The “Seili-index” for the Prediction of Chlorophyll-α Levels in the Archipelago Sea of the northern Baltic Sea,southwest Finland

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - To build a forecasting tool for the state of eutrophication in the Archipelago Sea, we fitted a Generalized Additive Mixed Model (GAMM) to marine...     

Anaerobic transformation of four abundant organochlorine pesticide residues (B8-1413, B9-1679, oxychlordane,p,p‵-DDE) in extracts of Antarctic skua eggs by the isolated bacterium Sulfurospirillum multivorans

Residues of halogenated pollutants bioaccumulated in eggs of the south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki) from the Antarctic were extracted, purified, and fractionated. The target fraction which contained the bulk of the chloropesticides was concentrated and incubated with cell suspensions of the isolated bacterium Sulfurospirillum multivorans (formerly Dehalospirillum multivorans). S. multivorans was previously identified as a good anoxic transformer of several halogenated compounds. The compounds of technical toxaphene 2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8,8,10,10-octachlorobornane (B8-1413, also known as P-26) and 2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8,8,9,10,10-nonachlorobornane (B9-1679, also known as P-50) as well as 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (p,p′-DDE) and 1-exo,2-exo,4,5,6,7,8,8-octachloro-2,3-exo-epoxy-3a,4,7,7a-tetrahydro-4,7-methanoindene (oxychlordane) were present at a sufficiently high concentration and hence useful for studying the anaerobic transformation by the bacterium. When treated with S. multivorans, B8-1413 and B9-1679 were almost quantitatively transformed within 1 day. For B9-1679, the major metabolite was found to be 2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8,9,10-heptachlorobornane (B7-1001). Compared to the toxaphenes, transformation of oxychlordane and p,p′-DDE was significantly slower. Even after seven days, about 10% of the initial pool was detected in the extracts. 1-chloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (p,p′-DDMU) was identified as a transformation product of p,p′-DDE. The four compounds in this study comprise some of the most persistent chloropesticide residues found in marine birds. In case there is sufficient transformation before they reach the top predators, the bioaccumulative potential can be significantly reduced.     

Impact of ocean warming on the early ontogeny of cephalopods: a metabolic approach

The impact of a realistic warming scenario on the metabolic physiology of early cephalopod (squid Loligo vulgaris and cuttlefish Sepia officinalis) life stages was investigated. During exposure to the warming conditions (19 °C for the western coast of Portugal in 2100), the increase in oxygen consumption rates throughout embryogenesis was much steeper in squid (28-fold increase) than in cuttlefish (11-fold increase). The elevated catabolic activity–accelerated oxygen depletion within egg capsules, which exacerbated metabolic suppression toward the end of embryogenesis. Squid late-stage embryos appear to be more impacted by warming via metabolic suppression than cuttlefish embryos. At all temperature scenarios, the transition from encapsulated embryos to planktonic paralarvae implied metabolic increments higher than 100 %. Contrary to the nektobenthic strategy of cuttlefish newborns, the planktonic squid paralarvae rely predominantly on pulsed jet locomotion that dramatically increases their energy requirements. In the future, hatchlings will require more food per unit body size and, thus, feeding intake success will be crucial, especially for squid with high metabolic rates and low levels of metabolic reserves.     

Parental care and mate attraction in the Florida flagfish, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Jordanella floridae</Emphasis>

Theory suggests that there is a trade-off between mate attraction and investment in parental care. Yet, under some circumstances, such as in species with uniparental male care, it is conceivable that males who provide more care also attract more females, and hence avoid this cost. We tested these two alternative hypotheses using the Florida flagfish, Jordanella floridae, which is a highly sexually dimorphic species with male parental care. We predicted that if components of male care behavior primarily serve offspring survival, they should display these behaviors more in the presence of eggs than without eggs. We also predicted that males should show a trade-off between display, and other activities directed to other fish, and care behaviors. Alternatively, if care has a positive effect on mating success, we expected males to show care even in the absence of eggs, and that they should display more care in the presence of females. We found that care behavior mostly depended on the presence of eggs, males increased care when they guarded eggs, and there was a negative relationship between rates of interaction and care behavior. Most care was exhibited in the absence of other fish while the presence of males and females both had a negative effect on care behavior. There was no difference in care behavior with males or females present. Only nest-visitation rates were highest in the presence of females, suggesting that this behavior is used as part of the courtship. These results support the idea that male care in this species is primarily influenced by natural selection. Males did, however, display fanning and other egg-directed behaviors even in the absence of eggs. The level of these behaviors was constant and independent of display behavior. Hence, it seems that care may be used in mate attraction before the male has received his first clutches.     

The environmental geochemical baseline,background and sources of metal and metalloids present in urban,peri-urban and rural soils in the O´Higgins region,Chile

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The importance of environmental geochemistry baseline in soils of O´Higgins Region, Chile, since it hosts in its eastern area one of the major Cu-Mo...     

Operationalizing ecosystem service bundles for strategic sustainability planning: A participatory approach

The ecosystem service concept is recognized as a useful tool to support sustainability in decision-making. In this study, we collaborated with actors in the Helge å catchment, southern Sweden, in an iterative participatory ecosystem service assessment. Through workshops and interviews, we jointly decided which ecosystem services to assess and indicators to use in order to achieve a sense of ownership and a higher legitimacy of the assessment. Subsequently, we explored the landscape-level interactions between the 15 assessed services, and found that the area can be described using three distinct ecosystem service bundles. The iterative, participatory process strengthened our analysis and created a shared understanding and overview of the multifunctional landscape around Helge å among participants. Importantly, this allowed for the generated knowledge to impact local strategic sustainability planning. With this study, we illustrate how similar processes can support local decision-making for a more sustainable future.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01378-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Evaluation of reproductive safety of beta-sitosterol on the American mink (Neovison vison)

beta-Sitosterol is a weakly estrogenic phytosterol used extensively in functional foods to lower elevated serum cholesterol concentrations due to its inhibitory action on intestinal cholesterol absorption. It caused previously decreased sex steroid concentrations in fish and lowered sperm counts in rats. In the American mink (Neovison vison), litter size increased slightly due to dietary beta-sitosterol supplement. The aim of the present experiment was to conduct a dose-response study on the effects of beta-sitosterol on the reproduction of the American mink. Juvenile male and female mink (n=480) were exposed to 0, 5, 10 or 50 mg of peroral beta-sitosterol kg(-1)d(-1) for 10 months. After 3 months of exposure in November, 15 males per group were sacrificed and general biochemical variables reflecting overall health were determined. The beta-sitosterol-treated male mink had increased absolute and relative masses of intraabdominal fat and higher blood hemoglobin and serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. In spring, the top-rated male mink were mated with multiple females within each study group and reproductive success was assessed. No differences in the reproductive performance of the males (10-11 per group) or females (47-50 per group) could be detected in the exposed groups and the kits of all groups developed in a similar manner. The results suggest that dietary beta-sitosterol presents no significant risk to mammalian fertility.     

Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs

It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web structure, function, and evolution. Still, the general distribution of consumer-'resource body-size ratios in real ecosystems, and whether they vary systematically among habitats or broad taxonomic groups, is poorly understood. Using a unique global database on consumer and resource body sizes, we show that the mean body-size ratios of aquatic herbivorous and detritivorous consumers are several orders of magnitude larger than those of carnivorous predators. Carnivorous predator-prey body-size ratios vary across different habitats and predator and prey types (invertebrates, ectotherm, and endotherm vertebrates). Predator-prey body-size ratios are on average significantly higher (1) in freshwater habitats than in marine or terrestrial habitats, (2) for vertebrate than for invertebrate predators, and (3) for invertebrate than for ectotherm vertebrate prey. If recent studies that relate body-size ratios to interaction strengths are general, our results suggest that mean consumer-resource interaction strengths may vary systematically across different habitat categories and consumer types.