Beneficial effect of saprobe and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on growth of Eucalyptus globulus co-cultured with Glycine max in soil contaminated with heavy metals

The effects of saprobe and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on growth, chlorophyll and N, P and K content of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. growing in soil contaminated by heavy metals in the presence or absence of Glycine max were investigated. Glomus mosseae and Glomus deserticola increased dry weight, shoot length, total N, P and K concentration and the quantity of chlorophyll in E. globulus shoots. The protection of Eucalyptus by AM fungi against the action of the heavy metals was more evident when this plant grew as an intercrop with soybean than as a monoculture. The presence of the saprobe fungi Fusarium concolor and Trichoderma koningii further enhanced shoot dry weight, N, P and K content of AM Eucalyptus. The co-inoculation of Eucalyptus with Glomus deserticola and T. koningii was more effective for Cd uptake. In addition, Glomus deserticola enhanced the amount of Pb absorbed by Eucalyptus plants. We showed that it is important to select the most efficient AM and saprobe fungi to stimulate plant growth in heavy-metal-contaminated soil and that the combination of both plays an important role in metal tolerance of Eucalyptus plants.     

Optimization of "Serpa" cheese whey nanofiltration for effluent minimization and by-products recovery

Second cheese whey (SCW) is a by-product of cheese and curd cheese production that is usually not recovered and therefore substantially contributes to the negative environmental impact of the cheese manufacture plants. Membrane technology, namely nanofiltration (NF), is used in this work for the recovery of SCW organic nutrients, resulting from "Serpa" cheese and curd production. The SCW is processed by NF to recover a rich lactose fraction in the concentrate and a process water with a high salt content in the permeate. The permeation experiments were carried out in a plate & frame NF unit, where two NF membranes (NFT50 and HR-95-PP) were characterized and tested. The NF permeation experiments were performed accordingly with two different operation modes: total recirculation and concentration. In order to select the best membrane and operating pressure for the SCW fractionation, total recirculation experiments were carried out. The NF modeling was also performed, in terms of permeate fluxes and rejection coefficients using the resistances-in-series model and the solution-diffusion model, respectively. After the membrane selection, the concentration experiments showed that the selected membrane (NFT50) at 3.0MPa allows a water recovery of approximately 80%, concentrating the SCW nutrients approximately 5 times. Therefore, the NF operation can successfully reduce the wastewater organic load and simultaneously contributes to the valorization of the cheese and curd cheese manufacture by-products.     

Habitat Fragmentation in Arid Zones: A Case Study of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Linaria nigricans</Emphasis> Under Land Use Changes (SE Spain)

Habitat fragmentation due to human activities is one of the most important causes of biodiversity loss. In Mediterranean areas the species have co-evolved with traditional farming, which has recently been replaced for more severe and aggressive practices. We use a methodological approach that enables the evaluation of the impact that agriculture and land use changes have for the conservation of sensitive species. As model species, we selected Linaria nigricans, a critically endangered plant from arid and semiarid ecosystems in south-eastern Spain. A chronosequence of the evolution of the suitable habitat for the species over more than 50 years has been reconstructed and several geometrical fragmentation indices have been calculated. A new index called fragmentation cadence (FC) is proposed to quantify the historical evolution of habitat fragmentation regardless of the habitat size. The application of this index has provided objective forecasting of the changes of each remnant population of L. nigricans. The results indicate that greenhouses and construction activities (mainly for tourist purposes) exert a strong impact on the populations of this endangered species. The habitat depletion showed peaks that constitute the destruction of 85% of the initial area in only 20 years for some populations of L. nigricans. According to the forecast established by the model, a rapid extinction could take place and some populations may disappear as early as the year 2030. Fragmentation-cadence analysis can help identify population units of primary concern for its conservation, by means of the adoption of improved management and regulatory measures.     

Greater flamingos <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoenicopterus roseus</Emphasis> use uropygial secretions as make-up

It was long thought that the colour of bird feathers does not change after plumage moult. However, there is increasing evidence that the colour of feathers may change due to abrasion, photochemical change and staining, either accidental or deliberate. The coloration of plumage due to deliberate staining, i.e. with cosmetic purposes, may help individuals to communicate their quality to conspecifics. The presence of carotenoids in preen oils has been previously only suggested, and here we confirm for the first time its presence in such oils. Moreover, the carotenoids in the uropygial secretions were the same specific pigments found in feathers. We show not only that the colour of feathers of greater flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus became more colourful due to the application of carotenoids from uropygial secretions over the plumage but also that the feathers became more colourful with the quantity of pigments applied over them, thus providing evidence of cosmetic coloration. Flamingos used uropygial secretions as cosmetic much more frequently during periods when they were displaying in groups than during the rest of the year, suggesting that the primary function of cosmetic coloration is mate choice. Individuals with more colourful plumage initiated nesting earlier. There was a correlation between plumage coloration before and after removal of uropygial secretions from feathers’ surfaces, suggesting that the use of these pigmented secretions may function as a signal amplifier by increasing the perceptibility of plumage colour, and hence of individual quality. As the cosmetic coloration strengthens signal intensity by reinforcing base-plumage colour, its use may help to the understanding of selection for signal efficacy by making interindividual differences more apparent.     

Optimization of an artificial neural network for identifying fishing set positions from VMS data: An example from the Peruvian anchovy purse seine fishery

The spatial behavior of numerous fishing fleets is nowadays well documented thanks to satellite Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS). Vessel positions are recorded on a frequent and regular basis which opens promising perspectives for improving fishing effort estimation and management. However, no specific information is provided on whether the vessel is fishing or not. To answer that question, existing works on VMS data usually apply simple criteria (e.g. threshold on speed). Those simple criteria generally focus in detecting true positives (a true fishing set detected as a fishing set); conversely, estimation errors are given no attention. For our case study, the Peruvian anchovy fishery, those criteria overestimate the total number of fishing sets by 182%. To overcome this problem an artificial neural network (ANN) approach is presented here. In order to set both the optimal parameterization and use “rules” for this ANN, we perform an extensive sensitivity analysis on the optimization of (1) the internal structure and training algorithm of the ANN and (2) the “rules” used for choosing both the relative size and the composition of the databases (DBs) used for training and inferring with the ANN. The “optimized” ANN greatly improves the estimates of the number and location of fishing events. For our case study, ANN reduces the total estimation error on the number of fishing sets to 1% (in average) and obtains 76% of true positives. This spatially explicit information on effort, provided with error estimation, should greatly reduce misleading interpretations of catch per unit effort and thus significantly improve the adaptive management of fisheries. While fitted on Peruvian anchovy fishery data, this type of neural network approach has wider potential and could be implemented in any fishery relying on both VMS and at-sea observer data. In order to increase the accuracy of the ANN results, we also suggest some criteria for improving sampling design by at-sea observers and VMS data.     

Combined use of Nassarius reticulatus imposex and statolith age determination for tracking temporal evolution of TBT pollution in the NW Portuguese continental shelf

Spatial and temporal trends of tributyltin (TBT) pollution on the northern continental shelf of Portugal (5-34 m depth) were assessed using Nassarius reticulatus as a bioindicator. Imposex levels were determined in 2006 and 2010, and integrated with age readings from statoliths for a better chronological analysis of the data. Females affected with imposex were detected in 84% of the sites surveyed in 2006, with levels higher than the Ecological Quality Objective (EcoQO) set by the OSPAR Commission for N. reticulatus (VDSI < 0.3) in approximately half of those sites. In 2010, imposex was only detected in 20% of the surveyed sites and, when detected, the VDSI were lower than the EcoQO, except for one location. The comparison between the current results and the levels previously reported for 2004 and 2005 in the same offshore area evidences a clear decline of imposex in 2010 that confirms the efficacy of Regulation (EC) No. 782/2003 and the IMO AFS-Convention (entered into force in 2003 and 2008, respectively). Moreover, the age of the whelks used in the monitoring is estimated in 3-5 years, indicating that actual TBT water contamination in 2010 may in fact be lower than that extrapolated from the imposex levels. We conclude that the legislation was indeed very effective in reducing TBT pollution in the NW Portuguese continental shelf, not only in terms of the magnitude but also in terms of fast field repercussion.     

Presence of diclofenac,estradiol, and ethinylestradiol in Manzanares River (Spain) and their toxicity to zebrafish embryo development

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Diclofenac (DCF), 17-β-estradiol (E2), and 17-α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) are emerging pollutants included in the first watch list agreed by...     

Recent history of the European Nassarius nitidus (Gastropoda): phylogeographic evidence of glacial refugia and colonization pathways

Because marine species respond differentially to factors governing survival and gene flow, closely related taxa may display dissimilar phylogeographic histories. New data for the patchily distributed gastropod Nassarius nitidus throughout its Atlantic–Mediterranean range (collected during 2008 and 2009) were used to investigate its phylogeography and recent demography. Results based on mitochondrial COI sequences of 422?N. nitidus individuals from 15 localities revealed contrasting phylogeographic and demographic patterns among N. nitidus populations from each basin. Data suggest the existence of two glacial refugia, one in the Atlantic, around the Iberian Peninsula, and the other in the Paleo-Mediterranean Sea (Adriatic). Bayesian skyline reconstructions suggest that the Adriatic population of N. nitidus remained largely unaffected by the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), whereas the Iberian Atlantic region experienced dramatic exponential growth after its conclusion. Contemporary North Sea populations of N. nitidus are the endpoint of a leading-edge recolonization process from a southern position. Additionally, a reanalysis of pre-existing material for the continuously distributed close congener N. reticulatus was used to compare both species in the late histories. In contrast to N. nitidus, N. reticulatus prospered during the LGM and experienced an earlier Atlantic expansion during the previous interglacial period. Despite similar life history and dispersal potential, the results here presented suggest that subtle differences in microhabitat requirements between the two species have had important consequences for their particular distribution in response to glacial events.