate climate change impacts while contributing to the provision of energy services. The article turns first to a review of energy–environment trends and the potential for renewables in these two nations. It then discusses strategies for the advancement of renewables. It is argued that further significant efforts can be made towards the advancement of renewables in Bangladesh and Thailand. These two nations could also learn from the experience in industrialized nations and other developing nations with regard to requisite policy instruments and processes. A number of barriers remain to the advancement of renewables, especially in terms of policy arrangements, institutional settings, financing mechanisms and technologies. Resources, cooperation and learning are required in order to overcome such barriers and to foster the development of necessary policy measures. Implementation of the clean development mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol, and replication and adaptation of effective strategies from other settings are possible avenues for this.     

Hyperactivity and tree-top disease induced by the baculovirus AcMNPV in Spodoptera exigua larvae are governed by independent mechanisms

Although many parasites are known to manipulate the behavior of their hosts, the mechanisms underlying such manipulations are largely unknown. Baculoviruses manipulate the behavior of caterpillar hosts by inducing hyperactivity and by inducing climbing behavior leading to death at elevated positions (tree-top disease or Wipfelkrankheit). Whether hyperactivity and tree-top disease are independent manipulative strategies of the virus is unclear. Recently, we demonstrated the involvement of the protein tyrosine phosphatase (ptp) gene of the baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) in the induction of hyperactivity in Spodoptera exigua larvae. Here we show that AcMNPV ptp is not required for tree-top disease, indicating that in S. exigua baculovirus-induced hyperactivity and tree-top disease are independently induced behaviors that are governed by distinct mechanisms.     

Dynamics of a peculiar plant-herbivore relationship: the photosynthetic ascoglossan Elysia timida and the chlorophycean Acetabularia acetabulum

The ascoglossan mollusc Elysia timida Risso, 1818 retains functional chloroplasts from its algal food, the chlorophycean Acetabularia acetabulum (L.). Photosynthates from the plastids are an important source of organic nutrients for the mollusc. Chloroplast exploitation has an ecological function, allowing the ascoglossan to live entirely on an algal diet which is of limited, seasonal availability to other herbivores. Between October 1987 and July 1988, the annual evolution of the molluscan and algal populations was studied in a cove of Mazarrón Bay, southeast Spain. The population density of the mollusc is highly dependent on its food supply, being controlled by the seasonal life cycle of the algal population. During its life cycle, the degree of grazing by the mollusc decreases with increasing algal calcification, the cell walls of the alga progressively calcify, and the eventually highly calcificied stalks are completely resistant to ascoglossan grazing. In contrast, the exploitation of the algal chloroplasts retained by the molluscs increases during the seasonal cycle. The progressively increasing scarcity of food during the seasonal cycle may have led to the retention of symbiotic chloroplasts by E. timida. The developmental strategy of the ascoglossan also changes during the year: when food is abundant (in November, December, January, February and March) it is direct, with no planktonic larval phase, when food is scarce (in October, April, May and June) it is lecithotrophic, with a short planktonic larval phase. Chloroplast retention acts as a buffer, alleviating the effects of annual changes in density, structure and abundance of the alga on the nutritional state of the molluse.     

Biodegradation and toxicity of wastewater from industry producing mineral fibres for thermal insulation

The water chemistry, toxicity, and biodegradation of wastewater from an industry producing mineral fibres for thermal insulation were studied. Values for COD, BOD5, suspended solids, and phenol exceeded permissible values for the wastewater discharged into a nearby river and acute toxicity was also detected. Consequently, the effluent should be treated in a municipal wastewater treatment plant so its ready biodegradability was investigated. We found that the wastewater was readily biodegradable, therefore we assume it can be treated in the wastewater treatment plant as the ratio of the wastewater flow rate and the minimal total inflow into the sewage treatment plant would be one to at least 30.     

Shiny cowbirds share foster mothers but not true mothers in multiply parasitized mockingbird nests

Obligate brood parasitic birds, such as cowbirds, evade parental care duties by laying their eggs in the nests of other species. Cowbirds are assumed to avoid laying repeatedly in the same nest so as to prevent intrabrood competition between their offspring. However, because searching for host nests requires time and energy, laying more than one egg per nest might be favoured where hosts are large and can readily rear multiple parasites per brood. Such ‘repeat parasitism’ by females would have important consequences for parasite evolution because young parasites would then incur indirect fitness costs from behaving selfishly. We investigated shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) parasitism of a large host, the chalk-browed mockingbird (Mimus saturninus), in a population where over 70 % of the parasitized mockingbird nests receive multiple cowbird eggs. We assessed egg maternity directly, using cameras at nests to film the laying of individually-marked females. We also supplemented video data with evidence from egg morphology, after confirming that each female lays eggs of a consistent appearance. From 133 eggs laid, we found that less than 5 % were followed by the same female visiting the nest to lay again or to puncture eggs. Multiple eggs in mockingbird nests were instead the result of different females, with up to eight individuals parasitizing a single brood. Thus, while cowbird chicks regularly share mockingbird nests with conspecifics, these are unlikely to be their maternal siblings. Our results are consistent with shiny cowbird females following a one-egg-per-nest rule, even where hosts can rear multiple parasitic young.     

墨西哥化学集团执行生态设计(DFE)

本文总结了一家墨西哥企业在化学品部门研发领域执行生态设计(DfE)的经验.DfE是一种可持续发展战略.它可以被用于检测潜在的环境风险,开发新产品和新工艺.DfE手册一出版,就分几个步骤循序渐进地开始执行.希望利益相关者采用DfE是出于信念而不是义务.因此,十分强调教育和机遇的确认.在项目的最后阶段,选择了两个正在开展的技术项目进行分析:一个尚处于试验阶段,另一个已经处于商业阶段.     

Effect on benthic communities of a major input of organic matter and other pollutants (coast off Barcelona,Western Mediterranean)

Benthic communities on soft bottoms off Barcelona, at and around two main pollution sources, the mouth of the Besòs River and the outlet of the submarine pipeline draining wastewater and organic sludges from the wastewater treatment plant of Sant Adrià del Besòs, have been studied. Samples were obtained with a Van Veen grab from 36 stations covering a 100 km² grid, between 10 and 70 m in depth. The effect of both pollution sources is clearly seen both at the species (the following macrofauna groups have been studied: Polychaeta, Mollusca, Echinodermata and Crustacea Decapoda) and community levels. The distribution of species and individuals numbers, species diversity and a pollution index, and of some selected (indicator) polychaeta species, all clearly define the degree of environmental degradation and the extent of the areas under the influence of the organic pollution.