Modelling of stable isotope fractionation by methane oxidation and diffusion in landfill cover soils

A technique to measure biological methane oxidation in landfill cover soils that is gaining increased interest is the measurement of stable isotope fractionation in the methane. Usually to quantify methane oxidation, only fractionation by oxidation is taken into account. Recently it was shown that neglecting the isotope fractionation by diffusion results in underestimation of the methane oxidation. In this study a simulation model was developed that describes gas transport and methane oxidation in landfill cover soils. The model distinguishes between (12)CH(4), (13)CH(4), and (12)CH(3)D explicitly, and includes isotope fractionation by diffusion and oxidation. To evaluate the model, the simulations were compared with column experiments from previous studies. The predicted concentration profiles and isotopic profiles match the measured ones very well, with a root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 1.7vol% in the concentration and a RMSD of 0.8 per thousand in the delta(13)C value, with delta(13)C the relative (13)C abundance as compared to an international standard. Overall, the comparison shows that a model-based isotope approach for the determination of methane oxidation efficiencies is feasible and superior to existing isotope methods.     

Attitudes and Perceptions about Ecological Resources and Hazards of People Living Aroung the Savannah River Site

Although considerable attention is devoted to environmental monitoring and assessment with respect to both pollutants and the status of particular plant or animal populations, less attention is devoted to assessing people's attitudes about the relative importance of ecological resources. In this paper we examine the attitudes and perceptions about ecological resources of people living around the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS), in South Carolina. Our overall hypothesis is that people who are directly affected by the possible outcomes and consequences of a particular hazard (i.e., those people employed at SRS) will undervalue the risks and overvalue the potential benefits from future land uses that favor continued site activity, compared to people who live near but are not employed at SRS. We interviewed 286 people attending the Aiken Trials horse show on 14 March 1997. There were few gender differences, although men hunted and fished more than women, women ranked three environmental concerns as more severe than did men, and women were more concerned about the effect of SRS on property values. Maintenance of SRS as a National Environmental Research Park ranked first as a future land use; nuclear production ranked second, followed by hunting and hiking. Only residential development ranked very low as a future land use. There were many differences as a function of employment history at SRS: 1) people who work at SRS think that the federal government should spend funds to clean up all nuclear facilities, and they think less money should be spent on other environmental problems than did non-employees, 2) people who work at SRS ranked continued current uses of SRS higher than did people who never worked at SRS, and 3) people who work at SRS are less concerned about the storage of nuclear material or accidents at the site than are people who never worked at the site.     

Lipid metabolism of the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba and its ecological implications

 Various developmental stages (early larvae to adults) of Euphausia superba have been collected in different seasons in the Weddell Sea, the Lazarev Sea and off the Antarctic Peninsula to investigate the role of lipids and fatty acids in the life cycle of the Antarctic krill. The total-lipid data for E. superba exhibited seasonal variations, with low lipid levels in late winter/early spring and the highest levels in autumn. Seasonal changes were most pronounced in the immature and adult specimens, increasing from about 10% lipid of dry mass to more than 40%. The fatty-acid compositions of the younger stages were dominated by 20:5(n-3), 22:6(n-3) and 16:0. These are typical phospholipid fatty acids, which are major biomembrane constituents. The phospholipid composition was similar in the older stages. With increasing storage of triacylglycerols in the lipid-rich immature and adult stages, the fatty acids 14:0, 16:0 and 18:1(n-9) prevailed, comprising about 70% of total triacylglycerol fatty acids. The trophic-marker fatty acids 16:1(n-7) and 18:4(n-3), indicating phytoplankton ingestion, were less abundant. They reflected, however, the dependence of the larvae on phytoplankton as well as the seasonal changes in algal composition. The generally close linear relationships between fatty acids and lipid suggest that the fatty-acid compositions of the collected specimens were largely independent of the respective developmental stage, season and region. The linear fit indicates that triacylglycerol accumulation started at a level of about 5% of total lipid. Considering the various overwintering scenarios under discussion, the life cycle and reproductive strategies of krill are discussed in the context of the lipid metabolism and fatty-acid composition of E. superba. Lipid production is effective enough to accumulate large energy reserves for the dark season, but E. superba does not exhibit the sophisticated biosynthetic pathways known from other Antarctic euphausiids and copepods. Although important, lipid utilisation appears to be just one of several strategies of E. superba to thrive under the extreme Antarctic conditions, and this pronounced versatility may explain the success of this species in the Southern Ocean. Received: 16 June 2000 / Accepted: 18 December 2000     

Differences in herbivore preferences, phlorotannin production, and nutritional quality between juvenile and adult tissues from marine brown algae

 Juvenile and adult marine organisms differ in their morphology, chemistry, physiology, behavior, and ecology. Because juvenile algae are thinner, smaller, and have more delicate tissues than adults, they are often assumed to be more susceptible to grazers. We examined within-species food preferences of four common generalist herbivores for juvenile and adult tissues of eight common brown algae in two-choice laboratory food-preference experiments. Our results showed that juvenile algae did not tend to be a preferred food of herbivores. Juvenile tissues were significantly preferred over adult tissues in only four of the 32 combinations of algae and herbivores tested. In 12 experiments, adult tissues were preferred over juvenile tissues, and no choice occurred in the remaining 16 experiments. When sea urchins exhibited a preference, it was always for adult tissues. The other three herbivores, an isopod and two snails, were more variable in their choices, sometimes preferring juveniles, sometimes adults, and sometimes having no preference. We measured nitrogen and phlorotannin concentrations in adult and juvenile seaweeds to see whether these parameters were correlated with herbivore food preferences. Nitrogen levels were similar in juveniles and adults of three algal species and were higher in juveniles of two. Phlorotannin levels were higher in juveniles of four species and lower in juveniles of one. The other three species showed no differences in phlorotannin levels. Phlorotannin concentrations decreased with increasing juvenile size in three species and increased with increasing size in one species. Neither nitrogen nor phlorotannin concentrations explained overall herbivore food preferences for algae of different stages. Our results suggest that preferences of certain grazers for juvenile algae are not as strong as previously assumed and are dependent on herbivore species. Preferences between juveniles and adults are likely to be determined by a combination of morphological and chemical features of the tissues and the unique responses of herbivore species to those features. Received: 10 April 2000 / Accepted: 19 November 2000     

Dimethylsulfoniopropionate and dimethylsulfide in the marine flatworm Convoluta roscoffensis and its algal symbiont

 A distinct smell of dimethylsulfide (DMS) was noted at the edge of the intertidal mudflat of Marennes-Oléron Bay, at the French Atlantic coast, where dense populations of the marine flatworm Convoluta roscoffensis Graff (Platyhelminthes: Turbellaria) were present. DMS is the cleavage product of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). DMSP was shown to be present in high amounts in sediment containing the flatworm as well as in axenic cultures of the symbiotic alga Tetraselmis sp. that was isolated from the flatworm. In untreated sediment samples containing C. roscoffensis the concentration of DMS was as high as ∼55 μmol l⁻¹ sediment, and in samples that were fixed with glutaraldehyde the concentration of DMS was even three orders of magnitude higher (∼66 mmol l⁻¹ sediment). This rapid cleavage of DMSP to DMS in fixed samples was unexpected. Pure DMSP was stable in glutaraldehyde, and it was therefore concluded that a DMSP-lyase was responsible for cleavage in the field samples. The isolated symbiotic alga, Tetraselmis sp., did not show DMSP-lyase activity, indicating that DMSP-lyase may have been present in the flatworm, although the role of bacteria could not be excluded. The Chl a-specific DMSP content of C. roscoffensis (∼200 mmol g⁻¹) was much higher than that of Tetraselmis sp. (∼30 mmol g⁻¹). Possibly, DMSP was not only present in the symbiotic alga, but was also incorporated in the body tissue of the flatworm. It remains unclear what the function of DMSP is in C. roscoffensis. In Tetraselmis sp., but not in C. roscoffensis, DMSP increased with increasing salinity. It was concluded that salinity probably does not play an important role in the dynamics of DMSP and DMS in sediment containing C. roscoffensis. Received: 21 January 2000 / Accepted: 29 August 2000     

The BIOTA Biodiversity Observatories in Africa—a standardized framework for large-scale environmental monitoring

The international, interdisciplinary biodiversity research project BIOTA AFRICA initiated a standardized biodiversity monitoring network along climatic gradients across the African continent. Due to an identified lack of adequate monitoring designs, BIOTA AFRICA developed and implemented the standardized BIOTA Biodiversity Observatories, that meet the following criteria (a) enable long-term monitoring of biodiversity, potential driving factors, and relevant indicators with adequate spatial and temporal resolution, (b) facilitate comparability of data generated within different ecosystems, (c) allow integration of many disciplines, (d) allow spatial up-scaling, and (e) be applicable within a network approach. A BIOTA Observatory encompasses an area of 1?km² and is subdivided into 100 1-ha plots. For meeting the needs of sampling of different organism groups, the hectare plot is again subdivided into standardized subplots, whose sizes follow a geometric series. To allow for different sampling intensities but at the same time to characterize the whole square kilometer, the number of hectare plots to be sampled depends on the requirements of the respective discipline. A hierarchical ranking of the hectare plots ensures that all disciplines monitor as many hectare plots jointly as possible. The BIOTA Observatory design assures repeated, multidisciplinary standardized inventories of biodiversity and its environmental drivers, including options for spatial up- and downscaling and different sampling intensities. BIOTA Observatories have been installed along climatic and landscape gradients in Morocco, West Africa, and southern Africa. In regions with varying land use, several BIOTA Observatories are situated close to each other to analyze management effects.     

Concentrations of organophosphate esters and brominated flame retardants in German indoor dust samples

While it is known that the ingestion of indoor dust contributes substantially to human exposure to the recently restricted polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), the situation for one class of potential replacements, i.e. organophosphate esters (OPEs), used in a variety of applications including as flame retardants has yet to be fully characterised. In this study, surface dust from twelve different cars from various locations throughout Germany were analysed for eight OPEs, decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), and eight PBDEs. In five cars, tris-(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP) was the dominant compound with concentrations up to 620 μg g(-1) dust. High concentrations of tri-cresyl phosphate (TCP) (up to 150 μg g(-1)) were also detected in two samples of car dust. Dust from ten offices in the same building in Ludwigsburg, Germany was also analysed. In these samples, tri (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP) predominated with an average concentration of 7.0 μg g(-1) dust, followed by tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) at 3.0 μg g(-1) and triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) at 2.5 μg g(-1) dust. Although caution must be exercised given the relatively small database reported here; this study provides evidence that cars and offices from Germany are significantly more contaminated with OPEs than PBDEs. Average concentrations of ΣOPEs were ten times higher in car than in office dust. This is the first study to provide data on a wide range of OPE concentrations in German indoor dust samples.     

Metal concentrations in American oyster <Emphasis Type="Italic">Crassotrea virginica</Emphasis> and adjacent sediments from harvestable and non-harvestable sites in the Southeastern USA

Human population growth in coastal areas continues to threaten estuarine ecosystems and resources. Populations of Crassostrea virginica have declined across the USA due to water quality degradation, disease pressure, alteration of habitat, and other changes related to anthropogenic impacts. Metals that may be present in estuarine habitats can bioaccumulate in oysters, with potential consequences to the health of oysters and humans consumers. This study (1) evaluated the occurrence and relationships of metal concentrations in oyster tissue versus estuarine sediments, (2) examined oyster tissue concentrations in relation to state water quality designations, and (3) evaluated the potential risk for humans from oyster consumption related to metal concentrations from harvestable waters. Results indicated metal concentrations in sediments and oysters along coastal South Carolina remain low compared to other areas and that concentrations in oyster tissue and adjacent sediments were not highly correlated with each other. However, high concentrations of some metals occurred in oysters sampled from areas designated as Approved for Harvesting. This is important because most harvest area designation systems rely on regular bacterial monitoring when evaluating the safety of consumption. Others safety measurements may be necessary as part of routine monitoring.