Host plant quality and local adaptation determine the distribution of a gall-forming herbivore

Herein we report results of transplant experiments that link variation in host plant quality to herbivore fitness at the local scale (among adjacent plants) with the process of local (demic) adaptation at the landscape scale to explain the observed distribution of the specialist gall former Belonocnema treatae (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) within populations of its host plant, Quercus fusiformis. Field surveys show that leaf gall densities vary by orders of magnitude among adjacent trees and that high-gall-density trees are both rare (< 5%) and patchily distributed. B. treatae from each of five high-gall-density trees were reared on (1) the four nearest low-gall-density trees, (2) the four alternative high-gall-density trees, and (3) their natal trees (control). Each treatment (source X rearing site) was replicated three times. Nine components of performance that sequentially contribute to fitness were evaluated with over 21000 galls censused across the 25 experimental trees. When reared on their natal trees and compared with low-gall-density neighbors, transplanted gall formers had higher gall initiation success (P < 0.05), produced more (P < 0.001) and larger galls (P < 0.001), and produced a higher proportion of galls that exceeded the threshold size for natural enemy avoidance (P < 0.05). Comparison of gall-former performance on natal vs. alternative high-gall-density trees demonstrated significant (P < 0.001) differences in six performance measures with five differing in the direction predicted by the hypothesis of local adaptation. Overall, these linked experiments document direct and indirect effects of host plant variation on gall-former performance and demonstrate convincingly that (1) high-gall-density trees equate to high-quality trees that are surrounded by trees of relatively lower quality to the herbivore and (2) gall-former populations have become locally adapted to individual trees.     

Distribution pattern of PCBs,HCB and PeCB using passive air and soil sampling in Estonia

Background, aim, and scope  

Passive air sampling survey of the Central and Eastern Europe was initiated in 2006. This paper presents data on toxic organic compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB 28, 52, 101, 118, 153, 138, and 180), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), hexachlorocyclohexane compounds (α-HCH, β-HCH,γ-HCH, δ-HCH), and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) compounds (p,p′DDE, p,p′DDD, p,p′DDT, o,p′DDE, o,p′DDD, and o,p′DDT) determined in ambient air and soil samples collected at Estonian monitoring stations.     

Actinides and decay products in selected produce and bioindicators in the vicinity of a uranium plant

Cypress needles collected at the edge of the Malvési uranium facility (SW France) exhibit enhanced activities of actinides and some decay products (uranium, americium, plutonium, (230)Th, (226)Ra) compared to a remote site. These enhanced activities resulted from the release of U via smokestacks and passive release from former artificial ponds located inside the nuclear site. Enhanced activities are also observed in selected produce (wheat, lettuce, fruits) sampled from the edge of the site. However, excess actinides measured in wheat grains in 2007 are inconsistent with the activities and the uranium ratio measured in the soils. This result suggests that the studied annual crops were contaminated mainly through the short-term release of airborne actinides, and that other transfer pathways, such as, uptake through the roots or adhesion of soil particles, were negligible.     

Report of A Survey of the State of the Environment in the Estonia,Latvia and Lithuania

In connection with the change in economic principles and disintegration of big industrial enterprises, the environmental pollution in Baltic States decreased considerably in 1991-1996. Although there are still many things waiting to be done, the improvement of the Baltic environmental situation during the years of independence gives us a cause to be optimistic.     

SPRINGFLOW EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL LOADS IN THE SNAKE RWER,SOUTH-CENTRAL IDAHO1

ABSTRACT: The 150-kilometer middle reach of the Snake River (middle Snake) in south-central Idaho receives large quantities of water from springs discharging along the north side of the river from the regional Snake River Plain aquifer. Water-quality samples collected from nine north-side springs in April 1994 indicated that springs in the upstream part of the reach had larger concentrations of dissolved solids, dissolved nitrate, total nitrogen, tritium, and heavy isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen than to springs in the downstream part of the reach. Because the spring chemistry varies in the reach, discharge from the springs resulted in a degradation in water quality in some parts of the middle Snake and improvements in water quality in other parts. Depending on the annual discharge in the Snake River, the contribution from the north-side springs represented 33 to 66 percent of the discharge, 32 to 57 percent of the dissolved solids, 26 to 50 percent of the total nitrogen, and 7 to 14 percent of the total phosphorus transported annually from the middle Snake. Synoptic sampling showed that the north-side springs contributed 84 percent of the discharge and 35, 40, and 10 percent of the dissolved solids, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus load, respectively, to the Snake River during the peak of the irrigation season in 1994.     

Predicting particulate (PM10) personal exposure distributions using a random component superposition statistical model

This paper presents a new statistical model designed to extend our understanding from prior personal exposure field measurements of urban populations to other cities where ambient monitoring data, but no personal exposure measurements, exist. The model partitions personal exposure into two distinct components: ambient concentration and nonambient concentration. It is assumed the ambient and nonambient concentration components are uncorrelated and add together; therefore, the model is called a random component superposition (RCS) model. The 24-hr ambient outdoor concentration is multiplied by a dimensionless "attenuation factor" between 0 and 1 to account for deposition of particles as the ambient air infiltrates indoors. The RCS model is applied to field PM10 measurement data from three large-scale personal exposure field studies: THEES (Total Human Environmental Exposure Study) in Phillipsburg, NJ; PTEAM (Particle Total Exposure Assessment Methodology) in Riverside, CA; and the Ethyl Corporation study in Toronto, Canada. Because indoor sources and activities (smoking, cooking, cleaning, the personal cloud, etc.) may be similar in similar populations, it was hypothesized that the statistical distribution of nonambient personal exposure is invariant across cities. Using a fixed 24-hr attenuation factor as a first approximation derived from regression analysis for the respondents, the distributions of nonambient PM10 personal exposures were obtained for each city. Although the mean ambient PM10 concentrations in the three cities varied from 27.9 micrograms/m3 in Toronto to 60.9 micrograms/m3 in Phillipsburg to 94.1 micrograms/m3 in Riverside, the mean nonambient components of personal exposures were found to be closer: 52.6 micrograms/m3 in Toronto; 52.4 micrograms/m3 in Phillipsburg; and 59.2 micrograms/m3 in Riverside. The three frequency distributions of the nonambient components of exposure also were similar in shape, giving support to the hypothesis that nonambient concentrations are similar across different cities and populations. These results indicate that, if the ambient concentrations were completely controlled and set to zero in all three cities, the median of the remaining personal exposures to PM10 would range from 32.0 micrograms/m3 (Toronto) to 34.4 micrograms/m3 (Phillipsburg) to 48.8 micrograms/m3 (Riverside). The highest-exposed 30% of the population in the three cities would still be exposed to 24-hr average PM10 concentrations of 47-74 micrograms/m3; the highest 20% would be exposed to concentrations of 56-92 micrograms/m3; the highest 10% to concentrations of 88-131 micrograms/m3; and the highest 5% to 133-175 micrograms/m3, due only to indoor sources and activities. The distribution for the difference between personal exposures and indoor concentrations, or the "personal cloud," also was similar in the three cities, with a mean of 30-35 micrograms/m3, suggesting that the personal cloud accounts for more than half of the nonambient component of PM10 personal exposure in the three cities. Using only the ambient measurements in Toronto, the nonambient data from THEES in Phillipsburg was used to predict the entire personal exposure distribution in Toronto. The PM10 exposure distribution predicted by the model showed reasonable agreement with the PM10 personal exposure distribution measured in Toronto. These initial results suggest that the RCS model may be a powerful tool for predicting personal exposure distributions and statistics in other cities where only ambient particle data are available.     

Chlorinated dibenzo-<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-dioxins and dibenzofurans in the baltic herrinj and sprat of estonian coastal waters

BACKGROUND, AIMS AND SCOPE: The concentration of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in many fish from the Baltic requires monitoring, since it approaches or exceeds the European Union threshold limit value of 4 pg TEQ/g wet weight of fish for human consumption. The concentrations, expressed in TEQs, are important for toxicology and regulations, but hide the concentrations of the individual congeners, which are important for other environmental sciences, source allocation, and for the detection of measurement errors. This report evaluates the results of a survey reported earlier only in the terms of the TEQ concentrations. METHODS: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensions of the data (17 = 7 chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and 10 chlorinated dibenzofuran congeners) to three principal components. This facilitated the interpretation of the congener profiles. Slopes of the congener concentrations as a function of age of the fish were estimated by least squares regression. The results were compared with a large set of data for lake trout from Lake Ontario. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The congener profiles of Baltic herring are less scattered than those of sprat. The profiles of herring from the central Baltic differ from those of herring from the Gulf of Riga and both appear to be affected relatively minimally by the age of the fish. The congener profiles of herring from the western Gulf of Finland are similar to those from the central Baltic, those from middle Gulf of Finland are similar to those from the Gulf of Riga. Both seem to be more affected by age of the fish than the profiles of the first two groups. The concentrations of several pentachloro- and hexachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans increase with the age of the fish CONCLUSION: PCA is a good technique for the evaluation of the congener profiles. The resulting loading and score plots provide a good graphic summary of the multidimensional data. Additional analyses are needed to confirm the observed profile patterns. A comparison with the results of a long-term monitoring from another area shows that the age of the fish is a more important factor than the year of capture. RECOMMENDATION AND OUTLOOK: The surveys should continue for a number of years and the results should be presented and evaluated both in terms of the TEQs as well as in terms of weight concentrations. Since the concentrations do not appear to change very much from year to year, it would be better to carry out surveys only every 3-4 years and, instead, stratify the sampling according to age and gender of the fish, and to analyze replicate extracts by replicate measurements. The inclusion of unmarked replicate samples would be a good quality assurance measure. It would be desirable to analyze additional parts of the food chain in order to understand the fate of the compounds in the ecosystem.     

Macrofauna diversity in<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Posidonia oceanica</Emphasis> detritus: distribution and diversity of mobile macrofauna in shallow sublittoral accumulations of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Posidonia oceanica</Emphasis> detritus

The mobile macrofauna in submerged detritus accumulations (SDAs) of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica was investigated in the Bay of Calvi, Corsica, Mediterranean Sea. The distribution of the macrofauna was related to the exposure of the habitat and to the degree of packing and decomposition of the SDAs. In the less decomposed, younger SDAs, the number of individuals per species, but also species richness, was relatively low. In the more decomposed, older SDAs, the abundance and number of species increased, showing predominance of a few crustacean taxa such as gammaridean amphipods, shrimps and the leptostracan Nebalia bipes. Many of the macrofaunal species in the SDAs are members of the animal communities of surrounding seagrass meadows or adjacent hard or soft bottoms, while others, like N. bipes, apparently live in closer association with the SDAs.Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe     

Determination of response of real-time SidePak AM510 monitor to secondhand smoke, other common indoor aerosols, and outdoor aerosol

The amount of light scattered by airborne particles inside an aerosol photometer will vary not only with the mass concentration, but also with particle properties such as size, shape, and composition. This study conducted controlled experiments to compare the measurements of a real-time photometer, the SidePak AM510 monitor (SidePak), with gravimetric mass. PM sources tested were outdoor aerosols, and four indoor combustion sources: cigarettes, incense, wood chips, and toasting bread. The calibration factor for rescaling the SidePak measurements to agree with gravimetric mass was similar for the cigarette and incense sources, but different for burning wood chips and toasting bread. The calibration factors for ambient urban aerosols differed substantially from day to day, due to variations in the sources and composition of outdoor PM. A field evaluation inside a casino with active smokers yielded calibration factors consistent with those obtained in the controlled experiments with cigarette smoke.