Biological water quality assessment of running waters based on macroinvertebrate communities: history and present status in Europe

This paper reviews the history and development of biological water quality assessment using macroinvertebrates in Europe, and critically evaluates each of the principal approaches used. As the biotic approach incorporates the most highly regarded features of the saprobic and diversity approaches, it has received the most attention in recent years. Most modern biotic index and score systems have evolved from the Trent Biotic Index, through a series of refinements and adaptations (i.e. the Extended Biotic Index, Chandler's Score, Indice Biotique) into the two modern systems. These methods are the Biological Monitoring Working Party System, used mainly in Great Britain, and the Belgian Biotic Index Method. The results of these techniques are now influencing policy decisions concerning surface water management in Europe, where macroinvertebrate community assessment are being used as a planning tool for managing water uses, for ambient monitoring, and for evaluating the effectiveness of pollution control measures. New research directions aimed at improving the performance of bioassessment techniques are being explored. These include defining reference communities based on stream typology which can then be used to set water quality objectives, and applying these methods to the assessment of toxic pollution.     

Seasonal migrations of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) through the Dover Strait

Analysis of paired-haul mid-water trawling experiments conducted in the five months November to March during the years 1985 and 1988 revealed the seasonal pattern of migration of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa L.) moving through the Dover Strait between the Southern Bight of the North Sea and the English Channel. Mid-water catches of maturing fish were highest on south-going tidesprior to peak spawning (late January), while catches of spent fish, were highest on north-going tidesafter peak spawning. Detailed analysis of the catch data provided evidence that males complete their pre-spawning migration earlier, and their post-spawning migration later, than female fish and consequently spend more time on the spawning ground. Catches of immature female fish indicated a migration south following that of the mature fish. This dummy run may be a method by which immature plaice use the presence of high densities of mature and spawning fish to learn the location of the spawning ground. The analysis also indicated that differences in catch rates between day and night are unlikely to be the result of gear avoidance by day. The results confirm that selective tidal-stream transport is a key migratory mechanism for plaice in areas of fast tidal streams on the European continental shelf.     

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia due to anti-P1A1 (anti-hpa-1a): Importance of paternal and fetal platelet typing for assessment of fetal risk

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT), which usually involves sensitization to P1^A1 (HPA-1a), may have devastating complications for the fetus. These may be prevented by antenatal treatment of severe cases with either maternally administered high-dose gamma-globulin and/or repeated intrauterine platelet transfusions. Determination of the paternal platelet phenotype is useful for counselling parents who have had one or more affected pregnancies. This report of an unaffected pregnancy in a woman with a history of previous pregnancies complicated by NAIT illustrates the role of paternal and fetal platelet phenotyping in managing existing pregnancies at risk of NAIT.     

An automated system to control and manipulate the flight activity of captive birds

Biologists have long been interested in the behavioural and physiological mechanisms that regulate flight. The manipulation of physical activity of birds under captive conditions, however, faces the experimenter with some technical problems. In this article, we describe a simple automated system that allows control and manipulation of the flight activity of captive birds and use it for the first time to induce blood oxidative stress in male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Finches subjected to a short-term flight effort regime had an increase of plasma oxidative damage and a decrease of thiol concentration in red blood cells and of body mass, respectively. However, no change in red blood cell glutathione peroxidase was observed. This simple experiment shows that our automated system may be successfully used to induce changes in the physiological state of small birds.     

New insights into the benefits of flood warnings: Results from a household survey in England and Wales

The flood defence agency in England and Wales has been pursuing a programme of flood warning system enhancement, engaging householders at risk in improving their warning responses. The immediate aim of this paper is to test and revise a model of economic benefits of warnings, but the survey data also generate insights into the constraints acting upon flood warning responses. Damage saving is less than previously anticipated: warning reliability and householder availability problems limit savings. Warnings are less likely to be received by those in lower social grades, and flood warning lead time is a factor in avoiding damage. The survey data indicate the complexities involved in improving flood warning response, and provide policy pointers.     

Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation

Although some sectors have made significant progress in learning from failure, there is currently limited consensus on how a similar transition could best be achieved in conservation and what is required to facilitate this. One of the key enabling conditions for other sectors is a widely accepted and standardized classification system for identifying and analyzing root causes of failure. We devised a comprehensive taxonomy of root causes of failure affecting conservation projects. To develop this, we solicited examples of real-life conservation efforts that were deemed to have failed in some way, identified their underlying root causes of failure, and used these to develop a generic, 3-tier taxonomy of the ways in which projects fail, at the top of which are 6 overarching cause categories that are further divided into midlevel cause categories and specific root causes. We tested the taxonomy by asking conservation practitioners to use it to classify the causes of failure for conservation efforts they had been involved in. No significant gaps or redundancies were identified during this testing phase. We then analyzed the frequency that particular root causes were encountered by projects within this test sample, which suggested that some root causes were more likely to be encountered than others and that a small number of root causes were more likely to be encountered by projects implementing particular types of conservation action. Our taxonomy could be used to improve identification, analysis, and subsequent learning from failed conservation efforts, address some of the barriers that currently limit the ability of conservation practitioners to learn from failure, and contribute to establishing an effective culture of learning from failure within conservation.     

Illicit drugs in Canadian municipal wastewater and estimates of community drug use

In this study of wastewater treatment plants in three Canadian cities, selected illicit drugs, including cocaine and its major metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BE), amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy (i.e. MDMA) were detected in untreated wastewater. Cocaine was the most widely used illicit drug at a median level for the 3 cities of 15.7 doses per day per 1000 people. For the other drugs, the median doses per day per 1000 people were 1.8 for amphetamine, 4.5 for methamphetamine and 0.4 for ecstasy. Methamphetamine use was highest in the largest city and cocaine use was lowest in the smallest city. Removal of the illicit drugs by wastewater treatment was generally >50%, except in a WWTP that uses primary treatment. The community consumption estimate for ecstasy in the present study is far below published estimates of the prevalence of ecstasy use among the Canadian population, which may be due to only occasional use of ecstasy.     

Polymetallic pollution from abandoned mines in Mediterranean regions: a multidisciplinary approach to environmental risks

Regional Environmental Change - Abandoned mines are a recurrent problem for nearby communities in Mediterranean regions because mine tailings represent a major source of polymetallic contamination....     

Uptake and depuration of the anti-depressant fluoxetine by the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes)

The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of anti-depressants is among the most widely prescribed groups of pharmaceuticals. Consequently, aquatic ecosystems impacted by municipal wastewater discharges are predicted to receive substantial annual loadings of these compounds. Although SSRIs have been detected in fish tissues, little is known of their uptake and depuration in freshwater fish species. In this study, Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were exposed to fluoxetine at a nominal concentration of 0.64 microg L(-1) for 7d and subsequently allowed to depurate in clean water over a 21d period. Fluoxetine uptake by medaka was observed within the first 5h of exposure and the biologically active metabolite, norfluoxetine, was also detected in medaka tissues during this timeframe. A maximum fluoxetine concentration was measured in medaka by the third day of the uptake phase, yielding an uptake rate constant (k(1)) of 5.9+/-0.5 (d(-1)). During the depuration phase of the experiment, a half life of 9.4+/-1.1d was determined for fluoxetine. Using these data, bioconcentration factor (BCF) values of 74 and 80 were estimated for fluoxetine and a pseudo-BCF (the ratio of the concentration of norfluoxetine in medaka and the aqueous fluoxetine concentration) of 117 was calculated for norfluoxetine. These results indicate longer persistence and greater potential for the bioaccumulation of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in fish tissues than would be predicted from prior half life estimates derived using mammalian species.