Distribution of the soft-bottom macroinfauna in an estuary of Southern Chile

In April 1981, a quantitative survey (20 stations) of the soft-bottom macroinfauna of the littoral and sublittoral was conducted in a Southern Chilean estuary. A principal component analysis rendered three groups of stations with different substrate conditions. A total of 16 775 animals was collected (40 taxa), with Oligochaeta, Polychaeta and Ostracoda representing 83% of the individuals. Most of the biomass was attributed to Bivalvia (43.7%) and Polychaeta (33.6%). Factor analysis using abundance data of the 21 most abundant taxa rendered three groups of stations in the Q-mode (a cluster analysis rendered 4) and three groups of taxa in the R-mode. One group mainly inhabited the sandy outlet area of the estuary where salinity was highest. Another group of organisms was mainly found in the upper zone of the estuary where salinity was low and the substrate was muddy. The third group was principally distributed in the central part of the estuary and spread from there either to the outlet area or to the upper zone. Some ungrouped taxa were distributed relatively homogeneously within the estuary. It was found that besides substrate properties salinity and turbulence also played an important role in the distribution of organisms in the Río Lingue Estuary.     

The Amazon between economy and ecology

The soils of the Amazon's rainforests, unlike soils in rainforests in other parts of the world, have very low productivity. Experiments have shown that the Amazon's timber productivity of 2–3 m³ per year per hectare is considerably below that achievable in Northern Europe. Sustainable agricultural development therefore can be expected to be very low. However, the mineral resources of the Amazon are very extensive and offer a way to develop the Amazon without destroying the ecology, provided that some limits are set on non-mining activities.     

The evolving structure of the European mining industry

A major restructuring of the mining industry has been going on since the early 1980s. Using 11 important minerals this paper analyses the changing pattern of control in the mining industry for European based mining companies. In general, European mining companies have increased their control over mineral production worldwide while North American based companies have shown a decline in control of production. Production of European state-owned mining companies has declined as a result of privatization.     

Contents of free amino acids in needles of Norway Spruce trees in relation to novel forest decline. Studies on trees from a site in the northern Black Forest

The free amino acid content in needles of Norway spruce trees (about 45-year-old) was determined by means of HPLC. The studied trees have been growing at a forestry site in the Black Forest which is characterized by a high impact of ozone and magnesium deficiency. Measurements were carried out on visibly healthy and on damaged trees on several dates during two vegetation periods and during the course of a day. The amino acids occurring at the highest concentrations were glutamate, arginine, aspartate, and glutamine. The typical seasonal changes in the content of free amino acids, with their minimum during summer, were disturbed in the needles of the damaged trees. Particularly in summer and autumn the damaged trees showed increased levels of total amino acids and of most single amino acids. During the course of a day, the needles of the damaged trees showed a reduced amplitude in diurnal variations with the absolute level almost always higher in comparison to that of the undamaged trees. The results suggest that a shift in protein turnover towards enhanced degradation has taken place.     

Lysosomen-ähnliche Kompartimente in Pflanzenzellen

The Science of Nature -     

Prenatal diagnosis and carrier detection in mucopolysaccharidosis type II by mutation analysis. A 47,xxy male heterozygous for a missense point mutation

Identification of iduronate-2-sulphatase (IDS) gene mutations in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II, Hunter syndrome) allows fast and reliable carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis. We describe here three cases of prenatal diagnosis by direct detection of the gene mutation. In addition to two affected male fetuses from two different families, a 47,XXY fetus carrying both the normal and the mutant allele was diagnosed in a third family. The latter pregnancy was carried to term and the child is obviously not affected by MPS II.