Quantification of Polymerisation Processes During The Oxidative Degradation of 14C-Labelled Chlorophenols

In experiments employing the lignocellulose-decaying basidiomycetes Trametes versicolor and Stropharia rugosoannulata degrading uniformly¹⁴C-labelled 2,4-dichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol, acombination of size exclusion chromatography (SEC),fractionation, and -scintillation counting wasapplied to quantify polymerisation products formed duringchlorophenol degradation. Time-dependent mass balances weregenerated by analysis of ¹⁴C in polymerisation products,CO₂, as well as monomer non-polar and polar metabolites.Approximately 30% of the chlorophenols were found to bepolymerised. A major fraction of the polymerised productscorresponded to a molecular weight range from 0.24 – 40 kDa.Only a minor fraction could be attributed to a molecularweight >40 kDa. This method proved to be useful inquantification of polymerisation products and kinetics of thepolymerisation processes, whereas UV/Vis detection ofpolymerisation products separated by SEC led to false positiveresults. The SEC-¹⁴C method could also be applied forother complex processes where polymerisation ordepolymerisation occurs (humification, degradation oflignocellulose, formation of bound residues from xenobioticssuch as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) and where spectrophotometric determinationsare difficult or impossible.     

A new type of insect infrared organ of low thermal mass

The Australian beetle Acanthocnemus nigricans is attracted by forest fires and has a pair of complex infrared (IR) receptor organs on the first thoracic segment. Each organ consists of a tiny sensory disc (diameter 120-130 µm) which serves as an absorbing structure for IR radiation. The disc is arranged above an air-filled cavity which is located just anteriorly to the coxae of the prothoracic legs. Inside the disc, about 30 multipolar thermoreceptors (warmth receptors) are tightly attached to the cuticle which is directed to the outside. The many dendrites of each multipolar neuron are tightly wrapped around the soma and contain a large number of mitochondria. Absorption of IR radiation by the disc causes an increase in temperature which is measured by the warmth receptors. Therefore, the IR receptors of A. nigricans can be classified as microbolometers with reduced thermal mass and in principle can be compared to the IR organs of pit vipers.     

5,000 year-old spermatozoa in Quaternary Ostracoda (Crustacea)

Fossil spermatozoa are recorded for the first time in freshwater ostracods (small bivalved crustaceans) from Holocene sediments at sites in the United Kingdom and Germany. Exceptional conditions at these sites have resulted in the preservation of chitinous "soft parts", including limbs, the remains of Zenker's Organs (sperm pumps that are part of the male reproductive apparatus in cypridoidean ostracods) and spermatozoa from eight different species. Comparisons are made with spermatozoa from living ostracods and the implications of these discoveries for evolutionary studies of reproductive modes are discussed.     

Quantifying vertical mixing in estuaries

Estuarine turbulence is notable in that both the dissipation rate and the buoyancy frequency extend to much higher values than in other natural environments. The high dissipation rates lead to a distinct inertial subrange in the velocity and scalar spectra, which can be exploited for quantifying the turbulence quantities. However, high buoyancy frequencies lead to small Ozmidov scales, which require high sampling rates and small spatial aperture to resolve the turbulent fluxes. A set of observations in a highly stratified estuary demonstrate the effectiveness of a vessel-mounted turbulence array for resolving turbulent processes, and for relating the turbulence to the forcing by the Reynolds-averaged flow. The observations focus on the ebb, when most of the buoyancy flux occurs. Three stages of mixing are observed: (1) intermittent and localized but intense shear instability during the early ebb; (2) continuous and relatively homogeneous shear-induced mixing during the mid-ebb, and weakly stratified, boundary-layer mixing during the late ebb. The mixing efficiency as quantified by the flux Richardson number Rf was frequently observed to be higher than the canonical value of 0.15 from Osborn (J Phys Oceanogr 10:83–89, 1980). The high efficiency may be linked to the temporal–spatial evolution of shear instabilities.     

Prediction of ecotoxicological behaviour of chemicals: Relationship between physico-chemical properties and bioaccumulation of organic chemicals in the mussel Mytilus edulis

The analysis presented in this paper shows that water solubility as well as the n-octanol/water partition coefficient are useful indicators of the tendency of organic chemicals to bioaccumulate. It is suggested that these physico-chemical data be used as screening test for organic chemical bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms, such as the mussel $\text{Mytilus edulis}$.