Determination of oxidative stress markers and serum cholinesterase among pesticide sprayers in southern Brazil

Small farmers generally spray pesticides manually and often do not use complete protective equipment. The standard test to detect pesticide exposure, which may be associated with toxicity, is the determination of serum cholinesterase, but in chronic exposure to low doses, this test is less sensitive. In this study, in a group sampled among pesticide sprayers without signs of intoxication, cholinesterase, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), catalase (Cat), and superoxide dismutase (Sod) activities were analyzed. Cholinesterase activity was only slightly lower in the farmer group in relation to the control group. However, TBARS and Cat activities were 3-fold increased in the farmers in comparison to the controls. Sod activity was similar in both groups. The group of pesticide sprayers that did not use the complete protective equipment presented a significantly higher level of TBARS than the group that used the complete protective equipment. Therefore, the determination of TBARS and catalase can be useful to identify individuals that are chronically exposed to low doses of pesticides.     

Large-scale diversity and biogeography of benthic copepods in European waters

A large-scale database concerning benthic copepods from the Arctic, Baltic Sea, North Sea, British Isles, Adriatic Sea and Crete was compiled to assess species richness, biodiversity, communities, ecological range size and biogeographical patterns. The Adriatic showed the highest evenness and the most species-rich communities. Assemblages from the North Sea, British Isles, Baltic and Crete had a lower evenness. The British Isles were characterised by impoverished communities. The ecological specificity of copepod species showed two diverging trends: higher specificity of species in more diverse assemblages was observed in the Adriatic, North Sea and Baltic. A uniformly high species specificity disregarding sample diversity was found on Crete and in the British Isles. Benthic copepod communities showed distinct patterns that clearly fit the predefined geographical regions. Communities were distinguishable and β-diversity was found to be high around Europe, indicating a high species turnover on the scale of this investigation. The British Isles and the North Sea were found to be faunistic links to the Baltic and the Arctic.     

Travel time affects optimal diets in depleting patches

Models of prey choice in depleting patches predict an expanding specialist strategy: Animals should start as specialists on the most profitable prey and then at some point during patch exploitation switch to a generalist foraging strategy. When patch residence time is long, the switch to a generalist diet is predicted to occur earlier than when patch residence time is short. We tested these predictions under laboratory conditions using female parasitoids (Aphidius colemani) exploiting patches of mixed instars aphid hosts (Myzus persicae, L1 and L4). The duration of patch exploitation was manipulated by changing travel time between patches. As predicted, patch residence times increase with travel time between patches. Our results provide empirical support for the expanding specialist prediction: Parasitoid females specialized initially on the more profitable hosts (L4), and as the patch depleted, they switched to a generalist diet by accepting more frequently the less profitable hosts (L1). The point at which they switched from specialist to generalist occurred later when travel times and hence patch residence times were short. By affecting the patch exploitation strategy, travel time also determines the composition of hosts left behind, the “giving up composition.” The change in the relative density of remaining host types alters aphid populations’ age structure.     

Meta-analysis of susceptibility of woody plants to loss of genetic diversity through habitat fragmentation

Shrubs and trees are assumed less likely to lose genetic variation in response to habitat fragmentation because they have certain life-history characteristics such as long lifespans and extensive pollen flow. To test this assumption, we conducted a meta-analysis with data on 97 woody plant species derived from 98 studies of habitat fragmentation. We measured the weighted response of four different measures of population-level genetic diversity to habitat fragmentation with Hedge's d and Spearman rank correlation. We tested whether the genetic response to habitat fragmentation was mediated by life-history traits (longevity, pollination mode, and seed dispersal vector) and study characteristics (genetic marker and plant material used). For both tests of effect size habitat fragmentation was associated with a substantial decrease in expected heterozygosity, number of alleles, and percentage of polymorphic loci, whereas the population inbreeding coefficient was not associated with these measures. The largest proportion of variation among effect sizes was explained by pollination mechanism and by the age of the tissue (progeny or adult) that was genotyped. Our primary finding was that wind-pollinated trees and shrubs appeared to be as likely to lose genetic variation as insect-pollinated species, indicating that severe habitat fragmentation may lead to pollen limitation and limited gene flow. In comparison with results of previous meta-analyses on mainly herbaceous species, we found trees and shrubs were as likely to have negative genetic responses to habitat fragmentation as herbaceous species. We also found that the genetic variation in offspring was generally less than that of adult trees, which is evidence of a genetic extinction debt and probably reflects the genetic diversity of the historical, less-fragmented landscape.     

Carbon leakage and capacity-based allocations: Is the EU right?

Competitiveness and carbon leakage are major concerns for the design of CO₂ emissions permits markets. In the absence of a global carbon tax and of border carbon adjustments, output-based allocation is a third-best solution and is actually implemented (Australia, California, New Zealand). The EU has followed a different route; free allowances are allocated to existing or new capacities in proportion to a benchmark, independent of actual production. This paper compares these two schemes in a formal setting and shows that the optimal one is in fact a combination of both schemes, or output-based allocation alone if uncertainty is limited. A key assumption of our analysis is that the short-term import pressure depends both on the existing capacities and the level of demand, which is typical in capital intensive and internationally traded sectors. A calibration of the model is used to discuss the EU scheme for the cement sector in the third phase of the EU-ETS (2013–2020). This allows for a quantification of various policies in terms of welfare, investment, production, company profits, public revenues and leakage.     

Metallothionein induction, antioxidative responses, glycogen and growth changes in Tubifex tubifex (Oligochaete) exposed to the fungicide, fenhexamid

Laboratory studies were conducted to determine the effects of different concentrations of fenhexamid (0.1, 1, and 10 mg L(-1)) on growth, oxidative stress, protein, glycogen, and metallothionein (MT) contents in Tubifex tubifex after an exposure of 2, 4, and 7 days. In addition, residues of the fungicide were followed in water and in the worms. In water, fenhexamid concentration decreased slowly (maximum -2 +/- 0.03% after 2 days for 1 mg L(-1)). In the worms, it increased after 4 days and decreased thereafter, confirming that the worms were exposed to the fungicide and not to a degradation product. LC50 values were between 95.22 +/- 5.36 and 32.11 +/- 1.8 mg L(-1) depending on exposure time. Exposure to fenhexamid had a negative effect on T. tubifex growth (maximum effect -12.2 +/- 0.8% after 7 days with 10 mg L(-1)) demonstrating the toxic effect of the pesticide. This growth rate decrease was accompanied by a reduction in protein and glycogen contents. The activity of catalase (CAT), and glutathione reductase (GR) increased in response to the fungicide demonstrating an oxidative stress in the worms. In contrast glutathion-S-transferase activity (GST) decreased. Exposure to fenhexamid also induced synthesis of MT (maximum +78 +/- 8% after 2 days for 10 mg L(-1)). The specificity of MT concentration increase in response to metals is discussed.     

Self-organized digging activity in ant colonies

Many ant species adjust the volume of their underground nest to the colony size. We studied whether the regulation of the volume of excavated sand could result from an interplay between recruitment processes and ant density. Experiments were performed with different group sizes of workers in the ant Messor sancta. When presented with a thin homogeneous sand disk, these groups excavated networks of galleries in less than 3 days. The excavation dynamics were logistic shaped, which suggests the existence of a double feedback system: a positive one resulting in an initial exponential growth phase, and a negative one leading the dynamics to a saturation phase. The total volume of excavated sand was almost proportional to the number of workers. We then developed a model in which we incorporated the quantitative behavioral rules of the workers digging activity. A positive feedback was introduced in the form of a recruitment process mediated by pheromones. The model predicts that the excavation dynamics should be logistic shaped and the excavation should almost stop despite the absence of any explicit negative feedback. Moreover, the model was able to reproduce the positive linear relationship between nest volume and colony size.Communicated by K. Ross     

A simple and fast screening test to detect soils polluted by lead

Lead pollution is an environmental priority. The evaluation of contaminated soils was often based on the results of the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) or the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP). This paper presents a simple and fast screening test to detect soil contaminated by lead. The test is based on the chemistry of the stomach (Cl- concentration, pH 2, T = 37 degrees C) and simulates the incidental oral ingestion of soil by young children. The gastric juice simulation test (GJST) and the TCLP were applied to six size fractions from five soils. The GJST solubilized more Pb (up to 169 mg/l) than the TCLP especially for the smallest size fraction. Particle size had less effect on the TCLP. The percentage of lead released with the GJST, was most significant for the <63 microm size fraction and varied from 18 to 74% of the total lead content. Lead leached during the TCLP as a function of the total lead content showed poor linear regression coefficient (R) values for soils <250 microm. R values were significant for all size fractions with the GJST. The pH of approximately 5 in the TCLP limits the solubilization of lead in the small size fractions. The five soils exceeded the toxicity threshold of 10 microgPb/dl of blood for a significant fraction of children between 0 and 36 months using the EPA's IEUBK model (Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic). But the TCLP did not detect lead contamination in two of these five soils. The GJST proved to be a better estimator of lead bioaccessibility in the gastrointestinal tract.     

DEVELOPING BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT. Management of aquatic ecosystems requires a clear understanding of the goals to be achieved, appropriate information and the means to achieve the goals. Control measures applied to aquatic ecosystems, in the absence of information on the condition of the system, are apt to be inappropriate and thus may overprotect the receiving system at times and underprotect it at other times since the ability of ecosystems to receive wastes is not constant. A major determinant of the effectiveness and efficiency of ecological quality control is the lag time in the feedback of information. If the lag is too great, the control measures may repeatedly overshoot or undershoot the desired goal. Present techniques for measuring the responses of aquatic organisms and communities require days or weeks, whereas information for ecosystem quality control and prevention of ecological crises should be generated in minutes or hours as is the case for other quality control systems. Two biological monitoring systems have been developed to generate information rapidly. One system measures changes in the movement and breathing of fish in order to provide an early warning of developing toxicity in the wastes of an industrial plant. The other system measures changes in the diversity of algal comunities in streams by means of laser holography. The incorporation and use of these systems in industrial plants is discussed.