Detecting micronuclei frequency in some aquatic organisms for monitoring pollution of Izmir Bay (Western Turkey)

Micronuclei tests is a system of mutagenicity testing used for determining the pollution and chemicals causing changes in DNA fragments such as micronuclei in the cytoplasm of interphase cells. Damage caused on the DNA by genotoxic pollutants is the first consequence occurring in the aquatic organisms. Thus, it was attempted to determine whether pollution affected the erythrocytes and gills of fish Gobius niger and haemolymph and gills of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis living in Izmir Bay at the level of DNA by the means of micronuclei (MN) test. Organisms used in the MN test were collected from seven locations (Alsancak, Alaybey Shipyard, Karsiyaka, Bostanli, Göztepe, Konak and Pasaport) which are known as the most polluted part of inner Bay of Izmir (Western Coast of Turkey). According to the results of the present study, frequency of MN was found at high level in Alaybey Shipyard and Pasaport where wastes from existing dockyard contributed to high level of pollution. In conclusion, this study indicates that the micronuclei test gives sensitive results in monitoring the pollution, especially the pollution of harbor, and thus it might be used as standard method in regular monitoring of pollution of coastal ecosystem.     

Heavy metals in Patella caerulea (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in polluted and non-polluted areas from the Iskenderun Gulf (Mediterranean Turkey)

The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb, Ni, and Co were measured in gastropod mollusks Patella caerulea in the Mediterranean area. The organisms were collected at two coastal sites in Iskenderun Gulf during winter, spring, summer, and autumn 2008. Samples of the digestive gland, gill, and muscle were analyzed for heavy metals. The aim of study is to determine heavy metal levels in tissues of P. caerulea in different locations. Tissues of P. caerulea from the polluted site showed metal concentrations appreciably higher than unpolluted organisms. The highest metal levels were registered in the digestive gland of P. caerulea. Generally, digestive gland and gills showed higher metal concentrations than muscle. The average concentrations of heavy metals analyzed exhibited the following decreasing order: Fe > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cd > Pb > Co for both stations 1 and 2. Seasonal changes in metal concentrations were observed in the tissues of P. caerulea from a polluted and an unpolluted population.     

Predictive modeling of sorption and desorption of a reactive azo dye by pumpkin husk

The use of effective disposal of redundant pumpkin husk (PH) to remove pollutants is an important issue for environmental protection and utilization of resource. The aim of this study was to remove a potentially toxic reactive azo dye, Reactive Red (RR) 120, by widespread PH as a low-cost adsorbent. Particle size, adsorbent dose, pH, temperature, initial dye concentration, and contact time affected the sorption process. Amine, amide, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups of PH played significant roles on the sorption process. Rapid sorption occurred within the first 2 min and equilibrium was reached within 60 min. Sorption kinetic was well represented by logistic equation. Generated secondary logistic model can be used to describe effects of initial dye concentration, contact time, and temperature by a single equation with high R ² value. Monolayer sorption capacity was found as 98.61 mg g^-1. Activation energy, thermodynamic, and desorption studies showed that this process was physical, endothermic, and spontaneous. This study indicated that redundant PH as a low-cost adsorbent had a great potential for the removal of RR 120 as an alternative eco-friendly process.     

Conservation genomics of the endangered Burmese roofed turtle

The Burmese roofed turtle (Batagur trivittata) is one of the world's most endangered turtles. Only one wild population remains in Myanmar. There are thought to be 12 breeding turtles in the wild. Conservation efforts for the species have raised >700 captive turtles since 2002, predominantly from eggs collected in the wild. We collected tissue samples from 445 individuals (approximately 40% of the turtles’ remaining global population), applied double‐digest restriction‐site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD‐Seq), and obtained approximately 1500 unlinked genome‐wide single nucleotide polymorphisms. Individuals fell into 5 distinct genetic clusters, 4 of which represented full‐sib families. We inferred a low effective population size (≤10 individuals) but did not detect signs of severe inbreeding, possibly because the population bottleneck occurred recently. Two groups of 30 individuals from the captive pool that were the most genetically diverse were reintroduced to the wild, leading to an increase in the number of fertile eggs (n = 27) in the wild. Another 25 individuals, selected based on the same criteria, were transferred to the Singapore Zoo as an assurance colony. Our study demonstrates that the research‐to‐application gap in conservation can be bridged through application of cutting‐edge genomic methods.     

Decomposition of NaBH4 with self-regeneration of carbon-supported CoCl2 catalyst

In this study, economically favorable CoCl₂ catalysts at four different amounts were supported on activated carbon (AC) for NaBH₄ dehydrogenation. Supported catalyst could achieve hydrogen release for 2,060 cycles, which is equivalent to 103 days of uninterrupted operation. Slow and continuous hydrogen release was observed in all experiments. Even 1 g of NaBH₄ can carry 1.2 L of hydrogen, and in hydrolysis process, it liberates 2.5 L of hydrogen that indicates the decomposition of water. EDX analysis and reverse burette measurements show that CoCl₂ could be homogeneously distributed on and permanently joined to the support surface. Kinetic investigation of the dehydrogenation reaction fits zero order kinetics, and activation energy was calculated to be 48 kJ/mol.     

Yield and leaf area index estimations for sunflower plants using unmanned aerial vehicle images

Vegetation is commonly monitored to improve efficiency of various agricultural practices. Spatial and temporal changes in plant growth and development can be monitored with the aid of remote sensing techniques employing ground, aerial, and satellite platforms. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and multi-spectral cameras developed for UAVs have an important potential for agricultural management activities with high-resolution spatial and temporal images. However, UAV images should be assessed based on ground measurements for using these images as a decision-support tool in agriculture. This study was conducted to estimate sunflower leaf area index (LAI) and yield with the aid of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images generated from raw UAV images. Furthermore, UAV-based NDVI values were compared with NDVI values calculated by using hyper-spectral measurements carried out with a ground-based spectroradiometer. Between July and August of 2017, six flight missions were conducted and spectral measurements were made simultaneously. A significant correlation (R²?=?0.77) was determined between NDVI values that belong to UAV platform and spectroradiometer. Also, regression models developed for sunflower LAI and yield estimation depending UAV-based NDVI have R² values of 0.88 and 0.91, respectively.     

An assessment of the quality of various bottled mineral water marketed in Turkey

Fifteen bottled mineral waters purchased at random all over Turkey were analyzed for their chemical composition by OPTIMA-2000 ICP-AES Perkin Elmer techniques. Results show a wide spread in the chemical specification of these mineral waters, with differences in chemical composition observed in the regions being due to the geological environment and the majority of bottled mineral waters exceeding the pH limit of Turkish drinking water standards. When the concentrations of elements are evaluated, it can readily be seen that generally there are three types of mineral water in Turkey. The concentrations of Al, B, Ba, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn Pb and Zn in mineral water were compared with the limits established by the Turkish Standard for Natural Mineral Waters (Turkish Official Gazette 2004); water standards prepared by World Health Organization (2006) and the United States of America Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) drinking water standards (1993). Such a comparison shows that, except for Ba and Mn, the concentrations of the other heavy metals are lower than the limit of the US.EPA in Turkey. Some parameters examined were found to comprise strong correlations pair-wise.     

The effects of land use changes on some soil properties in İndağı Mountain Pass – Çankırı, Turkey

Understanding spatial variability of dynamic soil attributes provides information for suitably using land and avoiding environmental degradation. In this paper, we examined five neighboring land use types in Indagi Mountain Pass - Cankiri, Turkey to spatially predict variability of the soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density (BD), textural composition, and soil reaction (pH) as affected by land use changes. Plantation, recreational land, and cropland were the lands converted from the woodland and grassland which were original lands in the study area. Total of 578 disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken with irregular intervals from five sites and represented the depths of 0-10 and 10-20 cm. Soil pH and BD had the lower coefficient of variations (CV) while SOC had the highest value for topsoil. Clay content showed greater CV than silt and sand contents. The geostatistics indicated that the soil properties examined were spatially dependent to the different degrees and interpolations using kriging showed the dynamic relationships between soil properties and land use types. The topsoil spatial distribution of SOC highly reflected the changes in the land use types, and kriging anticipated significant decreases of SOC in the recreational land and cropland. Accordingly, BD varied depending on the land use types, and also, the topsoil spatial distribution of BD differed significantly from that of the subsoil. Generally, BD greatly decreased in places where the SOC was relatively higher except in the grassland where overgrazing was the more important factor than SOC to determine BD. The topsoil spatial distributions of clay, silt, and sand contents were rather similar to those of the subsoil. The cropland and grassland were located on the very fine textured soils whereas the woodland and plantation were on the coarse textured soils. Although it was observed a clear pattern for the spatial distributions of the clay and sand changing with land uses, this was not the case for the silt content, which was attributed to the differences of dynamic erosional processes in the area. The spatial distribution of the soil pH agreed with that of the clay content. Soils of the cropland and grassland with higher amounts of clay characteristically binding more cations and having higher buffering capacities had the greater pH values when compared to the soils of other land uses with higher amounts of sand naturally inclined to be washed from the base cations by the rainwater.