Microbial activity in an acid resin deposit: biodegradation potential and ecotoxicology in an extremely acidic hydrocarbon contamination

Acid resins are residues produced in a recycling process for used oils that was in use in the forties and fifties of the last century. The resin-like material is highly contaminated with mineral oil hydrocarbons, extremely acidic and co-contaminated with substituted and aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals. To determine the potential for microbial biodegradation the acid resin deposit and its surroundings were screened for microbial activity by soil respiration measurements. No microbial activity was found in the core deposit. However, biodegradation of hydrocarbons was possible in zones with a lower degree of contamination surrounding the deposit. An extreme acidophilic microbial community was detected close to the core deposit. With a simple ecotoxicological approach it could be shown that the pure acid resin that formed the major part of the core deposit, was toxic to the indigenous microflora due to its extremely low pH of 0-1.     

Adult opinions about the age at which children can be left home alone, bathe alone, or bike alone: Second Injury Control and Risk Survey (ICARIS-2)

ProblemThis study describes adult opinions about child supervision during various activities.MethodsData come from a survey of U.S. adults. Respondents were asked the minimum age a child could safely: stay home alone; bathe alone; or ride a bike alone. Respondents with children were asked if their child had ever been allowed to: play outside alone; play in a room at home for more than 10 minutes alone; bathe with another child; or bathe alone.ResultsThe mean age that adults believed a child could be home alone was 13.0 years (95% CI = 12.9-13.1), bathe alone was 7.5 years (95% CI = 7.4-7.6), or bike alone was 10.1 years (95% CI = 10.0-10.3). There were significant differences by income, education, and race.DiscussionAssessing adult's understanding of the appropriate age for independent action helps set a context for providing guidance on parental supervision. Guidelines for parents should acknowledge social norms and child development stages.Impact on IndustryKnowledge of social norms can help guide injury prevention messages for parents.     

The need to improve information on road user type in National Vital Statistics System mortality data

Objectives: Both the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) can be used to examine motor vehicle crash (MVC) deaths. These 2 data systems operate independently, using different methods to collect and code information about the type of vehicle (e.g., car, truck, bus) and road user (e.g., occupant, motorcyclist, pedestrian) involved in an MVC. A substantial proportion of MVC deaths in NVSS are coded as “unspecified” road user, which reduces the utility of the NVSS data for describing burden and identifying prevention measures. This study aimed to describe characteristics of unspecified road user deaths in NVSS to further our understanding of how these groups may be similar to occupant road user deaths.

Methods: Using data from 1999 to 2015, we compared NVSS and FARS MVC death counts by road user type, overall and by age group, gender, and year. In addition, we examined factors associated with the categorization of an MVC death as unspecified road user such as state of residence of decedent, type of medical death investigation system, and place of death.

Results: The number of MVC occupant deaths in NVSS was smaller than that in FARS in each year and the number of unspecified road user deaths in NVSS was greater than that in FARS. The sum of the number of occupant and unspecified road user deaths in NVSS, however, was approximately equal to the number of FARS occupant deaths. Age group and gender distributions were roughly equivalent for NVSS and FARS occupants and NVSS unspecified road users. Within NVSS, the number of MVC deaths listed as unspecified road user varied across states and over time. Other categories of road users (motorcyclists, pedal cyclists, and pedestrians) were consistent when comparing NVSS and FARS.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the unspecified road user MVC deaths in NVSS look similar to those of MVC occupants according to selected characteristics. Additional study is needed to identify documentation and reporting challenges in individual states and over time and to identify opportunities for improvement in the coding of road user type in NVSS.     

Glyphosate application increased catabolic activity of gram-negative bacteria but impaired soil fungal community

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Glyphosate is a non-selective organophosphate herbicide that is widely used in agriculture, but its effects on soil microbial communities are highly...     

Learning from local knowledge: modeling the pastoral-nomadic range management of the Himba, Namibia.

It is widely accepted that successful grazing management strategies in semiarid ecosystems need to be adapted to the highly temporal and spatially heterogeneous forage production. Nevertheless, a full understanding of the key factors and processes for sustainable adaptive management has yet to be reached. The investigation of existing, successful range management systems by simulation models may help to derive general understanding and basic principles. The semi-nomadic Himba in northern Namibia applied a sophisticated management system until the mid-1990s which combined season-dependent pasture use (resulting in rainy-season pastures and dry-season pastures), preservation of reserves for drought and sanctions for rule breaking. A stochastic ecological simulation model has been developed here which represents the main aspects of this management system. With this model we analyze (1) which components of the traditional Himba strategy are essential for sustainability and (2) what happens to the state of the rangeland system under socioeconomic changes. This study shows that temporally and spatially heterogeneous pasture use yields higher productivity and quality of a pasture area than the pressure of homogeneous permanent grazing. Two aspects are of importance: (1) intra-annual heterogeneous use (resting of the dry-season pastures during the rainy season) and (2) interannual heterogeneous use (spatial extension of grazing in years of drought). This management system leads to an effective build-up and use of a buffer in the system: the reserve biomass (the non-photosynthetic reserve organs of the plants), an indicator for grazing and management history. Analyzing purchase as one form of socioeconomic change, we demonstrate that easier market access to purchase livestock may lead to a decline in vegetation quality. However, cattle production increases as long as rest periods on parts of the pasture during the rainy season are granted. Methodologically, we emphasize that simulation models offer an excellent framework for analyzing and depicting basic principles in sustainable range management derived from local knowledge. They provide the opportunity of testing whether these basic principles are also valid under different ecological and socioeconomic settings.     

Öko-Audit eines Bio-Agrar-Betriebes

Environmental impacts of a farm which is managed in accordance with ecological criteria is assessed. To this end the ecoaudit ordinance of the European Union 1836/93/EWG is used as guiding principle. This article focuses on methods and results of the impact assessment (chapter 2, 3) and the recommendations derived from that (chapter 4). Before that, objectives of investigation (chapter 1.1), key topics of the assessment ordinance are summarised (chapter 1.2), and finally the farm and the main fields of investigation are described (chapter 1.3). The density of complex hedge rows, as one from 21 assessment criteria, exceeds the limit of tolerance. The investigation underlines the need for further methodological harmonisation.     

Male sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) acoustics in a high-latitude habitat: implications for echolocation and communication

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are deep-diving predators foraging in meso- and bathypelagic ecosystems off the continental shelves. To investigate the ecophysiological and communicative function of various click types from male sperm whales in a high-latitude habitat, we deployed a large-aperture array of calibrated hydrophones off northern Norway (N69, E15). Data show that sperm whales in this habitat produce three click types: usual clicks, creak clicks and, occasionally, slow clicks. Usual clicks and creak clicks exhibit short duration, profound directionality and a frequency content suited for echolocation on meso- and bathypelagic fish and squids. The acoustic properties and low repetition rate of usual clicks are suited for long-range echolocation, whereas creak clicks have properties equivalent to signals in buzzes, the terminating pulse trains known from echolocating bats during prey capture. From these source parameters and the high acoustic activity during foraging dives, it is concluded that echolocation is an important sensory cue in prey location. Sound pressure levels of creak clicks and usual clicks measured off the acoustic axis suggest that sperm whales may be subjected to eavesdropping by conspecifics, thereby conveying information about food aggregations at estimated ranges of 6 km for creak clicks and 16 km for usual clicks. Slow clicks exhibit low directionality, low-frequency emphasis and a reduced repetition rate, suggesting that this click type is more suited for communication than for echolocation. Slow clicks can be detected by submerged conspecifics at ranges up to 60 km. Thus, sperm whales producing slow clicks may represent an odontocete species that utilizes long-range sound communication.     

Female choice on male quantitative traits in lizards — why is it so rare?

Female choice on the basis of male traits has been described in an array of taxa but has rarely been demonstrated in reptiles. In the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), and possibly in other non-territorial reptiles, a male's contribution to a female's fitness is restricted to his genes. In order to choose males of high genetic quality, females have to trade the fitness gain against the costs of active choice. In a Swedish population of sand lizards, long-lived males sired offspring with higher embryonic survival compared to offspring sired by short-lived males. In spite of this female sand lizards did not mate selectively with older and/or larger males. There appeared to be mo reliable cues to male longevity; age-specific male body size was highly variable. Furthermore, estimates of male nuptial coloration did not covary with ectoparasite load and, hence, females cannot use male coloration as a cue to heritable resistance to pathogenic parasite effects. When cues to male genetic quality are poor, or inaccurate, and males make no parental investment, we predict that female choice will be rare. Sand lizard females mating with many partners lay clutches with higher hatching success. Thus, females may obtain good genes for their young by multiple mating, thereby avoiding costs associated with mate choice.     

Comparison of biodegradation of surfactants in soils and sludge-soil mixtures by use of 14C-labelled compounds and automated respirometry

The biodegradability of dodecyl benzene sulphonate (LAS), nonylphenol-di-ethoxylate (NP2EO) and tridecyl-tetra-ethoxylate (LAE) in soil was examined by use of 14C experiments at two concentrations (10 and 400 mg/kg). Increasing the concentration of test chemical from 10 to 400 mg/kg resulted in a decrease in the relative maximum mineralization rate and an increase in the estimated lag times of a factor of approximately 3.5. In sludge-amended soil, the highest expected environmental concentration (just after sludge application) will be around 10 mg/kg for linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS), while the concentration of NP2EO and linear alcohol ethoxylates (LAE) will be much lower. However, when using a respirometric method it is necessary to use a higher concentration of test substance in order to detect biodegradation. In our experiment, amendment with anaerobically digested sludge resulted in a decrease in the mineralization of LAS, NP2EO and LAE for all soils. Respirometric experiments were carried out at 400 mg/kg and could be used for estimation of biodegradation potential of LAS, NP2EO and LAE in soil and sludge-amended soil. For LAS, the results obtained from the respirometric experiments were similar to the results obtained in the 14C experiments, whereas NP2EO and LAE showed a faster degradation in the respirometric experiments.