Callyspongia samarensis (Porifera) extracts exhibit anticancer activity and induce bleaching in Porites cylindrica (Scleractinia)

Marine sponges can produce allelopathic compounds with specific roles in the competition for benthic space. Here we demonstrate that extracts from Callyspongia samarensis (Phylum Porifera) accelerate bleaching in Porites cylindrica (Phylum Cnidaria, Order Scleractinia) and exhibit in vitro anticancer activity. A column chromatography fraction and HPLC fraction, purified from the crude methanol extract of C. samarensis, were incorporated into agar gel cubes at natural concentrations and tested on P. cylindrica corals in a laboratory assay. Statistical analysis of percent bleached area and maximum quantum yield showed that a significant difference existed between P. cylindrica nubbins that were exposed to C. samarensis extracts versus the control group. This suggests that C. samarensis contains allelopathic compounds that can cause bleaching in P. cylindrica, possibly leading to tissue necrosis and death. Furthermore, the aforementioned HPLC fraction exhibited significant growth inhibition of the HCT-116 (human colon cancer) cell line. Understanding the strategies by which sponges exert dominance over other organisms is important because it provides information about the ecological roles of sponge allelopathy and can result in the discovery of compounds with biomedical potential.     

Size assessment in simulated territorial encounters between male green frogs (Rana clamitans)

We examined the ability of male green frogs to assess the size of an opponent based on the dominant frequency of their advertisement call, which is negatively correlated with size, using synthetic stimuli to simulate intruders of different sizes. In one field playback experiment, we broadcast a pair of stimuli representing a small and a large male; in a second experiment, we broadcast calls of a medium and a large male. In both experiments, males produced calls with significantly lower dominant frequencies in response to each stimulus. Contrast analyses revealed that males lowered the dominant frequency of their calls more in response to the large-male stimulus than in responses to the small- and medium-male stimuli. In the second experiment, males also responded to the large-male stimulus by calling at higher rates. There were no differences in mean note duration or the number of moves made toward or around the playback speaker in response to any stimulus. Thus, the frequency of an opponent's calls elicits a differential modification of calling behavior, primarily in the form of differential dominant frequency alteration, suggesting that males use dominant frequency to assess the size of opponents during aggressive encounters. Received: 17 April 1998 / Accepted after revision: 7 October 1998     

A roadmap for ladybird conservation and recovery

Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) provide services that are critical to food production, and they fulfill an ecological role as a food source for predators. The richness, abundance, and distribution of ladybirds, however, are compromised by many anthropogenic threats. Meanwhile, a lack of knowledge of the conservation status of most species and the factors driving their population dynamics hinders the development and implementation of conservation strategies for ladybirds. We conducted a review of the literature on the ecology, diversity, and conservation of ladybirds to identify their key ecological threats. Ladybird populations are most affected by climate factors, landscape composition, and biological invasions. We suggest mitigating actions for ladybird conservation and recovery. Short-term actions include citizen science programs and education, protective measures for habitat recovery and threatened species, prevention of the introduction of non-native species, and the maintenance and restoration of natural areas and landscape heterogeneity. Mid-term actions involve the analysis of data from monitoring programs and insect collections to disentangle the effect of different threats to ladybird populations, understand habitat use by taxa on which there is limited knowledge, and quantify temporal trends of abundance, diversity, and biomass along a management-intensity gradient. Long-term actions include the development of a worldwide monitoring program based on standardized sampling to fill data gaps, increase explanatory power, streamline analyses, and facilitate global collaborations.     

Phytoremediation of landfill leachate

Leachate emissions from landfill sites are of concern, primarily due to their toxic impact when released unchecked into the environment, and the potential for landfill sites to generate leachate for many hundreds of years following closure. Consequently, economically and environmentally sustainable disposal options are a priority in waste management. One potential option is the use of soil-plant based remediation schemes. In many cases, using either trees (including short rotation coppice) or grassland, phytoremediation of leachate has been successful. However, there are a significant number of examples where phytoremediation has failed. Typically, this failure can be ascribed to excessive leachate application and poor management due to a fundamental lack of understanding of the plant-soil system. On balance, with careful management, phytoremediation can be viewed as a sustainable, cost effective and environmentally sound option which is capable of treating 250m(3)ha(-1)yr(-1). However, these schemes have a requirement for large land areas and must be capable of responding to changes in leachate quality and quantity, problems of scheme establishment and maintenance, continual environmental monitoring and seasonal patterns of plant growth. Although the fundamental underpinning science is well understood, further work is required to create long-term predictive remediation models, full environmental impact assessments, a complete life-cycle analysis and economic analyses for a wide range of landfill scenarios.     

Hourly measurements of fine particulate sulfate and carbon aerosols at the Harvard-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Supersite in Boston

Hourly concentrations of ambient fine particle sulfate and carbonaceous aerosols (elemental carbon [EC], organic carbon [OC], and black carbon [BC]) were measured at the Harvard-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Supersite in Boston, MA, between January 2007 and October 2008. These hourly concentrations were compared with those made using integrated filter-based measurements over 6-day or 24-hr periods. For sulfate, the two measurement methods showed good agreement. Semicontinuous measurements of EC and OC also agreed (but not as well as for sulfate) with those obtained using 24-hr integrated filter-based and optical BC reference methods. During the study period, 24-hr PM2.5 (particulate matter [PM] < or = 2.5 microm in aerodynamic diameter) concentrations ranged from 1.4 to 37.6 microg/m3, with an average of 9.3 microg/m3. Sulfate as the equivalent of ammonium sulfate accounted for 39.1% of the PM2.5 mass, whereas EC and OC accounted for 4.2 and 35.2%, respectively. Hourly sulfate concentrations showed no distinct diurnal pattern, whereas hourly EC and BC concentrations peaked during the morning rush hour between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. OC concentrations also exhibited nonpronounced, small peaks during the day, most likely related to traffic, secondary organic aerosol, and local sources, respectively.     

Measuring love and care for nature

This study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound measure of the construct of love and deep caring for nature as an expression of people’s personal and explicitly emotional relationship with nature. Expert opinion and pre-pilot surveys were employed for refinement of the item pool, and a sample of 307 university students was used in a major pilot study aiming to further purify scale items. A field trial was conducted using a sample of 261 tourists at leisure with nature. The final 15-item Love and Care for Nature (LCN) scale is differentiated from established measures of similar constructs, and demonstrates high internal consistency and sound validity. This research extends the psychological frameworks of environmental altruism, and has also taken the philosophical concept of biophilia, as love for nature, into the operational realm by making it perceptible and measurable.     

Natural Resource Management at Four Social Scales: Psychological Type Matters

Understanding organisation at different social scales is crucial to learning how social processes play a role in sustainable natural resource management. Research has neglected the potential role that individual personality plays in decision making in natural resource management. In the past two decades natural resource management across rural Australia has increasingly come under the direct influence of voluntary participatory groups, such as Catchment Management Authorities. The greater complexity of relationships among all stakeholders is a serious management challenge when attempting to align their differing aspirations and values at four social institutional scales—local, regional, state and national. This is an exploratory study on the psychological composition of groups of stakeholders at the four social scales in natural resource management in Australia. This article uses the theory of temperaments and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI^®) to investigate the distribution of personality types. The distribution of personality types in decision-making roles in natural resource management was markedly different from the Australian Archive sample. Trends in personality were found across social scales with Stabilizer temperament more common at the local scale and Theorist temperament more common at the national scale. Greater similarity was found at the state and national scales. Two temperaments comprised between 76 and 90% of participants at the local and regional scales, the common temperament type was Stabilizer. The dissimilarity was Improviser (40%) at the local scale and Theorist (29%) at the regional scale. Implications for increasing participation and bridging the gap between community and government are discussed.     

Planetary Stewardship in an Urbanizing World: Beyond City Limits

Cities are rapidly increasing in importance as a major factor shaping the Earth system, and therefore, must take corresponding responsibility. With currently over half the world’s population, cities are supported by resources originating from primarily rural regions often located around the world far distant from the urban loci of use. The sustainability of a city can no longer be considered in isolation from the sustainability of human and natural resources it uses from proximal or distant regions, or the combined resource use and impacts of cities globally. The world’s multiple and complex environmental and social challenges require interconnected solutions and coordinated governance approaches to planetary stewardship. We suggest that a key component of planetary stewardship is a global system of cities that develop sustainable processes and policies in concert with its non-urban areas. The potential for cities to cooperate as a system and with rural connectivity could increase their capacity to effect change and foster stewardship at the planetary scale and also increase their resource security.     

Potential exposure of children and adults to cypermethrin following use of indoor insecticide foggers

The magnitude and distribution of cypermethrin from total release, over-the-counter foggers was studied in a test room and in residences to facilitate evaluation of regulatory exposure algorithms and new human exposure assessments based upon urine biomonitoring. Surface residue (SR) was evenly distributed in a small test room (3.6 μ g cypermethrin/cm²) where thorough mixing of the aerosol occurred. In a residence SR was significantly affected by room size and distance from the fogger. Air levels in the residence were as high as 30 μ g cypermethrin/cm³ after 4.5 h. The availability of surface residues was measured with an automated surface cotton cloth wipe and ethyl acetate extraction. Only 5% of the SR was available from nylon carpet. Tile, wood and linoleum resulted in 30, 10, and 10% of SR being available, respectively. These data are used to estimate cypermethrin exposure of children and adults for comparison with existing regulatory reference dosages and exposure assessments based upon biomonitoring.     

A New Method to Assess Mercury Emissions: A Study of Three Coal-Fired Electric-Generating Power Station Configurations

Abstract

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 7473 for the analysis of mercury (Hg) by thermal decomposition, amalgamation, and atomic absorption spectroscopy has proved successful for use in Hg assessment at coal-fired power stations. In an analysis time of ～5 min per sample, this instrumental methodology can directly analyze total Hg—with no discrete sample preparation—in the solid matrices associated with a coal-fired power plant, including coal, fly ash, bottom ash, and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) material. This analysis technique was used to investigate Hg capture by coal combustion byproducts (CCBs) in three different coal-fired power plant configurations. Hg capture and associated emissions were estimated by partial mass balance. The station equipped with an FGD system demonstrated 68% capture on FGD material and an emissions estimate of 18% (11 kg/yr) of total Hg input. The power plant equipped with low oxides of nitrogen burners and an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) retained 43% on the fly ash and emitted 57% (51 kg/yr). The station equipped with conventional burners and an ESP retained less than 1% on the fly ash, emitting an estimated 99% (88 kg/yr) of Hg. Estimated Hg emissions demonstrate good agreement with EPA data for the power stations investigated.