Ring testing of the AnBUSDiC test; a new screening method for the anaerobic degradability of surfactants

The project focuses on the efficiency of combined technologies to reduce the release of micropollutants and bacteria into surface waters via sewage treatment plants of different size and via stormwater overflow basins of different types. As a model river in a highly populated catchment area, the river Schussen and, as a control, the river Argen, two tributaries of Lake Constance, Southern Germany, are under investigation in this project. The efficiency of the different cleaning technologies is monitored by a wide range of exposure and effect analyses including chemical and microbiological techniques as well as effect studies ranging from molecules to communities.     

Official reporting and newspaper coverage of road crashes: A case study

This paper describes a case study in Flanders–Belgium on the reporting rate of road crashes. Crash data from three sources were compared: official crash data, data retrieved from an insurance company and newspaper articles. A sample of 140 injury crashes with motorcyclists from an insurance company was used as the reference category. The purpose was to explore factors that contribute to the likelihood of crashes (not) to be reported in official statistics and newspapers. Logistic regression analyses and chi-square tests were used to reveal differences in reporting rate according to some variables. About 80% of the crashes with severe injuries were reported in the official statistics whereas the reporting rate for crashes with slightly injured was about 55%. Newspapers covered about 50% of crashes with severe injuries. The reporting rate in both official statistics and newspapers increased with the severity of the crash.     

Outbound offending: The journey to crime and crime sprees

Studies on crime and mobility primarily focus on local crime patterns. The city has long played an important role, whether analysing the offence or the offender. This paper goes beyond city boundaries and discusses ‘outbound offenders’, whose crime trips start in a city, but end outside. It is argued that a substantial proportion of crime trips follow this pattern, indicating that areas other than cities also provide interesting opportunities for property crime. We link outbound offending to a number of features that may explain crime travelling, including the target’s features and offender/offence features. We find that outbound offending mostly occurs towards affluent target regions and near motorways, as such confirming findings from previous research. We also find crime sprees to be indicative for mobile offending. Thus, mobile property offenders tend to compensate for travelled distances, not only by targeting affluent areas and using fast transportation means, but also by committing several successive offences, hereby reducing their relative transportation cost for each offence.     

Habitat use by loggerhead sea turtles <Emphasis Type="Italic">Caretta caretta</Emphasis> off the coast of eastern Spain results in a high vulnerability to neritic fishing gear

Previous studies of loggerhead sea turtles have concluded that drifting longlines were the main threat for immature specimens in the western Mediterranean, because immature loggerhead sea turtles mainly inhabit oceanic waters. However, recent aerial surveys have revealed large numbers of immature loggerhead sea turtles over the continental shelf of eastern mainland Spain, where turtles are exposed to neritic fishing gears but not to drifting longlines. We satellite-tracked seven loggerhead sea turtles (minimum straight carapace length (SCLmin) range: 36.5–55.0 cm) to assess whether the turtles in this region are vagrants from the adjoining oceanic regions or whether these loggerheads mostly inhabit the continental shelf. Satellite-tracking revealed that six of the tagged turtles avoided the oceanic realm and made extended use of the continental shelf, whereas only one individual could be considered a true vagrant as it avoided the continental shelf and primarily used the oceanic habitat. These results are in sharp contrast with those previously reported for immature loggerhead sea turtles of similar size from the south-western Mediterranean and fit well a relaxed ontogenic model that was recently proposed for loggerhead sea turtles in the central Mediterranean. Furthermore, these results demonstrate the vulnerability of loggerhead sea turtles of eastern mainland Spain to neritic fishing gears, as three of the seven turtles died and one was bycaught incidentally while being tracked over the continental shelf.     

Dealing with double trouble: consequences of single and double herbivory in Brassica juncea

In their natural environment, plants are often attacked simultaneously by many insect species. The specificity of induced plant responses that is reported after single herbivore attacks may be compromised under double herbivory and this may influence later arriving herbivores. The present study focuses on the dynamics of induced plant responses induced by single and double herbivory, and their effects on successive herbivores. Morphological (leaf length, area and trichome density) and chemical changes (leaf alkenyl and indole glucosinolates) in Brassica juncea were evaluated 4, 10, 14 and 20 days after damage by the specialist Plutella xylostella alone, or together with the generalist Spodoptera litura. To assess the biological effect of the plant’s responses, the preference and performance of both herbivores on previously induced plants were measured. We found that alkenyl glucosinolates were induced 20 days after damage by P. xylostella alone, whereas their levels were elevated as early as 4 days after double herbivory. Trichome density was increased in both treatments, but was higher after double herbivory. Interestingly, there was an overall decrease in indole glucosinolates and an increase in leaf size due to damage by P. xylostella, which was not observed during double damage. S. litura preferred and performed better on undamaged plants, whereas P. xylostella preferred damaged plants and performed better on plants damaged 14 and 10 days after single and double herbivory, respectively. Our results suggest that temporal studies involving single versus multiple attacker situations are necessary to comprehend the role of induced plant responses in plant–herbivore interactions.     

Cuckoo growth performance in parasitized and unused hosts: not only host size matters

The quality and quantity of food delivered to young are among the major determinants of fitness. A parental provisioning capacity is known to increase with body size. Therefore, brood parasitism provides an opportunity to test the effects of varying provisioning abilities of different-sized hosts on parasitic chick growth and fledging success. Knowledge of growth patterns of common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, chicks in nests of common hosts is very poor. Moreover, no study to date has focused on any currently unused hosts (i.e., suitable cuckoo host species in which parasitism is currently rare or absent). Here, I compare the growth performance of cuckoo chicks in nests of a common host (the reed warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus) and two unparasitized hosts (the song thrush, Turdus philomelos, and the blackbird, Turdus merula). Parasitic chicks were sole occupants of the observed nests, thus eliminating the confounding effect of competition with host chicks. Experiments revealed striking differences in parasitic chick growth in the two closely related Turdus hosts. Cuckoo chicks cross-fostered to song thrush nests grew much quicker and attained much higher mass at fledging than those in nests of their common reed warbler host. Alternatively, parasitic chicks in blackbird nests grew poorly and did not survive until fledging. I discuss these observations with respect to host selection by parasitic cuckoos.     

Ecological Correlates of Whooping Crane Use of Fire-Treated Upland Habitats

The only remaining wild population of the endangered Whooping Crane ( Grus americana ) winters in salt marsh habitats of the Texas (U.S.) coast. Whooping Cranes are known to respond and utilize nearby upland habitats after a tire treatment has been applied. We investigated several factors that may attract Whooping Cranes to recently burned sites at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge between 1982 and 1994 and whether cranes utilize upland habitats primarily in response to a recent fire treatment or whether they occur regularly on uplands regardless of burning. We evaluated the effect of different years, burn site location, date of burn, and acorn production on crane use of specific burn sites. Crane use was determined with ground surveys from 1982 through 1985 and from weekly aerial surveys between 1986 and 1994. Whooping Cranes used fire-treated upland habitats to a significantly greater extent than unburned sites. The response of cranes to recently burned sites was greatest immediately after fire treatment and declined with time. No significant difference was found in crane use of burned sites among different years. Similarly, time of burn and acorn production had no significant effect on crane use of fire-treated habitats. Crane use among specific burn units differed significantly. We suggest that Whooping Cranes may be using fire-treated upland habitats to feed on recently killed vertebrates and invertebrates plus recently exposed plant items. Because cranes primarily inhabit salt marsh habitats, the availability of alternate food sources may be of considerable importance, particularly during years when marsh foods are scarce. But because it appears that areas must be burned to facilitate use by Whooping Cranes, we suggest that the extent of prescribed burning be based on reduced availability of marsh food resources and not on acorn production estimates alone.