使用底栖和浮游桡足类生物测试评估沉积物修复方案的效果

三丁基锡（TBT）是一种常见于船舶防污涂料中的有机锡化合物。尽管该化学物已于2008年被禁用,但在ports和港口等海上交通区域仍可检出致毒水平（浓度）的TBT。一项补救方案在新西兰的一个港口实施,以将TBT和铜的浓度降低到可接受的（浓度）值。这项研究使用分析化学和桡足类生物测试相结合的方法评估了该方案的有效性。在港口内的三个空间梯度上采集沉积物和水样,并在修复前后测定了有机锡和金属含量。利用底栖和浮游桡足类生物测试估算了沉积物和淘析样品的毒性。虽然底泥样品的急性毒性在修复后减少,但对底栖桡足类的繁殖率仍有影响。本研究所采用的方法有望评估沿海地区修复过程的效果。     

Estimating Evapotranspiration for Dryland Cropping Systems in the Semiarid Texas High Plains Using SWAT

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is one of the most widely used watershed models for simulating hydrology in response to agricultural management practices. However, limited studies have been performed to evaluate the SWAT model's ability to estimate daily and monthly evapotranspiration (ET) in semiarid regions. ET values were simulated using ArcSWAT 2012 for a lysimeter field managed under dryland conditions at the USDA‐ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory at Bushland, Texas, and compared with measured lysimeter values from 2000 to 2010. Two scenarios were performed to compare SWAT's performance: (1) use of default plant leaf area index (LAI) values in the embedded plant database and (2) adjusted LAI values. Scenario 1 resulted in an “unsatisfactory” Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.42 and 0.38 for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Scenario 2 resulted in a “satisfactory” NSE value for the calibration period while achieving a “good” NSE of 0.70 for the validation period. SWAT generally underestimated ET at both the daily and monthly levels. Overestimation during fallow years may be due to the limitations of the pothole function used to simulate furrow diking. Users should be aware of potential errors associated with using default LAI parameters. Inaccuracies in ET estimation may also stem from errors in the plant stress functions, particularly when evaluating water management practices for dryland watersheds.     

Assessing the fate of radioactive nickel in cultivated soil cores

Parameters regarding fate of ⁶³Ni in the soil–plant system (soil: solution distribution coefficient, K_d and soil plant concentration ratio, CR) are mostly determined in controlled pot experiments or from simple models involving a limited set of soil parameters. However, as migration of pollutants in soil is strongly linked to the water migration, variation of soil structure in the field and seasonal variation of evapotranspiration will affect these two parameters. The aim of this work was to explore to what extent the downward transfer of ⁶³Ni and its uptake by plants from surface-contaminated undisturbed soil cores under cultivation can be explained by isotopic dilution of this radionuclide in the pool of stable Ni of soils. Undisturbed soil cores (50 cm × 50 cm) were sampled from a brown rendzina (Rendzic Leptosol), a colluvial brown soil (Fluvic Cambisol) and an acidic brown soil (Dystric Cambisol) using PVC lysimeter tubes (three lysimeters sampled per soil type). Each core was equipped with a leachate collector. Cores were placed in a greenhouse and maize (DEA, Pioneer^®) was sown. After 44 days, an irrigation was simulated at the core surfaces to supply 10 000 Bq ⁶³NiCl₂. Maize was harvested 135 days after ⁶³Ni input and radioactivity determined in both vegetal and water samples. Effective uptake of ⁶³Ni by maize was calculated for leaves and kernels. Water drainage and leaching of ⁶³Ni were monitored over the course of the experiment. Values of K_d in surface soil samples were calculated from measured parameters of isotopic exchange kinetics. Results confirmed that ⁶³Ni was strongly retained at the soil surface. Prediction of the ⁶³Ni downward transfer could not be reliably assessed using the K_d values, since the soil structure, which controls local water fluxes, also affected both water and Ni transport. In terms of ⁶³Ni plant uptake, the effective uptake in undisturbed soil cores is controlled by isotope dilution as previously shown at the pot experiment scale.     

Comprehensive study of endocrine disrupting compounds using grab and passive sampling at selected wastewater treatment plants in South East Queensland, Australia

Chemical (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, GC-MS) and biological (E-Screen assay) analyses were used to determine the concentrations of 15 endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and estrogen equivalent (EEq) in grab and passive samples from five municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in South East Queensland, Australia. EEq concentrations derived by E-Screen assays for the grab samples were between 108-356 ng/L for the influents and < 1-14.8 ng/L for the effluents with the exception of one effluent sample which was at 67.8 ng/L EEq. The EDC concentrations and EEq values for the passive samples were several times lower than those of the grab samples: a decrease probably caused by, but not limited to biofouling, low flow rate, biodegradation and temperature which can progressively reduce the uptake of compounds into the sampler. At this stage, grab sampling is the most reliable method for field monitoring; nevertheless, passive sampler is a useful sampling tool but the method requires more research to ensure that the information obtained can be interpreted appropriately. Although alkylphenols and phthalates were detected at higher concentrations in the wastewater samples as compared to natural hormones, the environmental risk may be negligible as their estrogenic potencies are several orders of magnitude lower than that of the natural estrogens. In most wastewater samples, the natural estrogens contributed to 60% or more of the EEq value. Removal efficacy of most estrogenic and xenoestrogenic compounds from the conventional activated sludge or biological nutrient removal (BNR) WWTPs monitored in this study was in the range of 80-> 99%. The efficiency of the WWTPs in removing estrogenic activity was > 95%. The EEqs of the E-Screen and those calculated from the results of extensive chemical analyses using the estradiol equivalency factors were comparable for most of the WWTPs samples.     

Prenatal analysis of the insulin receptor gene in a family with leprechaunism

Leprechaunism is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by intrauterine and postnatal growth restriction, loss of glucose homeostasis, and severe insulin resistance. This disease is caused by a failure of function of the insulin receptor and is lethal early in life. Here we report the prenatal diagnosis of leprechaunism in one consanguineous family, Atl-1, in which two homozygous-affected siblings died with leprechaunism. The mutation in their insulin receptor impaired insulin binding and altered receptor signalling. Prenatal diagnosis could not be accomplished using insulin binding to cultured amniocytes, but was possible using mutational analysis of the insulin receptor gene in DNA from amniotic cells.     

Patterns of sexual cohabitation and female ejaculate storage in the American lobster (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Homarus americanus</Emphasis>)

Little is known of the time and ejaculate allocation strategies during mating of American lobster, Homarus americanus. This study investigated sexual cohabitation and female ejaculate accumulation patterns in a laboratory mating experiment, as well as female seminal receptacle load in exploited populations in the waters of the Magdalen and Anticosti Islands, in eastern Canada. In the laboratory experiment, the length of sexual cohabitation was proportionate to female size for large but not for small males. Also, large males cohabited with pre- and postmolt females longer than small males. These different time investment strategies can be explained by different mutual benefits. In the field and laboratory, larger females accumulated more ejaculate than smaller ones. This suggests that male lobsters tailor ejaculate to female size, a reliable index of her reproductive potential. Moreover, similarly-sized females accumulated more ejaculate when mated with large compared to small males. Comparison of receptacle loads between wild-mated and laboratory-mated females suggests that the former were mating mainly with smaller males, although some evidence of positive size-assortative mating existed, especially at the less exploited Anticosti site. The results are discussed in the context of evolutionary theory and of proposed management measures to increase egg production in exploited populations.Communicated by T. Czeschlik     

15N-Nitrate signature in low-order streams: effects of land cover and agricultural practices.

Many studies have shown that intensive agricultural practices significantly increase the nitrogen concentration of stream surface waters, but it remains difficult to identify, quantify, and differentiate between terrestrial and in-stream sources or sinks of nitrogen, and rates of transformation. In this study we used the delta15N-NO3 signature in a watershed dominated by agriculture as an integrating marker to trace (1) the effects of the land cover and agricultural practices on stream-water N concentration in the upstream area of the hydrographic network, (2) influence of the in-stream processes on the NO3-N loads at the reach scale (100 m and 1000 m long), and (3) changes in delta15N-NO3 signature with increasing stream order (from first to third order). This study suggests that land cover and fertilization practices were the major determinants of delta15N-NO3 signature in first-order streams. NO3-N loads and delta15N-NO3 signature increased with fertilization intensity. Small changes in delta15N-NO3 signature and minor inputs of groundwater were observed along both types of reaches, suggesting the NO3-N load was slightly influenced by in-stream processes. The variability of NO3-N concentrations and delta15N signature decreased with increasing stream order, and the delta15N signature was positively correlated with watershed areas devoted to crops, supporting a dominant effect of agriculture compared to the effect of in-stream N processing. Consequently, land cover and fertilization practices are integrated in the natural isotopic signal at the third-order stream scale. The GIS analysis of the land cover coupled with natural-abundance isotope signature (delta15N) represents a potential tool to evaluate the effects of agricultural practices in rural catchments and the consequences of future changes in management policies at the regional scale.