Biozönotisches Testverfahren (PICT-Konzept)

Goal and Scope

A community test is introduced usingin situ periphyton communities and the pollution induced community tolerance for ecotoxicological testing. It was the aim of the study to evaluate the feasibility of the test for the assessment of xenobiotics and contaminated environmental aquatic samples.

Methods

The herbicides Isoproturon and Prometryn were tested using standardised microphytobenthic communities of differing contamination. A pulse-amplitude-modulated fluorescence based method was used to detect the impact of the herbicides on the photosynthetic system of the microalgae.

Results and Conclusions

Despite the variability of the ecosystem (samples were taken from different sites and varying taxonomy throughout a period of two months), the tests show high sensitivity and good reproduction features. EC₅₀ values of 0.025 mg L^?1 for Isoproturon and 0.016 mg L^?1 for Prometryn were evaluated. These effect concentrations ranged in the same order of magnitude as the results derived from cell reproduction inhibition tests withScenedesmus vacuolatus (0.029 mg L^?1 for Isoproturon and 0.012 mg L^?1 for Prometryn). For Isoproturon, the test was able to differentiate effect concentrations for single algal classes within natural communities. The test was used to assess a contaminated effluent entering a stream (Spittelwasser) in the region of Bitterfeld. The effluent originate from a local chemical industry site, where Prometryn was produced for 4 decades. According to the PICT-concept (pollution induced community tolerance), we hypothesed that periphyton taken downstream of the effluent was more tolerant to Prometryn than uncontaminated communities. It could be shown that the herbicide caused a shift in the concentration response relationships of communities from different contaminated sites, indicating the development of tolerance. We conclude that the test using periphyton communities and considering the development of tolerance is able to evaluate a causal analysis of chronic effects of pollutants on community level. The multi-species test usingin situ communities reflects a higher biological organisation level than a single species laboratory test.

Outlook

The PICT-concept could be used for ecological risk assessment of pollutants in the environment bridging the gap between single species laboratory testing and time consuming mesocosmos and field studies.     

非洲野生动物:是否必须给予补贴--对保护地可持续性融资问题的一大贡献

因为多种多样的生态、经济以及其他方面的原因，保护非洲的生物多样性刻不容缓。经济利益的驱使并非首要问题，然而忽视这一因素将不可避免地导致保护目标不能得以实现。     

Infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance evidence of degradation in thermoplastics based on forest products

The degradation of lignin-(1-phenylethylene) graft copolymers (lignin-styrene graft copolymers) by white rot basidiomycete fungi was followed by monitoring aromatic absorption bands by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The FTIR of the graft copolymers shows a series of characteristic absorbance peaks from multi-substituted aromatic rings and a strong poly(1-phenylethylene) (polystyrene) absorbance peak from monosubstituted aromatic rings. Subtraction of copolymer spectra taken before incubation from spectra taken after 50 days of incubation with the four tested fungi shows the loss of functional groups from the copolymer. NMR spectra also show reduction of aromatic ring resonances from the copolymer and incorporation of peaks from fungi as a result of incubation with fungi. The biodegradation tests were run on lignin-(1-phenylethylene) graft copolymers which contained 10.3, 32.2, and 50.4% of lignin. The polymer samples were incubated with the white rot fungiPleurotus ostreatus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, andTrametes versicolor, and the brown rot fungusGleophyllum trabeum. White rot fungi degraded the plastic samples at a rate that increased with increasing lignin content in the copolymer sample. Both poly(1-phenylethylene) and lignin components of the copolymer were readily degraded. Observation by scanning electron microscopy of incubated copolymers showed a deterioration of the plastic surface. The brown rot fungus did not affect any of these plastics, nor did any of the fungi degrade pure poly(1-phenylethylene).Paper presented at the Bio/Environmentally Degradable Polymer Society—Second National Meeting, August 19–21, 1993, Chicago, Illinois.