The Effectiveness of Contrasting Protected Areas in Preventing Deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru

Accurate monitoring of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in decreasing deforestation is increasingly important given the vital role of forest protection in climate change mitigation. Recent studies on PA effectiveness have used remote-sensing imagery to compare deforestation rates within PAs to surrounding areas. However, remote-sensing data used in isolation provides limited information on the factors contributing to effectiveness. We used landscape-modelling techniques to estimate the effectiveness of ten PAs in Madre de Dios, Peru. Factors influencing PA effectiveness were investigated using in situ key-informant interviews. Although all of the PAs studied had positive effectiveness scores, those with the highest scores were ecotourism and conservation concessions, where monitoring and surveillance activities and good relations with surrounding communities were reported as possible factors in decreasing deforestation rates. Native community areas had the lowest scores, with deforestation mainly driven by internal resource use and population growth. Weak local governance and immigration were identified as underlying factors decreasing the effectiveness of protection, whereas good relations with surrounding communities and monitoring activity increased effectiveness. The results highlight the need to combine remote sensing with in situ information on PA management because identification of drivers and deterrents of deforestation is vital for improving the effectiveness of protection.     

Determination of oral uptake and biodistribution of platinum and chromium by the garden snail (Helix aspersa) employing nano-secondary ion mass-spectrometry

Environmental heavy metal contamination is a case of concern for both animal and human health. Studying the fate of metals in plant or animal tissues may provide information on pollution. In the present study, we investigated the possibility to follow the biological fate of chromium and platinum uptake in common garden snails (Helix aspersa), typically accumulating high concentrations of metals from their environment. Chromium and platinum were administered orally to snails in 5 groups (n = 25/group): control, food contaminated by ca. 2.5 μg g^?1 and 19 μg g^?1 chromium and 2.5 μg g^?1 and 25 μg g^?1 platinum, for 8 weeks. Following exposure, surviving snails were sacrificed, shell and remaining tissue investigated by ICP-MS, and shell, midgut gland and mantle by nano-secondary ion mass-spectrometry (Nano-SIMS). ¹²C¹⁴N-normalized platinum and ⁴⁰Ca-normalized chromium measurements indicated highest enrichments in cellular vesicles of the midgut gland, and lower concentrations in mantle and shell, with significantly higher platinum and chromium concentrations in the 2 exposure groups vs. control (P < 0.05), with somewhat differing distribution patterns for chromium and platinum. Comparable results were obtained by ICP-MS, with both chromium and platinum fed snails showing drastically elevated concentrations of metals in shell (up to 78 and 122 μg g^?1 dw platinum and chromium, respectively) and in other tissues (up to 200 and 1125 μg g^?1 dw platinum and chromium, respectively). Nano-SIMS allowed for semi-quantitative comparison of metal fate in snail tissues, making this an interesting technique for future studies in the area of environmental pollution.     

Contamination of drinking water resources in the Mekong delta floodplains: arsenic and other trace metals pose serious health risks to population

This study presents a transnational groundwater survey of the 62,000 km(2) Mekong delta floodplain (Southern Vietnam and bordering Cambodia) and assesses human health risks associated with elevated concentrations of dissolved toxic elements. The lower Mekong delta generally features saline groundwater. However, where groundwater salinity is <1 g L(-)(1) Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), the rural population started exploiting shallow groundwater as drinking water in replacement of microbially contaminated surface water. In groundwater used as drinking water, arsenic concentrations ranged from 0.1-1340 microg L(-)(1), with 37% of the studied wells exceeding the WHO guidelines of 10 microg L(-)(1) arsenic. In addition, 50% exceeded the manganese WHO guideline of 0.4 mg L(-)(1), with concentrations being particularly high in Vietnam (range 1.0-34 mg L(-)(1)). Other elements of (minor) concern are Ba, Cd, Ni, Se, Pb and U. Our measurements imply that groundwater contamination is of geogenic origin and caused by natural anoxic conditions in the aquifers. Chronic arsenic poisoning is the most serious health risk for the ~2 million people drinking this groundwater without treatment, followed by malfunction in children's development through excessive manganese uptake. Government agencies, water specialists and scientists must get aware of the serious situation. Mitigation measures are urgently needed to protect the unaware people from such health problems.     

Nitrogen deposition and the biodiversity of boreal forests: implications for the nitrogen critical load

The critical load concept is used to establish the deposition levels which ecosystems can tolerate without significant harmful effects. Here we summarize work within the Swedish research program Abatement Strategies for Transboundary Air Pollution (ASTA) assessing the critical load of N for boreal forests. Results from both field experiments in an area with low background N deposition in northern Sweden, and from a large-scale monitoring study, show that important vegetational changes start to take place when adding low N doses and that recovery of the vegetation after ceasing N input is a very slow process. The data presented indicate that changes in key ecosystem components occur even at a lower rate of N input than the present recommended empirical critical load for boreal forest understorey vegetation of 10-15 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1). Based on the data presented, we suggest that the critical load should be lowered to 6 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1).     

Butterfly effects in mimicry? Combining signal and taste can twist the relationship of Müllerian co-mimics

Müllerian co-mimics are aposematic species that resemble each other; sharing a warning signal is thought to be mutually beneficial for the co-mimics by reducing per capita predation risk. In Batesian mimicry, edible mimics avoid predation by resembling an aposematic model species. The protection of both the model and the mimic is weakened when the mimics are abundant compared to the models. The quasi-Batesian view suggests that defended (Müllerian) co-mimics, when unequal in their defences, could also show a Batesian-like trend of increasing mortality with increasing abundance of a less defended “mimic”. We manipulated frequencies of unequally distasteful artificial co-mimics that were prey for great tits. The co-mimics had different signals (imperfect mimicry) but were equally preferred by the birds when palatable. Unexpectedly, when unpalatable, one of the signals was easier for the birds to learn to avoid. Consequently, during predator learning, the signal design of the prey strongly affected mortality of the co-mimics; there was an interaction between the signal and frequency treatments, but increasing the frequency of a less defended “mimic” did not increase co-mimic mortalities as predicted. In contrast, in a memory test that followed, the effect of signal design disappeared; if the birds had experienced high frequency of “mimics” during learning, co-mimic mortalities did subsequently increase. Since the effect of co-mimic frequencies on mortalities changed depending on the signal design of the prey and predator experience, the results suggest that mimetic relationship may be an unpredictable interplay of several factors in addition to taste and abundance.     

Vole response to unintentional changes in the chemistry of GM poplars

Summary.  There is an increased interest for the use of GM trees in forestry and several commercially promising lines are now available. However, the ecological implications of the use of GM trees, e.g. effects on non-target natural enemies, have rarely been explored. The aim of this study was to determine if modification of non-defensive traits in GM poplars unintentionally can influence plant chemistry in a way that has consequences for palatability to voles. In a greenhouse experiment, we used two lines, SPS33A and SPS26, of GM hybrid poplars (Populus tremula x tremuloides) with 1.5 and 4 times, respectively, over-expression sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS). This enzyme plays a central role in sucrose synthesis, affecting cold acclimation, mesophyll sucrose content and biomass production. As a control we used the isogenic unmodified wild type. Stems of these poplars were presented to bank voles and field voles in cafeteria experiments. The concentration of condensed tannins was higher in leaves of lines SPS33A and SPS26 than in the isogenic wild-type and the concentration of nitrogen was higher in line SPS33A than in both the wild-type and line SPS26. Although the bank voles consumed slightly less bark from SPS33A, there were no significant differences in the preference of bank vole or field vole for the different poplar lines. This indicates that the changes in plant chemistry were insufficient to produce any strong herbivore response or that alteration in tannins and nitrogen counteracted each other. Still, changes in the interactions between mammalian herbivores and GM trees are important to consider in future cost-benefits analyses of GM trees.     

Introduction of cob(I)alamin as an analytical tool: application to reaction-kinetic studies of oxiranes

The strongly nucleophilic cob(I)alamin, i.e. Vitamin B₁₂ with Co(III) reduced to Co(I), is introduced as a trapping agent in the determination of concentrations of electrophilic reagents. This compound was applied, in comparison with the previously used moderately reactive nicotinamide (H.J.C.F. Nelis and J.E. Sinsheimer (1981). Anal. Biochem., 115, 151.). Oxiranes, metabolites of 1-alkenes, were chosen as model electrophiles. The reagents (nicotinamide and cob(I)alamin) were evaluated in the determination of the rates of reaction toward valine methylamide, a model of N-terminal valines in hemoglobin often used for monitoring of doses in vivo of genotoxic carcinogens. The rate constants for reaction at 37°C with valine methylamide (k _VMA) determined by the cob(I)alamin and nicotinamide procedure, respectively, were for ethylene oxide (1.6, 1.7), propylene oxide (0.9, 1.1), 1,2-epoxybutane (0.7, 0.8) and 1,2-epoxyoctane (0.5, 0.6) M^?1?h^?1, decreasing with increasing number of carbons of the oxirane. Concentrations of oxiranes trapped with nicotinamide are underrated in reaction mixtures containing valine methylamide due to consumption by reaction with the competing nucleophile, a disturbance that is not observed in trapping with cob(I)alamin which reacts about 10⁵ times faster than nicotinamide. Cob(I)alamin which was demonstrated to be an efficient nucleophile for trapping of electrophiles, also in the presence of competing nucleophiles, is promising as an analytical tool in toxicological studies of reactive compounds. Furthermore, cob(I)alamin can be used to detect, measure and compare electrophilic reactivity of chemical substances, a property that is associated with genotoxic potency.     

Fertile diploid males in the ant Cataglyphis cursor: a potential cost of thelytoky?

Under the hymenopteran single-locus complementary sex-determination system, production of diploid males results from homozygosity at the sex-determiner locus. This arises when both parents transmit identical alleles at the locus to the offspring. In species reproducing asexually through thelytokous parthenogenesis, production of diploid males may also occur when the sex locus undergoes recombination and becomes homozygous in the offspring. Diploid males represent a substantial genetic load in hymenopteran populations because they often produce unviable sperm or sire sterile triploid female offspring. In the Mediterranean ant Cataglyphis cursor, the queen and workers can produce female offspring through automictic thelytokous parthenogenesis with central fusion, a mode of parthenogenesis that increases homozygosity. We report, for the first time, the presence of about 39 % of colonies producing adult diploid males (seven colonies out of 18). Overall, 8 % of adult males were diploid (12 diploid males out of the 146 males genotyped). Genotyping workers from the seven colonies producing diploid males showed that three diploid males were sons of queens and produced by thelytoky, six were probably sons of workers also produced by thelytoky and three were non-natal. Furthermore, the mating of a diploid male with two virgin queens in the laboratory led to the production of sterile triploid workers, which shows that diploid males in C. cursor are fertile, mate successfully and produce viable and functional but probably sterile female offspring. Because diploid males originate from thelytokous reproduction, they are only produced during sexual production and hence do not impair colony growth, which could explain why they are not removed at early brood stages.