The structure of gallery networks in the nests of termite <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cubitermes</Emphasis> spp. revealed by X-ray tomography

Recent studies have introduced computer tomography (CT) as a tool for the visualisation and characterisation of insect architectures. Here, we use CT to map the three-dimensional networks of galleries inside Cubitermes nests in order to analyse them with tools from graph theory. The structure of these networks indicates that connections inside the nest are rearranged during the whole nest life. The functional analysis reveals that the final network topology represents an excellent compromise between efficient connectivity inside the nest and defence against attacking predators. We further discuss and illustrate the usefulness of CT to disentangle environmental and specific influences on nest architecture.     

Effects of low concentrations of the phenylurea herbicide diuron on biofilm algae and bacteria

A system of recirculating channels was used in this study to examine the long-term effects (29 d) of environmentally realistic concentrations of the herbicide diuron (from 0.07 to 7 μg L⁻¹) on biofilm communities. The autotrophic activity of biofilms was affected by this herbicide, as reflected by a marked decrease in the photosynthetic efficiency. Diuron exposure also increased chlorophyll-a content and reduced the biovolume of diatom taxa at low concentrations. The effects on bacteria were also remarkable. Bacterial abundance was reduced after a week of exposure to the herbicide at a range of concentrations. Effects were on the number of live bacteria and on the increase in the leucine-aminopeptidase activity. It is suggested that inputs of herbicides to the river ecosystem at low concentrations may cause a chain of effects in the biofilm, which include inhibitory effects on algae but also indirect effects on the relationships between biofilm components.     

Hair mercury levels in an urban population from southern Italy: fish consumption as a determinant of exposure

Mercury levels in hair of a general population, 237 adults aged between 35-45, in Naples, Italy, were assessed. The subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire about age, gender, body weight, height, body mass index (BMI), fish consumption, number, surface and area of dental amalgam fillings. Total mercury (THg) concentrations in human hair ranged from 0.221 to 3.402 microg/g and the mean value for the subjects under study was 0.638 microg/g. Study participants were divided into three groups in accordance with fish consumption and dental amalgam: ANF (amalgam and no fish); NAF (no amalgam but with fish) and AAF (amalgam and fish). Significant differences in THg were found in the three groups (p<0.05). A multiple linear regression analysis showed a weak but significant correlation of THg content in hair with respect to gender and age, but almost no association was found between THg and dental fillings. Conversely, a strong correlation was obtained between THg and fish consumption regardless of the group evaluated. Finally, mercury levels in hair exceeded the levels corresponding to the EPA reference dose (RfD) of 0.1 microg Hg/kg body weight per day (1 microg Hg/g hair) in 6% of the population (4% men and 2% women). However, the THg limits in our subjects were not exceeded according to the WHO guidelines, which use a benchmark dose of 0.23 microg Hg/kg bw/day (14 microg Hg/g maternal hair).     

Occurrence and degradation of butyltins and wastewater marker compounds in sediments from Barcelona harbor, Spain

Contamination of Barcelona harbor sediments was assessed by the quantitative determination of butyltins (TBT, DBT and MBT) and surfactant intermediates, namely linear alkylbenzenes (LABs) and nonylphenols (NPs), as markers of urban and industrial wastewater contamination, respectively. Degradation indexes of TBT and LABs were calculated. Tributyltin predominated in the whole area over its degradation products, ranging from 98 to 4702 ng Sn/g. These elevated concentrations reveal a persistent historical contamination and a moderate degradation (BT(deg)). Moreover, the high LAB concentrations (1.2-53.1 microg/g) compared to the relatively low NP levels (3.8-72.0 ng/g) suggest a predominance of urban over industrial wastewater inputs, although a significant correlation (r(2) = 0.82, N = 12, P = 0.001) between LABs and NPs was found. Stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows (CSO) were likely the most possible sources for both surfactant intermediates. The high degradation index values obtained for LABs could indicate an improvement in the wastewater management reducing its recent discharge into the Barcelona harbor area.     

Rapid ethnobotanical diagnosis of the Fulni-? Indigenous lands (NE Brazil): floristic survey and local conservation priorities for medicinal plants

This study was developed as part of the project ??Studies for Environmental and Cultural Sustainability of the Fulni-ô Medical System: Office on handling medicinal plants??. The Fulni-ô people are located in Pernambuco State, Northeastern Brazil. One of the components of this project was an ethnobotanical diagnosis of the indigenous land, where a phytosociological survey was performed in an area of Caatinga vegetation, located at Ouricuri settlement. Based on these ethnobotanical data, we calculated a conservation priority index aiming to rank species that should receive immediate attention from the Fulni-ô people. We identified 44 woody plants, 50% of which have a medicinal use. Among these, six plants were considered highly vulnerable and in need of immediate conservationist attention, in order to ensure the perpetuation of these species and the sustainability of traditional therapeutic practices of the Fulni-ô: Anadenanthera colubrina, Myracrodruon urundeuva, Lippia sp., Spondias tuberosa, Maytenus rigida, and Sideroxylon obtusifolium. We recommend the direct involvement of the Fulni-ô people in the conservation and the management of local resources by implementing a management plan and monitoring strategies for the populations of plants considered most important by the indigenous group.     

Are pharmaceuticals more harmful than other pollutants to aquatic invertebrate species: a hypothesis tested using multi-biomarker and multi-species responses in field collected and transplanted organisms

The aim of this study was to test if pharmaceuticals could explain observed responses of field collected and transplanted invertebrate species (Hydropsyche exocellata, Echinogammarus longisetosus, and Daphnia magna). The study was performed in the middle and lower course of Llobregat river basin, which is affected by pharmaceuticals and other pollutants coming from sewage treated effluents. Up to 10 different endpoints including enzyme activities related with detoxication mechanisms (i.e. glutathione S transferase, catalase, esterases), the oxidative stress damage marker (lipid peroxidation), and individual responses (mortality, post-exposure feeding rates) were assessed. Biological responses were complemented with a detailed chemical analysis of metals, detergents, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and other general water quality variables to allow identifying causal abiotic factors. Estimated hazard indexes of measured pollutants indicated that pesticides and metals accounted for most of the predicted toxicity (>95%) in the most contaminated site and that the predicted toxicity of pharmaceuticals was marginal (<5%). The three species showed a clear impact across the studied gradient indicated by higher levels of feeding inhibition and of mortality towards lower reaches. Specific responses such as inhibition of cholinesterase activities were closely related to high and presumable toxic levels of diazinon, whereas unspecific responses such as enhanced levels of antioxidant defensive mechanism and of lipid peroxidation levels were associated with most pollutant classes as well as with high and presumable toxic levels of salt and ammonia. These results indicate that pesticides, salinity, ammonia probably had greater effects on the studied species than pharmaceuticals.     

Economic valuation of damages originated by major accidents in port areas

Due to special features of ports – variety of activities: storage and loading/unloading of hazardous materials; circulation of ships, lorries and trains; proximity to urban zones; etc. – major accidents can be associated with severe damages. The cost of such accidents must be known to allow for compensation to people and companies. A procedure is presented to estimate the cost of damages suffered by people, equipment and environment. Criteria to assess the cost of damage to people – a controversial issue – are discussed, establishing a method to predict the number of people killed, injured and evacuated. Economic compensation is proposed. Environmental damages are also considered. These include potential damage to the atmosphere, soil, water and fauna. Estimates of the cost of the equipment and buildings affected by the accident are proposed. Finally, an assessment of the loss of profits due to activity breakdown and indirect costs is analysed. The methodology presented can easily be extended to general, inland process and storage sites.     

Comparing the response of biochemical indicators (biomarkers) and biological indices to diagnose the ecological impact of an oil spillage in a Mediterranean river (NE Catalunya, Spain)

Three biomarkers of hydrocarbon exposure, liver 7-ethoxyresourfin-O-deethylase activity (EROD), fluorescent hydrocarbon compounds (FACs) in bilis, and the liver antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT) were examined in the autochthonous fish species Barbus meridionalis collected in the river Fluvià (NE Catalunya, Spain) after an oil spillage. Four different locations were sampled, including the impacted site, upstream and downstream sites and a reference site. Biomarker responses were compared with diatom and macroinvertebrate community assemblage metrics (Specific Pollution Sensitivity index - IPS, and Iberian Biological Monitoring Working Party - IBMWP, respectively). Chemical analyses denoted that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels in sediment were much higher at the impacted site than in downstream reaches. Four fold increase of EROD activity together with increased levels of biliary FACs in barbs collected at the spilled site indicated exposure of inhabiting fish to the oil. Additionally, CAT activity was significantly depressed (four fold) when compared to other stations, thus suggesting that fish collected from the impacted sites could be more susceptible to suffer oxidative stress. Biological indices (particularly that of the diatom community IPS) showed slight significant effects between control and impacted sites, indicating that more tolerant taxa were favoured because of the oil spillage. These results support the need to include biochemical responses measured in local species in monitoring programmes aimed to diagnose specific pollution effects in stressed river ecosystems.     

Ferrous iron oxidation rates in the pycnocline of a permanently stratified lake

Ferrous iron was found year round at 2-4 mM in the anoxic hypolimnion of the Halls Brook Holding Area (HBHA), a small lake in eastern Massachusetts. Oxygenated epilimnion waters always had total iron concentrations of <80 nanomolar, implying nearly complete oxidation of ferrous iron as it mixed upward across the lake's pycnocline. Assuming conductivity was a conservative parameter, and using data on the lake's water balance, upward advection rates (0.02-0.05 m d(-1)) and vertical eddy diffusion coefficients (0.007-0.05 m2 d(-1)) were determined for the lake's pycnocline on five dates. Using the same advection and diffusion parameters, corresponding pseudo first-order rate coefficients for ferrous iron oxidation, k(ox) (s(-1)), on those dates were calculated (0.0004-0.007 s(-1)). The values of k(ox) (s(-1)) were always too large to reflect only homogeneous solution reactions; and on at least four dates they appeared too fast to be due to heterogeneous catalysis on iron oxyhydroxides. This suggested that ferrous iron oxidation in this lake's pycnocline was primarily due to catalysis by microorganisms, and this was supported by comparison of azide-poisoned vs. untreated batch tests. As a result of their continuous production, iron oxyhydroxide precipitates and any associated sorbates/coprecipitates are most likely continuously settling back into the lake's deep water and bed sediments, except when episodic storm events flush these solids out of the pycnocline and downstream via the Aberjona River.     

Are native naiads more tolerant to pollution than exotic freshwater bivalve species? An hypothesis tested using physiological responses of three species transplanted to mercury contaminated sites in the Ebro River (NE, Spain)

In the lower Ebro River exist the paradoxical convergence of relatively well preserved river dynamics with the historical presence of a chloralkali plant with a long history of mercury discharges and the recent invasion of foreign bivalves species. Here we performed a comparative study on two alien bivalves, the Zebra mussel and the Asian clam (Dreissena polymorpha and Corbicula fluminea), and one protected species of naiads (Psilunio littoralis), which is the most common species of the freshwater mussel assemblages in this river. Individuals of the three species were transplanted to three sites that included a clean unpolluted upstream site, a contaminated location next to the mercury source and a downstream one. The study focused on digestive gland antioxidant and oxidative stress responses such as antioxidant enzymes, glutathione S transferase, glutathione levels, metallothionein proteins, DNA strand breaks and lipid peroxidation levels. Results evidenced interspecies differences on accumulation levels of mercury, antioxidant defensive systems and oxidative tissue damage. The naiad species, despite of accumulating more mercury showed the greatest antioxidant defensive potential, which was characterized by having high constitutive activities of glutathione S transferase and inducible activities and levels of key antioxidant enzymes and glutathione. Exposed individuals of C. fluminea had moderate levels of metal accumulation, the highest activities of antioxidant enzymes but also high levels of lipid peroxidation. D. polymorpha mussels showed the lowest levels of mercury but the lowest antioxidant responses and consequently the highest levels of oxidative injuries in the DNA and of mortality. Our results support the hypothesis that naiad species might be more tolerant to pollution than exotic species.