Source identification for oil-based drill cuttings on the seabed based on stable carbon isotopes

This paper demonstrates how stable carbon isotopes can be utilized to identify the source of oil-based drill cuttings discharges and estimate the time of their deposition. The base-oil used in drilling mud systems may be biodegraded by seabed microflora. Effects of such processes make it difficult to identify sources of discharges based on the oil’s molecular structure. However, the stable isotope fingerprint of the base oil may vary for each batch of base-oil. Because carbon isotopic ratios in compounds with more than ten carbons are resistant to fractionation during biodegradation, this may be used as a tool to identify the source of drill cuttings discharges.     

The link between social network density and rank-order consistency of aggressiveness in juvenile eels

The emergence of an animal’s personality is the result of interactions between genetics, environment and experience. It is known that individuals are able to modulate their behaviour according to the context or the social environment. Many studies have shown for example, that familiarity among conspecifics diminishes aggressiveness, although little is known about the underlying processes. Nevertheless, personality traits have long been determined while ignoring the social context, especially in lower vertebrates such as fish. In the present experiment, we hypothesize that group connections (network density) may be positively correlated to consistency of aggressiveness by avoiding over-aggressive acts in further encounters. To test this hypothesis, we used eels (Anguilla anguilla) as a model species and monitored both aggressiveness and sociability in 64 individuals over their first 7 months of growth from the glass eel stage. As expected, social fish were less aggressive than their non-social counterparts at all times, highlighting the existence of a behavioural syndrome in eels. Additionally, rank-order consistency of aggressiveness was higher in groups of fish with high social connectivity, compared to those in less-connected fish groups. While aggressiveness must be consistent to be considered a personality trait, our results suggest that both aggressiveness and its consistency are influenced by initial social context.     

Receiver sex differences in visual response to dynamic motion signals in Sceloporus lizards

Visual signal properties often vary greatly between and within individuals in a variety of social contexts. While it is widely known that visual displays emitted by senders can exhibit great variation in efficacy and content, far less is understood whether and how receivers vary in the ability to respond to variability in signal properties, such as motion. Here, we tested for receiver sex differences in visual response latency to motion signals in Sceloporus undulatus lizards. We used a moving robotic lizard model as a visual stimulus to assay response latency in male and female lizards. We measured visual reaction times to slow and fast, up-and-down motions, characteristic of territorial and courtship male motion displays, respectively. We found sex differences in response latency to the two different displays. Specifically, male lizards were faster than females at responding to slow motion produced by the robotic lizard, while female lizards were faster than males at responding to fast motion. These results demonstrate that dynamic visual signals that vary temporally under different social contexts can differ in eliciting a visual response from each sex. Our study highlights that physical differences in dynamic and complex visual signals exhibited during different social contexts (i.e., territorial and courtship contexts) can closely match sex differences in visual responses.     

Antimicrobial Activity of the Chitosan Extracted from Metapenaeus stebbingi Shell Wastes

In the study, chitosan chemically extracted from Metapenaeus stebbingi shells obtained from shrimp processing factories and commercial chitosan were used as antimicrobial materials. Antimicrobial activities of the chitosans dissolved in acetic, lactic, formic and hydrochloric acid at different concentrations (1.00, 0.50, 0.25, 0.10 and 0.05%) were tested in vitro by using the disk diffusion method with standard microorganisms (Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli 1, Escherichia coli 2, Listeria monocytogenes, Enterecoccus faecalis, Aeromonas caviae). On the other hand, gentamicin was used as positive control. Antimicrobial test results indicated that chitosan demonstrated different effects depending on the chitosan concentration, solvent material and bacteria type. In the present study, both the extracted and commercial chitosans were observed to have antimicrobial effects on nearly all types of the bacteria.     

Assesment of the response of a shallow macrotidal estuary to changes in hydrological and wastewater inputs through numerical modelling

The aim of this study was to investigate the response to short-term changes in river freshwater discharges and in nutrients loadings (mainly from the treatment of urban wastewater), of the shallow macrotidal Urdaibai estuary (north of Spain), by using numerical tools. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model and a water quality model were applied to the estuary, in order to better use it as a prediction tool in the study of the effects of variations in hydrodynamic conditions and in waste water inputs. The model was calibrated and verified using data measured under different hydrological conditions (spring and summer). A model calibration was carried out with field data measured during the summer, while the model validation was conducted for spring conditions. The calibration process allowed the model parameter definition, while the model validation permitted the verification of the calibrated parameters under different environmental conditions. The model results were in reasonable agreement with field measurements, in both the calibration and the validation phases. The model showed a significant decrease in phytoplankton concentration with river input increase. A study on the effects of nutrient input reduction from the Gernika Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) was conducted. It showed a decrease in phytoplankton concentration with decreasing levels of nutrient discharge. This reduction was more pronounced in conjunction with the highest river discharge. In that case, a 50% decrease for the elimination of the WWTP discharge was observed.     

Risk trading in mating behavior: forgoing anti-predator responses reduces the likelihood of missing terminal mating opportunities

Life history theory predicts that organisms make certain adjustments to their current and future reproductive effort such that fitness is maximized. Moreover, these adjustments may be fine tuned in response to risks of attack by natural enemies. Thus, we may predict that as an organism ages it will accept increasing levels of exposure to predators during mating activities, effectively trading the risk of losing terminal mating opportunities for the risk of predation. We tested this prediction in an acoustic moth, Achroia grisella, in which females orient toward and evaluate males based on their ultrasonic calling song, and both sexes may be vulnerable to predation by insectivorous bats while in flight as well as on the substrate. In the latter situation, singing males and orienting females show silence and arrestment responses, respectively, when presented with synthetic bat echolocation signals broadcast above a threshold amplitude. We found that both males and females become less sensitive to these broadcasts over the course of their brief reproductive periods, 7 and 5 days, respectively. Over the same periods, sensitivity to male song in both males and females remains constant, and relatively little senescence in sexual behavior is observed. These results support the risk trading hypothesis, and they indicate that life history principles may apply over a very short lifespan.     

Psychotropic drugs in mixture alter swimming behaviour of Japanese medaka (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryzias latipes</Emphasis>) larvae above environmental concentrations

Psychiatric pharmaceuticals, such as anxiolytics, sedatives, hypnotics and antidepressors, are among the most prescribed active substances in the world. The occurrence of these compounds in the environment, as well as the adverse effects they can have on non-target organisms, justifies the growing concern about these emerging environmental pollutants. This study aims to analyse the effects of six psychotropic drugs, valproate, cyamemazine, citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine and oxazepam, on the survival and locomotion of Japanese medaka Oryzias latipes larvae. Newly hatched Japanese medaka were exposed to individual compounds for 72 h, at concentrations ranging from 10 μg L^?1 to 10 mg L^?1. Lethal concentrations 50 % (LC₅₀) were estimated at 840, 841 and 9,136 μg L^?1 for fluoxetine, sertraline and citalopram, respectively, while other compounds did not induce any significant increase in mortality. Analysis of the swimming behaviour of larvae, including total distance moved, mobility and location, provided an estimated lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) of 10 μg L^?1 for citalopram and oxazepam, 12.2 μg L^?1 for cyamemazine, 100 μg L^?1 for fluoxetine, 1,000 μg L^?1 for sertraline and >10,000 μg L^?1 for valproate. Realistic environmental mixture of the six psychotropic compounds induced disruption of larval locomotor behaviour at concentrations about 10- to 100-fold greater than environmental concentrations.     

The influence of biomass energy consumption on CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions: a wavelet coherence approach

In terms of today, one may argue, throughout observations from energy literature papers, that (i) one of the main contributors of the global warming is carbon dioxide emissions, (ii) the fossil fuel energy usage greatly contributes to the carbon dioxide emissions, and (iii) the simulations from energy models attract the attention of policy makers to renewable energy as alternative energy source to mitigate the carbon dioxide emissions. Although there appears to be intensive renewable energy works in the related literature regarding renewables’ efficiency/impact on environmental quality, a researcher might still need to follow further studies to review the significance of renewables in the environment since (i) the existing seminal papers employ time series models and/or panel data models or some other statistical observation to detect the role of renewables in the environment and (ii) existing papers consider mostly aggregated renewable energy source rather than examining the major component(s) of aggregated renewables. This paper attempted to examine clearly the impact of biomass on carbon dioxide emissions in detail through time series and frequency analyses. Hence, the paper follows wavelet coherence analyses. The data covers the US monthly observations ranging from 1984:1 to 2015 for the variables of total energy carbon dioxide emissions, biomass energy consumption, coal consumption, petroleum consumption, and natural gas consumption. The paper thus, throughout wavelet coherence and wavelet partial coherence analyses, observes frequency properties as well as time series properties of relevant variables to reveal the possible significant influence of biomass usage on the emissions in the USA in both the short-term and the long-term cycles. The paper also reveals, finally, that the biomass consumption mitigates CO₂ emissions in the long run cycles after the year 2005 in the USA.