Anatomical and ultrastructural studies of chemical defence in the sponge Dysidea fragilis

The marine sponge Dysidea fragilis from El Mar Menor, a hypersaline coastal lagoon (Murcia, Spain), contains the furanosesquiterpenoid ent-furodysinin as the major secondary metabolite. D. fragilis emits a defensive white fluid when it is disturbed. Electron micrographs of this fluid revealed intact vesiculated cells together with other amorphous material. Dissociated cells are more rounded in shape but maintain the same ultrastructural features as cells observed in ultra-thin sections of the whole sponge. The defensive secretion is composed mainly of sponge cells with abundant light vesicles. Sometimes these light vesicles appear to open into the intercellular space; this correlates with surface blebs on these cells observed under scanning electron microscopy. The intracellular location of ent-furodysinin was confirmed by Erlich staining. In laboratory assays, we examined the role of ent-furodysinin as a feeding deterrent to generalist fish predators. It was isolated from D. fragilis and incorporated into a carrageenan-based artificial diet. The addition of ent-furodysinin to the artificial diet reduced feeding by the fish Thalassoma pavo. Similarly, fish did not feed on artificial diet above which defensive secretion of D. fragilis had been ejected with a small syringe. Received: 4 June 1997 / Accepted: 28 January 1998     

Birds and air traffic safety on Zagreb airport (Croatia)

One of the objectives of the new State of Croatia, as a Mediterranean country oriented towards tourism, is safety of its air traffic. The frequency of use of Zagreb airport is currently 688 flights, or about 20000 passengers a week. In 1996, research was carried out at the airport concerning air traffic safety with respect to the presence of birds on the airfield. Biological methods, in which birds were chased away by means of trained birds of prey, were used. For the Zagreb airport experiment nine birds involving three different species: Falco peregrinus, Accipiter gentilis and Falco cherrug were utilised. The results showed that the air traffic safety on Zagreb airport with regard to possible bird-plane strikes improved.Other bird clearing methods, applied over the 1987–1996 period also reduced bird-plane interferences but were noted to be less effective. With the biological, bird of prey method, 100% temporary clearance was achieved. Habitat modification, which involved removal from the airport vicinity of all factors attractive to the birds, only removed 20–30% of the birds, but this was of a more permanent nature. Use of fire-arms achieved a 80–90% temporary bird clearance. A combination of all three methods would appear to be most effective and measures for further monitoring for safe air traffic movement at Zagreb airport are proposed.     

基于传感器的职业安全健康在线监测系统初探

在安全生产总体形势逐步好转的情况下,中国职业病危害致病因素中粉尘和噪声占有不可忽视的分量.本文通过对国内外在线监测技术的发展现状的详细分析,引入国内外先进的粉尘和噪声在线监测技术构建了职业安全健康在线监测系统基本架构,对其基本工作性能和实际能产生的工作效果进行描述,并对其产生的科技进步性进行阐述.     

DDTs对水生哺乳动物的组织残留基准初步研究

作为一种曾经广泛使用的氯化烃杀虫剂,DDT及其主要代谢产物DDE和DDD(合称为DDTs)是一类典型的具有持久性和生物累积性的有毒污染物。亲脂性和持久性使得DDTs可以通过食物链进行生物放大,从而对处于高营养级的水生哺乳动物造成严重的毒害作用。在综述DDTs对哺乳动物的毒性研究基础上,采用物种敏感度分布(species sensitivity distribution,SSD)和毒性百分数排序法(toxicity percentile rank method,TPRM)推导DDTs保护水生哺乳动物的组织残留基准(Tissue Residue Guideline,TRG)。使用SSD和TPRM得到的TRG分别为23.9和22.7 ng·g-1食物(湿重)。相应的,DDTs保护水生哺乳动物的水质基准分别为188.2和178.7 pg·L-1。依据研究得到的DDTs的组织残留基准及其在鱼类体内的含量评估对水生哺乳动物的风险。研究结果可用于评估DDTs对水生哺乳动物的生态风险,并为DDTs的风险管理提供理论依据。     

Toxicity evaluation of 10 oil gelling agents北大核心CSCD

Oil gelling agents are widely used in emergency response of marine oil spills. However, the biological toxicity of oil gelling agents is not well understood. This research aimed to evaluate the environmental safety of oil gelling agents used for rapid removal and cleanup of marine oil spills. We used luminescent bacteria (Acinetobacter sp. Tox2 and Acinetobacter sp. RecA) combined with exposure experiment using marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) juveniles to detect the acute toxicity and genotoxicity of 10 oil gelling agents. As a result, a certain level of acute toxicity was detected from the oil gelling agent FOA and GMN-01 (the toxicity equivalent to 0.067 mg/L and 0.084 mg/L of HgCl2, respectively), and a certain level of genotoxicity was detected from the oil gelling agent NORSOREX (the toxicity equivalent to 0.307 mg/L of MMC) by the luminescent bacteria test. However, no obvious acute toxicity or genotoxicity was detected from the above three oil gelling agents in fish-exposure experiments. Our results suggest that the 10 oil gelling agents have no obvious acute toxicity or genotoxicity to higher organisms (including marine medaka). The luminescent bacteria test is more sensitive in detecting biological toxicity of oil gelling agents. This study provides a reference for environmental safety evaluation of the oil gelling agents used in the cleaning up of the marine oil spills.     

Progress and prospects of atmospheric environmental sciences in China: Preface

正Anthropogenic emissions impact significantly the atmospheric environment which human being relies on,e.g.,global warming,stratospheric ozone depletion,photochemical smog,acid rain,haze and so on.Although clean air actions have been legislated by many nations to mitigate pollutants’emission with the aim of protecting the atmospheric environment,     

某铝厂熔铸项目职业病危害控制效果评价

采用职业卫生调查、职业卫生检测、检查表分析法等方法对某铝厂熔铸项目存在的职业病危害进行了识别、分析,提出了职业病危害防护措施方面的建议。     

Empirical corroboration of an earlier theoretical resolution to the UV paradox of insect polarized skylight orientation

It is surprising that many insect species use only the ultraviolet (UV) component of the polarized skylight for orientation and navigation purposes, while both the intensity and the degree of polarization of light from the clear sky are lower in the UV than at longer (blue, green, red) wavelengths. Why have these insects chosen the UV part of the polarized skylight? This strange phenomenon is called the "UV-sky-pol paradox". Although earlier several speculations tried to resolve this paradox, they did this without any quantitative data. A theoretical and computational model has convincingly explained why it is advantageous for certain animals to detect celestial polarization in the UV. We performed a sky-polarimetric approach and built a polarized skylight sensor that models the processing of polarization signals by insect photoreceptors. Using this model sensor, we carried out measurements under clear and cloudy sky conditions. Our results showed that light from the cloudy sky has maximal degree of polarization in the UV. Furthermore, under both clear and cloudy skies the angle of polarization of skylight can be detected with a higher accuracy. By this, we corroborated empirically the soundness of the earlier computational resolution of the UV-sky-pol paradox.