PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB in human blood and milk from German mothers

Blood samples of pregnant women aged between 19 and 42 years at the time they gave birth and milk samples from the same women following delivery were collected between September 2000 and January 2003 from 169 participants living in an industrialized area of Germany (Duisburg birth cohort study). All samples were analyzed for their content of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) as well as dioxin-like and indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Levels of WHO-TEq were in the range of 4.34-97.3 pg/g(lipid base) (median: 26.37, arithmetic mean: 28.36) for blood, or 3.01-78.7 pg/g(lipid base) (median: 26.40, arithmetic mean: 27.27) for milk, respectively. The four congeners 12378-PeCDD, 23478-PeCDF, 33'44'5-PeCB (# 126) and 233'44'5-HxCB (# 156) contribute the main share to total WHO-TEq. The contribution of PCDD/F in relation to PCB to total WHO-TEq was 60:40% in blood and 52:48% in milk. Good correlations of the contaminant levels in lipid base between both matrices were found. The distribution between blood and milk depends on the molecular weight of the substances. Higher chlorinated PCDD/F- and PCB-congeners were found in 2-4-fold higher concentrations in blood in relation to milk and the concentrations of lower chlorinated PCB-congeners were up to 2-fold higher in milk in relation to blood. The body burden of PCDD/F and PCB increases with age and decreases over the total nursing period. Women who had lived outside highly industrialized countries showed lower concentrations of PCDD/F and PCB. In some cases, elevated levels of PCB were observed when the women had previously lived in Eastern Europe for a long time. In comparison with recent data, the decline in human PCDD/F and PCB levels observed during the nineties seems to have stopped. The individual exposures of the infants due to breastfeeding within the first 18 months were calculated to be from 4.4 to 318 ng WHO-TEq (median: 106, arithmetic mean: 118). The actual mean daily exposure of a breastfed infant can be estimated to 131 pg WHO-TEq/kg(body weight).     

Design of a new monitoring network and first testing of new biological assessment methods according to water framework directive

In most European member states, more or less completely new monitoring networks and assessment methods had to be developed as basic technical tools for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). In the river basin of the Stever, the largest tributary to the river Lippe (River Rhine, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany), a WFD-monitoring network was developed, and new German biological methods for rivers, developed for the purposes of the WFD, have been applied. Like most rivers in the German lowland areas, nearly all the river courses of the Stever system are altered by hydro-morphological degradation (straightening, bank fixation, lack of canopy etc.). In 2005 and 2006, the biological quality components of macroinvertebrates, fish and macrophytes were investigated and evaluated for the assessment of the ecological status of about 50 surface water bodies within the whole Stever system. Basic physical and chemical parameters, as well as priority substances, have been analysed in the same period. In this contribution, the design of the new monitoring network, the core principles of the German biological methods, and the most important results of the pilot monitoring will be presented. As main impacts with severe effects on the faunal and floral communities, the many migration barriers and the bad quality of the river morphology could be stated. Organic pollution is no more a severe problem in the Stever. The pilot project was successfully conducted in close collaboration with the water authorities (District Government Münster) and the water association Lippeverband.     

A framework for evaluating the impact of the IUCN Red List of threatened species

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, a species extinction risk assessment tool, has been guiding conservation efforts for over 5 decades. It is widely assumed to have been instrumental in preventing species from moving closer to extinction and driving recoveries. However, the impact of the IUCN Red List in guiding conservation has not been evaluated. We conducted, transcribed, and coded interviews with experts who use the IUCN Red List across a range of sectors to understand how the list is used in conservation. We developed a theory of change to illustrate how and why change is expected to occur along causal pathways contributing to the long-term goal of the IUCN Red List and an evaluation framework with indicators for measuring the impact of the IUCN Red List in generating scientific knowledge, raising awareness among stakeholders, designating priority conservation sites, allocating funding and resources, influencing development of legislation and policy, and guiding targeted conservation action (key themes). Red-list assessments were the primary input leading to outputs (scientific knowledge, raised awareness), outcomes (better informed priority setting, access to funding and resource availability, improved legislation and policy), and impact (implemented conservation action leading to positive change) that have resulted in achievement of IUCN Red List goals. To explore feasibility of attributing the difference made by the IUCN Red List across themes, we studied increased scientific knowledge, raised awareness, access to funding and resource allocation, and increased conservation activity. The feasibility exploration showed increased scientific knowledge over time identified through positive trends in publications referring to the IUCN Red List in the literature; raised awareness of the list following high IUCN activity identified by peaks in online search activity; an increased proportion of conservation funding bodies requesting IUCN Red List status in the application process; and, based on interviews with Amphibian Specialist Group members, red-list assessments were essential in connecting relevant stakeholders and ensuring conservation action. Although we identified the IUCN Red List as a vital tool in global conservation efforts, it was challenging to measure specific impacts because of its ubiquitous nature. We are the first to identify the influence of the IUCN Red List on conservation.     

By-Catch Impacts in Fisheries: Utilizing the IUCN Red List Categories for Enhanced Product Level Assessment in Seafood LCAs

Overexploitation of fish stocks causes concern not only to fisheries managers and conservation biologists, but also engages seafood consumers; more integrated product perspectives would be useful. This could be provided by life cycle assessment (LCA); however, further complements of present LCA methodology are needed to assess seafood production, one being by-catch impacts. We studied the scientific rationale behind using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species? for assessment of impacts relating to fish species’ vulnerability. For this purpose, the current Red List status of marine fish in Sweden was compared to the advice given in fisheries as well as key life history traits known to indicate sensitivity to high fishing pressure. Further, we quantified the amount of threatened fish (vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered) that was discarded in demersal trawl fisheries on the Swedish west coast. The results showed that not only did the national Red List of marine fish have a high consistency with advice given in fisheries and indices of vulnerability, the different fishing practices studied were also found to have vastly different amounts of threatened fish discarded per kilo landing. The suggested approach is therefore promising as a carrier of aggregated information on the extent to which seafood production interferes with conservation priorities, in particular for species lacking adequate stock assessment. To enable extensive product comparisons, it is important to increase coverage of fish species by the global IUCN Red List, and to reconsider the appropriate assessment unit (species or stocks) in order to avoid false alarms.     

Impact of alternative metrics on estimates of extent of occurrence for extinction risk assessment

In International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessments, extent of occurrence (EOO) is a key measure of extinction risk. However, the way assessors estimate EOO from maps of species’ distributions is inconsistent among assessments of different species and among major taxonomic groups. Assessors often estimate EOO from the area of mapped distribution, but these maps often exclude areas that are not habitat in idiosyncratic ways and are not created at the same spatial resolutions. We assessed the impact on extinction risk categories of applying different methods (minimum convex polygon, alpha hull) for estimating EOO for 21,763 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians. Overall, the percentage of threatened species requiring down listing to a lower category of threat (taking into account other Red List criteria under which they qualified) spanned 11–13% for all species combined (14–15% for mammals, 7–8% for birds, and 12–15% for amphibians). These down listings resulted from larger estimates of EOO and depended on the EOO calculation method. Using birds as an example, we found that 14% of threatened and near threatened species could require down listing based on the minimum convex polygon (MCP) approach, an approach that is now recommended by IUCN. Other metrics (such as alpha hull) had marginally smaller impacts. Our results suggest that uniformly applying the MCP approach may lead to a one‐time down listing of hundreds of species but ultimately ensure consistency across assessments and realign the calculation of EOO with the theoretical basis on which the metric was founded.     

Comparison of Extraction Methods for the Detection of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus RNA in Goat Raw Milk and Cream Cheese

Food and Environmental Virology - Infection with the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) can cause meningitis, meningoencephalitis and myelitis in humans. TBEV is an enveloped RNA virus of the...     

Adaptation to climate change in the transport sector: a review of actions and actors

This paper identifies the literature that deals with adaptation to climate change in the transport sector. It presents a systematic review of the adaptations suggested in the literature. Although it is frequently claimed that this socially and economically important sector is particularly vulnerable to climate change, there is comparatively little research into its adaptation. The 63 sources we found are analysed following an action framework of adaptation. This distinguishes different adaptational functions and means of adaptation. By an open coding procedure, a total of 245 adaptations are found and classified. The paper shows a broad diversity of interdependent actors to be relevant—ranging from transportation providers to public and private actors and households. Crucial actors are hybrid in terms of being public or private. A substantial share of the identified adaptations follows a top-down adaptation policy pattern where a public or hybrid operator initiates action that affects private actors. Most of the exceptions from this pattern are technical or engineering measures. Identified adaptations mostly require institutional means, followed by technical means, and knowledge. Generally, knowledge on adapting transport to climate change is still in a stage of infancy. The existing literature either focuses on overly general adaptations, or on detailed technical measures. Further research is needed on the actual implementation of adaptation, and on more precise institutional instruments that fill the gap between too vague and too site-specific adaptations.     

Hydrophobicity of soil colloids and heavy metal mobilization: effects of drying

Drying of soil may increase the hydrophobicity of soil and affect the mobilization of colloids after re-wetting. Results of previous research suggest that colloid hydrophobicity is an important parameter in controlling the retention of colloids and colloid-associated substances in soils. We tested the hypothesis that air-drying of soil samples increases the hydrophobicity of water-dispersible colloids and whether air-drying affects the mobilization of colloid-associated heavy metals. We performed batch experiments with field-moist and air-dried (25 degrees C) soils from a former sewage farm (sandy loam), a municipal park (loamy sand), and a shooting range site (loamy sand with 25% C(org)). The filtered suspensions (<1.2 microm) were analyzed for concentrations of dissolved and colloidal organic C and heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn), average colloid size, zeta potential, and turbidity. The hydrophobicity of colloids was determined by their partitioning between a hydrophobic solid and a hydrophilic aqueous phase. Drying increased hydrophobicity of the solid phase but did not affect the hydrophobicity of the dispersed colloids. Drying decreased the amount of mobilized mineral and (organo-)mineral colloids in the sewage farm soils but increased the mobilization of organic colloids in the C-rich shooting range soil. Dried samples released less colloid-bound Cd and Zn than field-moist samples. Drying-induced mobilization of dissolved organic C caused a redistribution of Cu from the colloidal to the dissolved phase. We conclude that drying-induced colloid mobilization is not caused by a change in the physicochemical properties of the colloids. Therefore, it is likely that the mobilization of colloids in the field is caused by increasing shear forces or the disintegration of aggregates.