Increasing conservation management action by involving local people in natural resource monitoring

There is a need for a better understanding of the status of the environment. At the same time, concerns have been raised regarding alienation of the local populace from environmental decisions. One proposed solution is participatory environmental monitoring. When evaluating the usefulness of environmental monitoring, the focus may be on accuracy, as is usually done by scientists, or on efficiency in terms of conservation impact. To test whether investment in participatory biodiversity monitoring makes economic sense for obtaining data for management decisions, we compared the cost efficiency of participatory and conventional biodiversity monitoring methods in Philippine parks. We found that, from a government perspective, investment in monitoring that combines scientific with participatory methods is strikingly more effective than a similar level of investment in conventional scientific methods alone in generating conservation management interventions. Moreover, the local populace seemed to benefit from more secure de facto user rights over land and other resources. Participatory biodiversity monitoring not only represents a cost-effective alternative when conventional monitoring is impossible, but it is also an unexpectedly powerful complementary approach, capable of generating a much higher level of conservation management intervention, where conventional monitoring already takes place.     

Tracer studies to characterize the effects of roadside noise barriers on near-road pollutant dispersion under varying atmospheric stability conditions

A roadway toxics dispersion study was conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to document the effects on concentrations of roadway emissions behind a roadside sound barrier in various conditions of atmospheric stability. The homogeneous fetch of the INL, controlled emission source, lack of other manmade or natural flow obstructions, and absence of vehicle-generated turbulence reduced the ambiguities in interpretation of the data. Roadway emissions were simulated by the release of an atmospheric tracer (SF₆) from two 54 m long line sources, one for an experiment with a 90 m long noise barrier and one for a control experiment without a barrier. Simultaneous near-surface tracer concentration measurements were made with bag samplers on identical sampling grids downwind from the line sources. An array of six 3-d sonic anemometers was employed to measure the barrier-induced turbulence. Key findings of the study are: (1) the areal extent of higher concentrations and the absolute magnitudes of the concentrations both increased as atmospheric stability increased; (2) a concentration deficit developed in the wake zone of the barrier with respect to concentrations at the same relative locations on the control experiment at all atmospheric stabilities; (3) lateral dispersion was significantly greater on the barrier grid than the non-barrier grid; and (4) the barrier tended to trap high concentrations near the “roadway” (i.e. upwind of the barrier) in low wind speed conditions, especially in stable conditions.     

Studies of mobility of di-iso-butyl phthalate (DiBP), di-N-butyl phthalate (DBP), and di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate (DEHP) by plant foliage treatment in a closed terrestrial simulation chamber

A climate chamber was constructed for model studies of mobility and effects of chemical substances within simplified terrestrial systems. The chamber functions and its performance were tested by foliar applications of phthalates on higher plants. A low elimination rate from foliage was observed for DEHP. More than 95% of DiBP and DBP were eliminated within 15 days. 1.5 μg cm⁻² of DBP caused chlorosis on the leaves of Sinapis alba L.     

Stimulatory effect of ingested protein and/or free amino acids on the secretion of the gastro-endocrine hormone cholecystokinin and on tryptic activity, in early-feeding herring larvae, Clupea harengus

In the larvae of many marine teleosts, the stomach is absent until they approach or attain metamorphosis. Consequently, the formation of chyme containing specific free amino acids from the gastric digestion of protein, which are believed to be signals initiating the release of the digestive hormone cholecystokinin (CCK), is lacking. CCK, when secreted into the blood circulation from specialized intestinal cells, stimulates gallbladder motility and is a key factor causing the release of pancreatic digestive enzymes into the gut lumen. Using first-feeding Atlantic herring larvae (Clupea harengus) as a model, the aim of the present study was to determine if a CCK response together with tryptic activity could be elicited in larvae ingesting dietary protein and/or FAA. Larvae were tube fed single lamellar liposome vesicles (SLV) containing: (1) physiological saline (PS), (2) bovine serum albumin (BSA), (3) specific free amino acids (FAA), or (4) a ratio (1:1) of BSA and FAA. The CCK and trypsin levels were then assayed (radio-immunoassay) at 0, 15, 60 and 120 min after tube feeding. A marked CCK response was elicited in all treatments compared to the PS control at 15 and 30 min and was significant (p<0.05) at 120 min after tube feeding. Larvae tube fed the FAA treatment exhibited CCK levels that increased linearly from 1.6 to 5.6 fmol mg^-1 dry weight (DW) after 2 h of digestion, although this response was below the BSA and BSA:FAA treatments. The BSA and BSA:FAA treatments, after 15 min of digestion, showed a rapid CCK increase, over the PS and the FAA liposome treatments, to 8.1 and 5.4 fmol mg^-1 DW, respectively. At the end of the assay, BSA and BSA:FAA demonstrated similar levels (10.2 and 9.2 fmol mg^-1 DW, respectively). Larvae tube fed the PS control or the FAA liposome treatment did not demonstrate any appreciable increase in tryptic activity during the 2 h digestion period (0.03-0.071 and 0.03-0.048 mU mg^-1 DW, respectively). In contrast, the BSA:FAA treatment increased from 0.03-0.148 mU mg^-1 DW 1 h after feeding, which was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the PS and FAA liposomes, and then decreased markedly (0.085 mU mg^-1 DW) after 2 h of digestion. The larvae tube fed BSA liposomes, however, demonstrated steadily increasing tryptic activity throughout the sampling period, attaining 0.255 mU mg^-1 DW after 2 h, which was significantly (p<0.05) more than all the other treatments. The results showed that ingested liposomes containing FAA or the protein BSA or a combination of these two nutrients effectively stimulated CCK production in first-feeding herring larvae. In contrast, liposomes containing only physiological saline did not elicit a CCK response. In addition, liposomes containing BSA stimulated tryptic activity in herring larvae, which was not observed in fish fed liposomes that included only FAA or PS. This suggests that a suitable protein substrate is required to regulate protein digestion.     

Transport and reduction of nitrate in clayey till underneath forest and arable land

Transport and reduction of nitrate in a typically macroporous clayey till were examined at variable flow rate and nitrate flux. The experiments were carried out using saturated, large diameter (0.5 m), undisturbed soil columns (LUC), from a forest and nearby agricultural sites. Transport of nitrate was controlled by flow along the macropores (fractures and biopores) in the columns. Nitrate reduction (denitrification) determined under active flow mainly followed first order reactions with half-lives (t(1/2)) increasing with depth (1.5-3.5 m) from 7 to 35 days at the forest site and 1-7 h at the agricultural site. Nitrate reduction was likely due to microbial degradation of accumulated organic matter coupled with successive consumption of O2 and NO3- in the macropore water followed by reductive dissolution of Fe and Mn from minerals along the macropores. Concentrations of total organic carbon measured in soil samples were near identical at the two study sites and consequently not useful as indicator for the observed differences in nitrate reduction. Instead the high reduction rates at the agricultural site were positively correlated with elevated concentration of water-soluble organic carbon and nitrate-removing bacteria relative to the forest site. After high concentrations of water-soluble organic carbon in the columns from the agricultural site were leached they lost their elevated reduction rates, which, however, was successfully re-established by infiltration of new reactive organics represented by pesticides. Simulations using a calibrated discrete fracture matrix diffusion (DFMD) model could reasonably reproduce the denitrification and resulting flux of nitrate observed during variable flow rate from the columns.     

Early prenatal direct gene diagnosis of cystic fibrosis in a twin pregnancy and subsequent selective termination

We present a case of prenatal diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) in one twin at 11–12 weeks of gestation. The parents had previously had two children, one of whom is alive and healthy and one who died of CF at the age of 2½ months. The parents were both known to be carriers of the ΔF508 mutation. Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) was performed and direct gene analysis showed that one fetus was homozygous for the ΔF508 mutation, while the other fetus did not have the mutation at all. Both fetuses had normal karyotypes. Selective termination was subsequently performed. The pregnancy continued without complications except for mild pre-eclampsia at term. The woman had a Caesarean section. The genetic diagnosis was confirmed after birth.     

High resolution chromosomes from first trimester trophoblast cultures

A simple method for obtaining prometaphase chromosomes from cultured first trimester cells involves the addition of BrdU and FdU 11 h before harvest and ethidium bromide 1.5 h before harvest. High resolution R-banding is obtained by acridine orange staining.     

Genetic amniocentesis at 7–14 weeks of gestation

Genetic amniocentesis performed at 7–14 weeks of gestation was studied in a series of 138 patients of whom 50 wanted termination of pregnancy (⩽ 12 weeks). The material for analysis consisted of 132 samples due to two sampling failures and four samples being handled incorrectly. Forty-eight samples (36 per cent) were taken at 7–12 weeks of gestation, mainly transvaginally (36/48:75 per cent). The success rate of culture and karyotyping increased with the duration of pregnancy, but was only satisfactory from week 11 onwards. The time until harvest was then 14–15 days. The transvaginal approach is easy to perform and was accepted by the women, but we experienced bacterial or fungal overgrowth in 17 per cent of these samples, whereas no infection occurred in the samples taken transabdominally (n = 96). We conclude that genetic amniocentesis is feasible from week 11, but further studies concerning side effects, especially focusing on the procedure-related abortion risk, should be carried out before early amniocentesis is routinely applied.     

Toxicity of root-applied sulphite in Zea mays

Zea mays was grown in nutrient solution with different concentrations of sulphite and sulphate (0, 5, and 10 mM) at pH 5 or 7, with or without aeration, for five days. Sulphite injured the plants, especially at low pH. Lack of aeration increased the sulphite injury of the plants at the high pH. in the aerated solutions, sulphite concentrations approached zero after five hours, while the unaerated solutions still contained sulphite after four days. Very little sulphite was found in the plants. The results indicate that the toxicity to the plants of the different chemical species of the sulphite in the solution decreases in the following order: SO₂ (aq) > HSO₃ ^– > SO₃ ^2–.