Die ?lkatastrophe am Golf Zwischenbilanz, Zustandsbeschreibung, Ma?nahmen, Prognosen

W?hrend eines Studien- und Beratungs-aufenthalts des Autors bei der Saudi-Arabischen Umweltbeh?rde im Juni/Juli 1991 wurde der Zustand der Saudi-Arabischen Golfküste untersucht. Von der Kuwaitischen Grenze bis zur Insel Abu Ali sind ca. 770 km Küste lückenlos zwischen Hoch- und Niedrigwasserlinie ver?lt. W?hrend an den energiereicheren Au?enküsten eine biologische Regeneration erwartet werden kann, ist sie in den energiearmen Buchten nicht ohne technische Ma?nahmen denkbar. Ver?lungen gibt es au?erdem am Meeresgrund in noch unbekanntem Ausma?. Für die Ma?nahmen wird die Notwendigkeit betont, ein Umweltqualit?tsziel festzulegen, das in der Entwicklung zu einem Naturreservat bestehen sollte.     

Prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of the Holt-Oram syndrome

The Holt-Oram syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder consisting of a congenital heart defect in combination with characteristic upper limb abnormalities. This report presents the ultrasonographic follow-up of two fetuses at risk for the Holt-Oram syndrome. In the first fetus, the existence of Holt-Oram syndrome was suspected at 22 weeks of gestation; a ventricular septal defect, an atrial septal defect, and a minor skeletal defect were found. In the second fetus, no structural abnormalities were discovered until the 30th week, when a small atrial septal defect was detected. In both pregnancies, it was possible to exclude early in gestation the more severe forms of the Holt-Oram syndrome.     

Insecticide resistance may enhance the response to a host-plant volatile kairomone for the codling moth, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cydia pomonella</Emphasis> (L.)

The behavioral and electroantennographic responses of Cydia pomonella (L.) to the ripe pear volatile ethyl (2E,4Z)-2,4-decadienoate (Et-E,Z-DD), were compared in insecticide-susceptible and -resistant populations originating from southern France. A dose–response relationship to this kairomonal attractant was established for antennal activity and did not reveal differences between susceptible and resistant strains. Conversely, males of the laboratory strains expressing metabolic [cytochrome P450-dependent mixed-function oxidases (mfo)] or physiological (kdr-type mutation of the sodium-channel gene) resistance mechanisms exhibited a significantly higher response to Et-E,Z-DD than those of the susceptible strain in a wind tunnel experiment. No response of the females to this kairomone could be obtained in our wind-tunnel conditions. In apple orchards, mfo-resistant male moths were captured at significantly higher rates in kairomone-baited traps than in traps baited with the sex pheromone of C. pomonella. Such a differential phenomenon was not verified for the kdr-resistant insects, which exhibited a similar response to both the sex pheromone and the kairomonal attractant in apple orchards. Considering the widespread distribution of metabolic resistance in European populations of C. pomonella and the enhanced behavioral response to Et-E,Z-DD in resistant moths, the development of control measures based on this kairomonal compound would be of great interest for the management of insecticide resistance in this species.     

Biodegradation potential of cyano-based ionic liquid anions in a culture of Cupriavidus spp. and their in vitro enzymatic hydrolysis by nitrile hydratase

Biodegradation tests with bacteria from activated sludge revealed the probable persistence of cyano-based ionic liquid anions when these leave waste water treatment plants. A possible biological treatment using bacteria capable of biodegrading similar compounds, namely cyanide and cyano-complexes, was therefore examined. With these bacteria from the genera Cupriavidus, the ionic liquid anions B(CN)₄ ^?, C(CN)₃ ^?, N(CN)₂ ^? combined with alkaline cations were tested in different growth media using ion chromatography for the examination of their primary biodegradability. However, no enhanced biodegradability of the tested cyano-based ionic liquids was observed. Therefore, an in vitro enzymatic hydrolysis test was additionally run showing that all tested ionic liquid (IL) anions can be hydrolysed to their corresponding amides by nitrile hydratase, but not by nitrilase under the experimental conditions. The biological stability of the cyano-based anions is an advantage in technological application, but the occurrence of enzymes that are able to hydrolyse the parent compound gives a new perspective on future cyano-based IL anion treatment.     

Landscape-Based Assessment of Human Disturbance for Michigan Lakes

Assessment of lake impairment status and identification of threats’ type and source is essential for protection of intact, enhancement of modified, and restoration of impaired lakes. For regions in which large numbers of lakes occur, such assessment has usually been done for only small fractions of lakes due to resource and time limitation. This study describes a process for assessing lake impairment status and identifying which human disturbances have the greatest impact on each lake for all lakes that are 2 ha or larger in the state of Michigan using readily available, georeferenced natural and human disturbance databases. In-lake indicators of impairment are available for only a small subset of lakes in Michigan. Using statistical relationships between the in-lake indicators and landscape natural and human-induced measures from the subset lakes, we assessed the likely human impairment condition of lakes for which in-lake indicator data were unavailable using landscape natural and human disturbance measures. Approximately 92% of lakes in Michigan were identified as being least to marginally impacted and about 8% were moderately to heavily impacted by landscape human disturbances. Among lakes that were heavily impacted, more inline lakes (92%) were impacted by human disturbances than disconnected (6%) or headwater lakes (2%). More small lakes were impacted than medium to large lakes. For inline lakes, 90% of the heavily impacted lakes were less than 40 ha, 10% were between 40 and 405 ha, and 1% was greater than 405 ha. For disconnected and headwater lakes, all of the heavily impacted lakes were less than 40 ha. Among the anthropogenic disturbances that contributed the most to lake disturbance index scores, nutrient yields and farm animal density affected the highest number of lakes, agricultural land use affected a moderate number of lakes, and point-source pollution and road measures affected least number of lakes. Our process for assessing lake condition represents a significant advantage over other routinely used methods. It permits the evaluation of lake condition across large regions and yields an overall disturbance index that is a physicochemical and biological indicator weighted sum of multiple disturbance factors. The robustness of our approach can be improved with increased availability of high-resolution disturbance datasets.     

Correction to: Assessing local climate vulnerability and winegrowers’ adaptive processes in the context of climate change

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - Section 3.4.2: Reference “Nicholas and Durham 2012” should have been cited in the last sentence. That is “Using a list of...