Correction to: Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - The original version of the article unfortunately contained an error.     

Norovirus GII.17 Associated with a Foodborne Acute Gastroenteritis Outbreak in Brazil, 2016

Foodborne transmission gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreak occurred during a celebration lunch in July, 2016, Brazil. All stool samples tested were positive for noroviruses (NoV) and phylogenetic analysis revealed that strains were genetically close to GII.17 Kawasaki_2014. These findings indicated circulation of NoV GII.17 Kawasaki_2014 in the Brazilian population, associated with AGE outbreak.     

Toxicological responses in Laeonereis acuta (annelida, polychaeta) after arsenic exposure

Several environmental pollutants, including metals, can induce oxidative stress. So, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of arsenic (As(III), as As(2)O(3)) on the antioxidant responses in the polychaete Laeonereis acuta. Worms were exposed to two environmentally relevant concentrations of As, including the highest previously allowed by Brazilian legislation (50 microg As/l). A control group was kept in saline water (10 per thousand) without added metal. It was observed that: (1) a peak concentration of lipid peroxide was registered after 2 days of exposure to 50 microg As/l (61+/-3.2 nmol CHP/g wet weight) compared to the control group (43+/-4.5 nmol CHP/g wet weight), together with a lowering of the activity of the antioxidant enzyme catalase (-47 and -48%, at 50 or 500 microg As/l respectively) and a higher superoxide dismutase activity (+305% at 50 microg As/l with respect to the control group); (2) a lower conjugation capacity through glutathione-S-transferase activity was observed after 7 days of exposure to 50 microg As/l (-48% compared to the control group); (3) a significant increase in As concentration was verified after 1 week of exposure to both As concentrations (50 and 500 microg/l); (4) worms exposed to As showed a limited accumulation of related methylated As species and the levels of non-toxic As species like arsenobetaine (AsB) and arsenocholine (AsC) remained unchanged during the exposure period when compared with the controls. Overall, it can be concluded that As interfered in the antioxidant defense system of L. acuta, even at low concentrations (50 microg/l) that Brazilian legislation previously considered safe. The fact that worms exposed to As showed high levels of methylated As species indicates the methylation capability of L. acuta, although the high levels of inorganic As suggest that not all the administered As(III) (as As(2)O(3)) is completely removed or biotransformed after 7 days of exposure.     

Radioactivity in the environment around past radium and uranium mining sites of Portugal

Measurements of ambient radiation doses and determination of radionuclide concentrations in mining waste and soils were performed in 60 areas of former radium and uranium mining. In several places, mining waste and low-grade uranium ore left on the surface contain radioactivity above regional background. Most of the former mining sites present no enhanced radionuclide concentrations. However, in the mining facilities where the radioactive ore was chemically extracted, mill tailings contain materials with elevated levels of radioactivity, up to 200 times the levels in unaffected soils of the region. Mud from neutralization ponds used to treat acid mine waters contains also elevated radionuclide concentrations. Furthermore, depending on the type of waste, the radioelement composition varies. Environmental rehabilitation measures shall take these differences into account in order to prevent in the long term the radioactive contamination of agriculture soils and water resources, and to ensure adequate radiological protection to the public and to the environment.     

Molecular Detection of Adenoviruses in Lakes and Rivers of Goiânia,Goiás,Brazil

Adenoviruses are a highly important public health issue, since they are among the most persistent and ubiquitous viruses present in water and associated with a variety of clinical manifestations. The aim of this study was to use molecular techniques for the detection of adenovirus in public and recreational water supplies in Goiania, Brazil. From December 2007 to November 2008, 54 water samples were collected in 5 different sites in 2 lakes and 2 rivers of the city. The samples were filtered in a positively charged nylon membrane, and the DNA was extracted using the phenol–chloroform–isoamyl alcohol method. Semi-nested PCR was used to detect adenovirus DNA, and sequence analysis of the semi-nested PCR products was performed to identify the recovered viruses. Adenovirus DNA was detected in 43% (24 of 54) of samples collected. Considering all examined sites, MP1 presented the highest occurrence of adenovirus (6 positive from 10 collected samples), followed by MP2 (3 positive from 6 collected samples), JL (10 positive from 21 collected samples), VB (3 positive from 9 collected samples), and BB (2 positive from 8 collected samples), respectively. The methodology employed proved to be feasible, fast, low-cost, and suitable to be used as screening approach on adenovirus detection in water for public sanitation companies.     

Parental diets determine the embryonic fatty acid profile of the tropical nudibranch Aeolidiella stephanieae: the effect of eating bleached anemones

Aeolidiella stephanieae is a stenophagous tropical nudibranch that feeds exclusively on glass anemones of the genus Aiptasia. These sea anemones usually harbour endosymbiotic photosynthetic dinoflagellates that contribute to the nutrition of their host by providing photosynthetates, such as fatty acids (FA). The present work determined the effect of parental diets on the FA profile of A. stephanieae embryos by feeding breeding pairs of this nudibranch with either symbiotic or aposymbiotic A. pallida. Contrasting FA profiles, namely in the levels of palmitic acid (16:0) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), were recorded for both parental diets and egg masses produced by nudibranchs eating either symbiotic or aposymbiotic A. pallida. Noteworthy effects of parental dietary FAs on egg masses were also observed, particularly for DHA, which is mainly synthetized by the endosymbionts of A. pallida. Additionally, the present study also highlights how bleaching events may promote cascading effects on the nutrition of marine species with a stenophagous diet, such as A. stephanieae.     

Deviations from predictions of the metabolic theory of ecology can be explained by violations of assumptions

The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) is based on models derived from the first principles of thermodynamics and biochemical kinetics. The MTE predicts that the relationship between temperature and species richness of ectotherms should show a specific slope. Testing the validity of this model, however, depends on whether empirical data do not violate assumptions and are obtained within contour conditions. When dealing with richness gradients, the MTE must be empirically tested only for ectothermic organisms at high organization levels and when their body size as well as abundance does not vary with temperature gradients. Here we evaluate whether the magnitude of the deviations in slope expected from the MTE to empirical data for New World amphibians is due to the violations of model assumptions and to lack of generality due to restricting contour conditions. We found that the MTE correctly predicted biodiversity patterns only at higher levels of organization and when assumptions of the basic model were not violated. Approximately 60% of the deviations from the MTE-predicted slope across amphibian families were due to violations of the model assumptions. The hypothesis that richness patterns are a function of environmental temperature is too restrictive and does not take complex environmental and ecological processes into account. However, our results suggest that it may be possible to obtain multiple derivations of the MTE equation if idiosyncrasies in spatial and biological/ecological issues that are essential to understanding biodiversity patterns are considered.     

Providing a common diet to different marine decapods does not standardize the fatty acid profiles of their larvae: a warning sign for experimentation using invertebrate larvae produced in captivity

Larval decapods are commonly produced in captivity and employed in experiments to evaluate interspecific physiological and biochemical differences. Currently, it is still unknown if different decapod species provided a common diet and exposed to identical abiotic conditions produce newly hatched larvae (NHL) with similar fatty acid (FA) profiles. This study analyzed the FA composition of NHL from five marine shrimp species (Lysmata amboinensis, L. boggessi, L. debelius, L. seticaudata and Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) fed a common diet and stocked at constant temperature. FA profiles of NHL differed significantly within and among genera. NHL from species unable to molt from zoea I to zoea II in the absence of food (L. amboinensis, L. debelius and R. durbanensis) displayed the lowest FA contents. Researchers must be aware that providing a common diet to different species, even if closely related, may not standardize the FA profile of NHL produced in captivity.     

Some of the challenges in implementing Education for Sustainable Development: perspectives from Brazilian engineering students

This article aims to analyse some of the main challenges evidenced in the insertion of sustainability in engineering courses, according to the view from a sample of Brazilian students. Through a systematic literature review, a set of 10 challenges were structured to base the research instrument (questionnaire). These challenges were evaluated by 91 engineering students who participate in sustainable action programs promoted by Enactus Brazil. The collected data were analysed in terms of the averages assigned and via the multi-criteria decision technique TOPSIS, which allowed ranking the challenges. The averages were higher than 5.0 on the scale used, indicating that the students notice the existence of the challenges in the courses in which they are enrolled. The ranking via TOPSIS presented the most evident challenges: ‘Sustainable issues debated only in specific disciplines in a limited extent’; ‘Difficulty to integrate disciplines for the broad teaching of sustainability’; ‘Lack of practical and real examples of how sustainability can be embedded in the specific context of the course’; and ‘Activities and examples presented focus exclusively on environmental issues’. The results presented here may be useful for course coordinators to improve their curriculum; educators to enrich their disciplines from the findings reported here; and researchers interested in the subject can use these findings as a starting point for proposing new teaching techniques. No similar publications were found in the literature, which indicates its originality and contribution to the knowledge base.     

Shipboard bilge water treatment by electrocoagulation powered by microbial fuel cells

Reveals the synergy between microbial fuel cells and electrocoagulation. Demonstrates MFC-ECC shipboard wastewater treatment is advantageous. MFC-ECC integration enables energy neutral bilge water treatment. Ships generate large amounts of wastewater including oily bilge water, blackwater and greywater. Traditionally they are treated separately with high energy consumption. In this study we demonstrate the feasibility that these waste streams can be treated using an integrated electrocoagulation cell (ECC) and microbial fuel cell (MFC) process, which not only synergized the contaminants removal but also accomplished energy neutrality by directly powering EC with MFC electricity. Results showed that MFC stack powered ECC removed 93% of oily organics, which is comparable to the performance of an external DC voltage powered ECC. In the meantime, more than 80% of COD was removed from MFCs when fed with either acetate or municipal wastewater. Moreover, the ECC electrode area and distance showed notable effects on current generation and contaminants removal, and further studies should focus on operation optimization to enhance treatment efficiency.