Accumulation and release of petroleum-derived aromatic hydrocarbons by four species of marine animals

Survival of Ctenodiscus crispatus during exposure to hypoxia (P _{O 2}<3 mm Hg) at 5°C is greater than that of any echinoderm reported in the literature, the LT₅₀ being 248 h; this is reduced to 236 h in the presence of hydrogen sulfide. Unlike Asterias vulgaris and A. forbesi, both of which lose the tube foot response to tactile stimulation long before death from hypoxia occurs, C. crispatus remains responsive until death. The extension of the highly protrusible epiproctal cone, which occurs in 75% of the mud stars simultaneously exposed to hypoxia and H₂S, serves to maintain burrow contact with the overlying water. The rate of oxygen consumption remains constant down to an ambient oxygen partial pressure of 10 to 25 mm Hg, becoming more oxygen-dependent after prior exposure of the asteroids to hypoxia. C. crispatus exhibits a clear oxygen-debt phenomenon as well as a compensatory reduction in the residual P _{O 2} (oxygen partial pressure at which oxygen consumption ceases) from 2.4 to 0.2 mm Hg after hypoxic exposure.     

Effects of glucosinolate and myrosinase levels in Brassica juncea on a glucosinolate-sequestering herbivore – and vice versa

Summary. Larvae of the turnip sawfly, Athalia rosae L. (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), sequester glucosinolates of their host plants, namely members of the Brassicaceae family, in their haemolymph. Therefore, they need to circumvent myrosinase activities of the plant tissue which normally hydrolyse the glucosinolates after plant damage. Effects of varying levels of glucosinolates and myrosinases on the performance of A. rosae were investigated using homozygous lines of Brassica juncea (L.) with either (1) low glucosinolate (lowGS) and low myrosinase (lowMR), (2) high glucosinolate (highGS) and high myrosinase (highMR), or (3) high glucosinolate (highGS) and low myrosinase (lowMR) levels. To insure that the given quantities remained as constant as possible, newly hatched larvae were enclosed on the second-youngest leaf of a plant, and were offered a new plant of comparable physiological age (6-leaf-stage) every day. The performance of A. rosae was little affected by leaf quality. Body masses of eonymphs and adults were on average lowest on the highGS/highMR-line, but these differences were rarely significant. The pupal developmental times of females and males were longest on the highGS/lowMR-line in only one of two replicate experiments. All other performance traits (developmental times of larvae, egg numbers, adult longevity) were not significantly different. Glucosinolates, sequestered by the larvae, are carried through the pupal stage. The glucosinolate concentration measured in adult insects reflected the level of the host plant line, without showing any obvious costs for sequestration. Obviously, A. rosae is highly tolerant to variation in the glucosinolate-myrosinase system of its host. In addition, induced changes of glucosinolate concentrations and myrosinase activities caused by 24 h-feeding of groups of three small larvae were analysed in the second-youngest leaves. In contrast to the patterns most herbivores evoke on Brassicaceae, namely an increase of both glucosinolate concentration and myrosinase activity, we detected a significant decrease of both traits in all three lines where the respective trait was originally high in the plants. Although glucosinolate levels dropped in the highGS lines about 50%, these still contained higher concentrations than the lowGS line. Whereas the activity of soluble myrosinases remained highest in the highMR line, even after a decrease to almost 30% due to feeding, the levels of insoluble myrosinases converged after feeding in lowMR and highMR lines. Levels of the signalling molecule salicylic acid slightly decreased on average after feeding, whereas jasmonic acid was below the detection threshold in almost all samples. The concentration of several molecules varies strongly in plant tissue with age and can change due to induction by herbivore feeding. Therefore, if performance of an insect species is measured on plants with specific traits, the variability in these traits needs to be carefully controlled in experiments.     

Defence effectiveness of easy bleeding sawfly larvae towards invertebrate and avian predators

Summary. Easy bleeding is a phenomenon discovered in some tenthredinid insects which possess a particularly low mechanical resistance of the integument, leading under mechanical stress to haemolymph exudation. It has a defensive effect against ants and wasps through harmful plant compounds which are sequestered in the haemolymph. Here we describe etho-ecological and some chemical aspects of the defence of easy bleeders and specify the range of predators to which easy bleeding might be effective. Beside a high haemolymph deterrence associated with low integument resistance across sawfly species, we also detected toxicity of the haemolymph of some species to workers of the ant Myrmica rubra. The behaviour of easy bleeders is to move slowly and, once disturbed, to become motionless, thereby probably impeding the tendency of a predator to attack. This behaviour had no beneficial effect for easy bleeders when attacked by the predatory bug Podisus maculiventris. Bugs could successfully and without harm prey on sawfly larvae without evoking easy bleeding. For the easy bleeder Athalia rosae, host plants with different secondary metabolite profiles, and, consequently, changes in haemolymph chemistry only slightly affected the feeding behaviour of the bugs. To test the effectiveness of easy bleeding towards a vertebrate predator, easy bleeders were offered to birds, Sturnus vulgaris. The body colouration of the sawfly larvae was of prime importance in determining the predators response when testing birds in a group. It is likely that easy bleeding is a defence strategy directed primarily towards foraging insects with biting-chewing mandibles and that it is much less active towards predatory insects with piercing-sucking mandibles as well as birds. The involvement of chemical and/or physical cues in the strategy is discussed with respect to these types of predators.     

Perceived barriers to and drivers of community participation in protected‐area governance

Protected areas (PAs) are a frequently used conservation strategy, yet their socioeconomic impacts on local communities remain contentious. A shift toward increased participation by local communities in PA governance seeks to deliver benefits for human well‐being and biodiversity. Although participation is considered critical to the success of PAs, few researchers have investigated individuals’ decisions to participate and what this means for how local people experience the costs and benefits of conservation. We explored who participates in PA governance associations and why; the perceived benefits and costs to participation; and how costs and benefits are distributed within and between communities. Methods included 3 focus groups, 37 interviews, and 217 questionnaire surveys conducted in 3 communities and other stakeholders (e.g., employees of a nongovernmental organization and government officials) in PA governance in Madagascar. Our study design was grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the most commonly applied behavior model in social psychology. Participation in PA governance was limited by miscommunication and lack of knowledge about who could get involved and how. Respondents perceived limited benefits and high costs and uneven distribution of these within and between communities. Men, poorer households, and people in remote villages reported the highest costs. Our findings illustrate challenges related to comanagement of PAs: understanding the heterogeneous nature of communities; ensuring all households are represented in governance participation; understanding differences in the meaning of forest protection; and targeting interventions to reach households most in need to avoid elite capture.     

Risk and safety perception on urban and rural roads: Effects of environmental features,driver age and risk sensitivity

Objective: The ability to detect changing visual information is a vital component of safe driving. In addition to detecting changing visual information, drivers must also interpret its relevance to safety. Environmental changes considered to have high safety relevance will likely demand greater attention and more timely responses than those considered to have lower safety relevance. The aim of this study was to explore factors that are likely to influence perceptions of risk and safety regarding changing visual information in the driving environment. Factors explored were the environment in which the change occurs (i.e., urban vs. rural), the type of object that changes, and the driver's age, experience, and risk sensitivity.

Methods: Sixty-three licensed drivers aged 18–70 years completed a hazard rating task, which required them to rate the perceived hazardousness of changing specific elements within urban and rural driving environments. Three attributes of potential hazards were systematically manipulated: the environment (urban, rural); the type of object changed (road sign, car, motorcycle, pedestrian, traffic light, animal, tree); and its inherent safety risk (low risk, high risk). Inherent safety risk was manipulated by either varying the object's placement, on/near or away from the road, or altering an infrastructure element that would require a change to driver behavior. Participants also completed two driving-related risk perception tasks, rating their relative crash risk and perceived risk of aberrant driving behaviors.

Results: Driver age was not significantly associated with hazard ratings, but individual differences in perceived risk of aberrant driving behaviors predicted hazard ratings, suggesting that general driving-related risk sensitivity plays a strong role in safety perception. In both urban and rural scenes, there were significant associations between hazard ratings and inherent safety risk, with low-risk changes perceived as consistently less hazardous than high-risk impact changes; however, the effect was larger for urban environments. There were also effects of object type, with certain objects rated as consistently more safety relevant. In urban scenes, changes involving pedestrians were rated significantly more hazardous than all other objects, and in rural scenes, changes involving animals were rated as significantly more hazardous. Notably, hazard ratings were found to be higher in urban compared with rural driving environments, even when changes were matched between environments.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that drivers perceive rural roads as less risky than urban roads, even when similar scenarios occur in both environments. Age did not affect hazard ratings. Instead, the findings suggest that the assessment of risk posed by hazards is influenced more by individual differences in risk sensitivity. This highlights the need for driver education to account for appraisal of hazards’ risk and relevance, in addition to hazard detection, when considering factors that promote road safety.     

Sorption,cellular distribution,and cytotoxicity of imidazolium ionic liquids in mammalian cells – influence of lipophilicity

In order to assist an integrated development of ionic liquids (ILs), a study on the sorption, distribution, and cytotoxicity of a series of 1-alkyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborates with C6 rat glioma cells has been performed. Cellular sorption and distribution among three cellular fractions (cytosol, nuclei, and membranes) were analysed by reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC). Compounds with longer 1-alkyl substituents were sorbed with higher enrichment factors and sorption coefficients per protein than those with shorter 1-alkyl chains. The 1-octyl-3-methyl imidazolium cation (C₈MIM) was enriched 17-folds whereas C₆MIM and C₄MIM were enriched by factors of 3.5 and 2.3, respectively. After fractionation of cells by centrifugation, about 8% of C₈MIM was found in the nuclear fractions. The cytotoxicity as estimated by the tetrazolium reductase assay was increasing with the lengths of the 1-alkyl chains from C₄MIM to C₁₀MIM. Consistently, cell proliferation rates were decreasing with increasing lengths of the 1-alkyl chains. The results reveal the correlations between lipophilicity, cellular sorption, and cytotoxicity.     

Valuing third sector sustainability organisations – qualitative contributions to systemic social transformation

The number and diversity of civil society or third sector sustainability organisations (TSSOs) have increased in recent decades. TSSOs play a prominent role in local approaches to sustainability. However, the contributions made by TSSOs are not fully understood, beyond a limited suite of quantifiable outputs and impacts. In this qualitative study, we examine how four TSSOs from two Australian regions, Tasmania and Queensland's Sunshine Coast, contribute to social transformation beyond discrete outputs. We examine the operation, ethos, scope and influence of these organisations over time. In so doing, we identify three common ways in which these organisations facilitate social change: by (i) enhancing social connectivity through boundary work; (ii) mobilising participatory citizenship and (iii) contributing to social learning. We conclude that TSSOs contribute significantly to the systemic social conditions that enable change for sustainability and the development of community resilience and well-being, but do so in ways undervalued by existing metrics, formal evaluation processes and funding models. Clearer recognition of, and strategic emphasis on, these qualitative contributions to social transformation is vital in ensuring that TSSOs remain viable and effective over the long term.