Do anthropogenic transports facilitate stored-product pest moth dispersal? A molecular approach

Stored-product moths cause large economic damage in food processing industries and storage facilities. Control of indoor pests is currently dealt with locally, and control strategies seldom include different mills or cooperative industries in joint efforts to reduce infestations. In colder climates where conditions hinder flight dispersal of stored-product moths, we hypothesize that human transport between mills will facilitate dispersal. Albeit considered intuitive, this hypothesis has so far never been tested. Male moths from three mills (populations) in southern Sweden and Denmark were collected and by using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) pair-wise F(st) values were calculated. Cluster (population) origins of the genotypes were computed by using a model-based method, structure. The results suggest that known transportation of flour between two mills generate genetically more similar populations of the economically important stored-product moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Zell.) (Lepidoptera; Pyralidae), compared to the third mill, with another distribution area, but situated geographically in between the other mills. The structure model placed the sampled genotypes to belong to either two or five original populations, with a higher probability of two original populations. The third mill was consistently different from the other two mills independent of the models' calculated number of populations. Although the study was restricted to three mills and one transportation route, it highlights the possibility that transportation of food products promotes genetic mixing (i.e. dispersal) of insect pest populations. Including cooperating mills in control (or monitor) strategy schemes against stored-product pest insects would therefore be a more effective action, rather than to treat each mill separately.     

Sources, fate, and toxic hazards of oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at PAH-contaminated sites

In this paper we show that oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oxy-PAHs) are important cocontaminants that should be taken into account during risk assessment and remediation of sites with high levels of PAHs. The presented data, which have been collected both from our own research and the published literature, demonstrate that oxy-PAHs are abundant but neglected contaminants at these sites. The oxy-PAHs show relatively high persistency and because they are formed through transformation of PAHs, their concentrations in the environment may even increase as the sites are remediated by methods that promote PAH degradation. Furthermore, we show that oxy-PAHs are toxic to both humans and the environment, although the toxicity seems to be manifested through other effects than those known to be important for polycyclic aromatic compounds in general, that is, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Finally, we present data that support the hypothesis that oxy-PAHs are more mobile in the environment than PAHs, due to their polarity, and thus have a higher tendency to spread from contaminated sites via surface water and groundwater. We believe that oxy-PAHs should be included in monitoring programs at PAH-contaminated sites, even if a number of other toxicologically relevant compounds that may also be present, such as nitro-PAHs and azaarenes, are not monitored. This is because oxy-PAH levels are difficult to predict from the PAH levels, because their environmental behavior differs substantially from that of PAHs, and oxy-PAHs may be formed as PAHs are degraded.