Temperature and salinity: two climate change stressors affecting early development of the New Zealand sea urchin Evechinus chloroticus

Temperature and salinity are important environmental factors affecting the normal functioning of marine animals, particularly animals such as sea urchins living in shallow waters and tide pools. Here, we evaluated the effect of different combinations of temperature and salinity on early embryos of the endemic New Zealand sea urchin Evechinus chloroticus. Animals were collected at Matheson’s Bay (36º18′17′′S; 174º47′51′′E) in north-eastern New Zealand in February 2013. Embryos were exposed to five salinities (29, 31, 34, 35 and 37 ppt) and two temperatures (18 and 21 °C) during the first 24 h of development. Low salinity (29 ppt) affected all parameters (fertilization, development rate, gastrulation and normal development), with ca. 50 % of embryos surviving at 29 ppt, whereas seawater temperature only affected development rate and gastrulation. An increase in temperature from 18 to 21 °C minimized the negative effect of low salinity (≤31 ppt) on development rate and gastrulation of E. chloroticus. Overall, the results of this study suggest that early embryos of E. chloroticus have developmental plasticity to withstand reductions in salinity up to 29 ppt; however, it is still unknown whether the surviving embryos will be able to complete larval development at low salinities, particularly whether the embryos and larvae are carried into extreme environments such as estuaries where salinity is even lower. Multistressor studies are very important for climate change research as multiple environmental factors will act together in the wild, having major consequences for development and recruitment of marine invertebrates.     

ATR-FTIR characterization of organic functional groups and inorganic ions in ambient aerosols at a rural site

An Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopic method was used to measure organic functional groups and inorganic ions at Tonto National Monument (TNM), an Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) sampling site in a rural area near Phoenix, Arizona. Functional groups and ions from common aerosol compound classes such as aliphatic and aromatic CH, methylene, methyl, aldehydes/ketones, carboxylic acids, ammonium sulfate and nitrate as well as functional groups from difficult to measure compound classes such as esters/lactones, acid anhydrides, carbohydrate hydroxyl and ethers, amino acids, and amines were quantified. On average, ～33% of the PM_1.0 mass was composed of organic aerosol. The average (standard deviation) composition of the organic aerosol at TNM was 34% (6%) biogenic functional groups, 21% (5%) oxygenated functional groups, 28% (7%) aliphatic hydrocarbon functional groups (aliphatic CH, methylene and methyl) and 17% (1%) aromatic hydrocarbon functional groups. Compositional analysis, functional group correlations, and back trajectories were used to identify three types of events with source signatures: primary biogenic-influenced, urban-influenced, and regional background. The biogenic-influenced event had high concentrations of amino acids and carbohydrate hydroxyl and ether, as well as aliphatic CH and aromatic CH functional groups and qualitatively high levels of silicate. The urban-influenced events had back trajectories traveling directly from the Phoenix area and high concentrations of hydrocarbons, oxygenated functional groups, and inorganic ions. This aerosol characterization suggests that both primary emissions in Phoenix and secondary formation of aerosols from Phoenix emissions had a major impact on the aerosol composition and concentration at TNM. The regional background source had low concentrations of all functional groups, but had higher concentrations of biogenic functional groups than the urban source.     

Evaluation of alternative approaches for screening contaminated sediments and soils for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans

Traditional high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analysis for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) can be time consuming and expensive. Consequently, alternative methods are of great interest to regulatory agencies and others characterizing contaminated sites. One factor that hinders acceptance of alternative methods is a lack of performance information that assesses the alternative method's impacts on analytical results. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Monitoring and Measurement Technologies Program (EPA SITE MMT) encourages the development and implementation of innovative and alternative monitoring methods by providing performance information on site characterization technologies. This paper presents a comparison of the results obtained from laboratory-based alternative approaches for screening sediment and soil samples for dioxin toxicity equivalents (TEQ(D/F)) to results obtained using traditional HRMS. The laboratory-based approaches included modifying the traditional HRMS analysis to make it more cost-effective (alternate 1613B), analyzing extracts that had been prepared for HRMS using low resolution mass spectrometry, and determining total organic carbon (TOC) content as an indicator of PCDD/F content. These comparisons demonstrated that TEQ(D/F) values generated using toxicity equivalency factors proposed by the World Health Organization in 1998 applied to alternate 1613B and LRMS analyses have a strong linear correlation to the TEQ(D/F) values derived in the same fashion from traditional HRMS analysis. These results would have placed >90% of the samples within the same concentration intervals using ranges of <0.05, 0.05-0.50, 0.50-5, and >5ng TEQ/g. Natural log transformed data for TOC had significantly weaker correlation to TEQ(D/F), indicating that TOC is not a reliable indicator of TEQ(D/F) concentrations.     

Testing the capacity of clothing to act as a vector for non-native seed in protected areas

Although humans are a major mechanism for short and long distance seed dispersal, there is limited research testing clothing as a vector. The effect of different types of material (sports vs hiking socks), or different items of clothing (boots, socks, laces vs legs) or the same item (socks) worn in different places on seed composition were assessed in Kosciuszko National Park, Australia. Data was analyzed using Repeated Measures ANOVA, independent and paired t-tests, Multi-dimensional Scaling Ordinations and Analysis of Similarity. A total of 24,776 seeds from 70 taxa were collected from the 207 pieces of clothing sampled, with seed identified from 31 native and 19 non-native species. Socks worn off-track collected more native seeds while those worn on roadsides collected more non-native seeds. Sports socks collected a greater diversity of seeds and more native seeds than hiking socks. Boots, uncovered socks and laces collect more seeds than covered socks and laces, resulting in 17% fewer seeds collected when wearing trousers. With seeds from over 179 species (134 recognized weeds) collected on clothing in this, and nine other studies, it is clear that clothing contributes to unintended human mediated seed dispersal, including for many invasive species.     

Evaluating the Illinois Stream Valley Segment Model as an Effective Management Tool

Stream habitat assessments are conducted to evaluate biological potential, determine anthropogenic impacts, and guide restoration projects. Utilizing these procedures, managers must first select a representative stream reach, which is typically selected based on several criteria. To develop a consistent and unbiased procedure for choosing sampling locations, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Natural History Survey have proposed a technique by which watersheds are divided into homogeneous stream segments called valley segments. Valley segments are determined by GIS parameters including surficial geology, predicted flow, slope, and drainage area. To date, no research has been conducted to determine if the stream habitat within a valley segment is homogeneous and if different valley segments have varying habitat variables. Two abutting valley segments were randomly selected within 13 streams in the Embarras River watershed, located in east-central Illinois. One hundred meter reaches were randomly selected within each valley segment, and a transect method was used to quantify habitat characteristics of the stream channel. Habitat variables for each stream were combined through a principal components analysis (PCA) to measure environmental variation between abutting valley segments. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed on PCA axes 1–3. The majority of abutting valley segments were significantly different from each other indicating that habitat variability within each valley segment was less than variability between valley segments (5.37 ≤ F ≤ 245.13; P ≤ 0.002). This comparison supports the use of the valley segment model as an effective management tool for identifying representative sampling locations and extrapolating reach-specific information.     

Urban–rural differences in atmospheric mercury speciation

Measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), particulate mercury (Hg_p), and reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) were concurrently recorded at an urban site in Detroit and a rural site in Dexter, both in Michigan for the calendar year 2004. Their average concentrations (±standard deviation) for the urban area were 2.5 ± 1.4 ng m^?3, 18.1 ± 61.0 pg m^?3, and 15.5 ± 54.9 pg m^?3, respectively, while their rural counterparts were 1.6 ± 0.6 ng m^?3, 6.1 ± 5.5 pg m^?3, and 3.8 ± 6.6 pg m^?3, respectively. The medians of urban-to-rural ratios of Hg concentrations indicate approximately 1-fold, 2-fold, and 3-fold gradients between Detroit and Dexter for GEM, Hg_p, and RGM, respectively. The urban–rural differences in Hg also varied considerably on different temporal scales and with wind flow patterns, which was most evident in RGM. Our results show that while Hg at both sites was impacted by regional sources, meteorological conditions, and photochemical transformations, the extent of variations in the observed urban-to-rural gradients, particularly in RGM, cannot be fully accounted for by these processes. Both analyses of the annual data and case studies indicate that the more variable and episodic nature of Hg, particularly RGM, seen in Detroit compared with Dexter, was the result of direct impact from local anthropogenic sources.     

Contaminant exposure in outmigrant juvenile salmon from Pacific Northwest estuaries of the United States

To better understand the dynamics of contaminant uptake in outmigrant juvenile salmon in the Pacific Northwest, concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDTs, polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides were measured in tissues and prey of juvenile chinook and coho salmon from several estuaries and hatcheries in the US Pacific Northwest. PCBs, DDTs, and PAHs were found in tissues (whole bodies or bile) and stomach contents of chinook and coho salmon sampled from all estuaries, as well as in chinook salmon from hatcheries. Organochlorine pesticides were detected less frequently. Of the two species sampled, chinook salmon had the highest whole body contaminant concentrations, typically 2--5 times higher than coho salmon from the same sites. In comparison to estuarine chinook salmon, body burdens of PCBs and DDTs in hatchery chinook were relatively high, in part because of the high lipid content of the hatchery fish. Concentrations of PCBs were highest in chinook salmon from the Duwamish Estuary, the Columbia River and Yaquina Bay, exceeding the NOAA Fisheries' estimated threshold for adverse health effects of 2400 ng/g lipid. Concentrations of DDTs were especially high in juvenile chinook salmon from the Columbia River and Nisqually Estuary; concentrations of PAH metabolites in bile were highest in chinook salmon from the Duwamish Estuary and Grays Harbor. Juvenile chinook salmon are likely absorbing some contaminants during estuarine residence through their prey, as PCBs, PAHs, and DDTs were consistently present in stomach contents, at concentrations significantly correlated with contaminant body burdens in fish from the same sites.