15N Metabolic test for the determination of phytotoxic effects of chemicals and contaminated environmental samples

A stable isotope¹⁵N-nitrogen test (ESIMA = Ecotoxicological Stable Isotope Metabolic Assay) was developed to assess biological effects and the potential toxicological hazard of chemicals and contaminated environmental samples on plant metabolism. The assay measures the effect of toxicants on the incorporation of a¹⁵N labelled tracer into the total nitrogen fraction (both the nonprotein and protein fraction) of plants. Segments ofPisum arvense epicotyls are used as test substrates because of their high metabolic activity. The plant material is incubated under standardised conditions for two hours; subsequently¹⁵N incorporation is analysed by determining the¹⁵N abundance (¹⁵N atom-%) in the epicotyl segments. The effects of toxicants are evaluated by comparing the¹⁵N incorporation rates of control tissue and epicotyl segments exposed to individual chemicals or complex environmental samples. The specificity and sensitivity of effects as indicated by ESIMA were compared with effects as measured by two established ecotoxicological bioassays, the pollen tube growth test using pollen ofNicotiana sylvestris and the bacterial luminescence inhibition test using pollen ofPhotobacterium phosphoreum. The results of the study clearly indicate the suitability of ESIMA for assessing toxic impacts on plant nitrogen metabolism. Prof. Dr. habil. Hans Faust dedicated to his 70^th birthday.     

Zur Humusausstattung ostbayerischer Mittelgebirgsböden

Background

Important properties and processes of soils are influenced by their humus contents. Therefore knowledge about the humus status of soils is an important requirement for a meaningful evaluation on dynamics and risk potentials.

Aim

Based on the extensive database of the Bavarian Environment Agency typical humus content and humus storage are compiled for soils of the Bavarian and Upper Palatinate Fores. Their importance for questions on soil and environment is estimated.

Results and Discussion

The evaluation revealed rising soil organic matter with an increasing cool and moist climate on the mountains of the Bavarian and Upper Palatinate Forest. This is particularly true for the mineral soil above 600 m above sea-level, where more organic matter is stored than in the humus layer. Depending on altitude the calculated total humus stock of soils varies between 12 and 40 kg^*m^?2, which means medium to very high humus contents. The highest humus stock occur between 900 and 1200 m above sea-level, where intensively rooted ‘Lockerbraunerden’ are prevailing. The somewhat lower humus content in soils above 1200 m above sea-level (about 5 kg^* m^?2) is explained by a shallow indurated horizon, that reduce the rooting to the upper 3–5 decimetres. The even though considerable humus stock of this concrete like indurated horizon is therefore explained by infiltration. The remarkable thickness of organic layers above 1200 m above sea-level is probably not only a result of climate, but also of a difficult decomposition of the prevailing spruce litters.

Conclusions

The high contents of organic matter in the examined soil should release appreciable amounts of CO₂ if there will be a change in climate. Furthermore a decomposition of humus may considerably worsen the supply with water and nutrients on these sites.     

The insurance market’s influence on investments in safety measures

In a risky process there are three alternative ways to treat the negative consequences of the risk or the accident. We can: (1) take all the consequences when an accidental event occurs, (2) reduce the probability and/or the consequences of an accidental event by safety measures or (3) transfer the consequences of the occurrence to parties better able to carry them (i.e. buying insurance). In safety management a prevailing practice is that access to an insurance market does not affect the investment in safety measures. In this paper we discuss what the consequences are of this common practice in relation to insurance and mandatory safety requirements. We conclude that an overinvestment in safety measures is very likely if insurance is not taken into account. Moreover, mandatory safety measures and insurance can lead to both over- and underinvestment in safety measures.     

The assessment of the soil–plant-animal transport of the risk elements at the locations affected by brown coal mining

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The North Bohemian Brown Coal Basin (Czech Republic) is suggested as a source of significant pollution in the surrounding environment with various...     

Quantifying and mapping species threat abatement opportunities to support national target setting

The successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will rely on effective translation of targets from global to national level and increased engagement across diverse sectors of society. Species conservation targets require policy support measures that can be applied to a diversity of taxonomic groups, that link action targets to outcome goals, and that can be applied to both global and national data sets to account for national context, which the species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) metric does. To test the flexibility of STAR, we applied the metric to vascular plants listed on national red lists of Brazil, Norway, and South Africa. The STAR metric uses data on species’ extinction risk, distributions, and threats, which we obtained from national red lists to quantify the contribution that threat abatement and habitat restoration activities could make to reducing species’ extinction risk. Across all 3 countries, the greatest opportunity for reducing plant species’ extinction risk was from abating threats from agricultural activities, which could reduce species’ extinction risk by 54% in Norway, 36% in South Africa, and 29% in Brazil. Species extinction risk could be reduced by a further 21% in South Africa by abating threats from invasive species and by 21% in Brazil by abating threats from urban expansion. Even with different approaches to red-listing among countries, the STAR metric yielded informative results that identified where the greatest conservation gains could be made for species through threat-abatement and restoration activities. Quantifiably linking local taxonomic coverage and data collection to global processes with STAR would allow national target setting to align with global targets and enable state and nonstate actors to measure and report on their potential contributions to species conservation.     

Stoichiometric controls of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in decomposing beech leaf litter

Resource stoichiometry (C:N:P) is an important determinant of litter decomposition. However, the effect of elemental stoichiometry on the gross rates of microbial N and P cycling processes during litter decomposition is unknown. In a mesocosm experiment, beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) litter with natural differences in elemental stoichiometry (C:N:P) was incubated under constant environmental conditions. After three and six months, we measured various aspects of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling. We found that gross protein depolymerization, N mineralization (ammonification), and nitrification rates were negatively related to litter C:N. Rates of P mineralization were negatively correlated with litter C:P. The negative correlations with litter C:N were stronger for inorganic N cycling processes than for gross protein depolymerization, indicating that the effect of resource stoichiometry on intracellular processes was stronger than on processes catalyzed by extracellular enzymes. Consistent with this, extracellular protein depolymerization was mainly limited by substrate availability and less so by the amount of protease. Strong positive correlations between the interconnected N and P pools and the respective production and consumption processes pointed to feed-forward control of microbial litter N and P cycling. A negative relationship between litter C:N and phosphatase activity (and between litter C:P and protease activity) demonstrated that microbes tended to allocate carbon and nutrients in ample supply into the production of extracellular enzymes to mine for the nutrient that is more limiting. Overall, the study demonstrated a strong effect of litter stoichiometry (C:N:P) on gross processes of microbial N and P cycling in decomposing litter; mineralization of N and P were tightly coupled to assist in maintaining cellular homeostasis of litter microbial communities.     

Controlling annual weeds in cereals by deploying crop rotation at the landscape scale: Avena sterilis as an example

Weed control through crop rotation has mainly been studied in a nonspatial context. However, weed seeds are often spread beyond the crop field by a variety of vectors. For weed control to be successful, weed management should thus be evaluated at the landscape level. In this paper we assess how seed dispersal affects the interactions between crop rotation and landscape heterogeneity schemes with regard to weed control. A spatially explicit landscape model was developed to study both short- and long-term weed population dynamics under different management scenarios. We allowed for both two- and three-crop species rotations and three levels of between-field weed seed dispersal. All rotation scenarios and seed dispersal fractions were analyzed for both completely homogeneous landscapes and heterogeneous landscapes in which more than one crop was present. The potential of implementing new weed control methods was also analyzed. The model results suggest that, like crop rotation at the field level, crop rotation implemented at the landscape level has great potential to control weeds, whereby both the number of crop species and the cropping sequence within the crop rotation have significant effects on both the short- and long-term weed population densities. In the absence of seed dispersal, weed populations became extinct when the fraction of each crop in the landscape was randomized. In general, weed seed densities increased in landscapes with increasing similarity in crop proportions, but in these landscapes the level of seed dispersal affected which three-crop species rotation sequence was most efficient at controlling the weed densities. We show that ignoring seed dispersal between fields might lead to the selection of suboptimal tactics and that homogeneous crop field patches that follow a specific crop rotation sequence might be the most sustainable method of weed control. Effective weed control through crop rotation thus requires coordination between farmers with regard to cropping sequences, crop allocation across the landscape, and/ or the fraction of each crop across the landscape.     

Maintenance of coelomic fluid pH in sea urchins exposed to elevated CO2: the role of body cavity epithelia and stereom dissolution

Experimental ocean acidification leads to a shift in resource allocation and to an increased [HCO₃ ^?] within the perivisceral coelomic fluid (PCF) in the Baltic green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. We investigated putative mechanisms of this pH compensation reaction by evaluating epithelial barrier function and the magnitude of skeleton (stereom) dissolution. In addition, we measured ossicle growth and skeletal stability. Ussing chamber measurements revealed that the intestine formed a barrier for HCO₃ ^? and was selective for cation diffusion. In contrast, the peritoneal epithelium was leaky and only formed a barrier for macromolecules. The ossicles of 6 week high CO₂-acclimatised sea urchins revealed minor carbonate dissolution, reduced growth but unchanged stability. On the other hand, spines dissolved more severely and were more fragile following acclimatisation to high CO₂. Our results indicate that epithelia lining the PCF space contribute to its acid–base regulation. The intestine prevents HCO₃ ^? diffusion and thus buffer leakage. In contrast, the leaky peritoneal epithelium allows buffer generation via carbonate dissolution from the surrounding skeletal ossicles. Long-term extracellular acid–base balance must be mediated by active processes, as sea urchins can maintain relatively high extracellular [HCO₃ ^?]. The intestinal epithelia are good candidate tissues for this active net import of HCO₃ ^? into the PCF. Spines appear to be more vulnerable to ocean acidification which might significantly impact resistance to predation pressure and thus influence fitness of this keystone species.