Dietary effects on multi-element composition of European eel (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anguilla anguilla</Emphasis>) otoliths

Otolith microchemistry is widely used as a tool to track individual migration pathways of diadromous fish under the assumption that the elemental composition of fish otoliths is directly influenced by the physicochemical properties of the surrounding water. Nevertheless, several endogenous factors are reported to affect element incorporation into fish otoliths and might lead to misinterpretations of migration studies. This study experimentally examined the influence of eight different diets on the microchemical composition of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) otoliths using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Seven natural prey types and one artificial diet were fed during 8 weeks in freshwater circuits. Results show for the first time that food has no significant influence on the incorporation of Na, Sr, Ba, Mg, Mn, Cu and Y into European eel otoliths. This indicates that the incorporation of elements usually chosen for migration studies is not affected by diet and that individual feeding behaviour of A. anguilla will not lead to any misinterpretation of migration pathways.     

Spatial-temporal variability of aerosol sources based on chemical composition and particle number size distributions in an urban settlement influenced by metallurgical industry

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Moravian-Silesian region of the Czech Republic with its capital city Ostrava is a European air pollution hot spot for airborne particulate matter...     

Enantioselective effects of alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers on androgen receptor activity in vitro

Alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH), a part of the HCH pesticide mixture, is one of the most widespread persistent organic pollutants. Interestingly, only limited number of studies addressed the toxicity of alpha-HCH and the effects of its individual optical isomers have not been investigated in detail. In the present study we separated two alpha-HCH enantiomers by preparative HPLC and studied their activities towards androgen receptor (AR) using the MDA-kb2 cell line stably transfected with the luciferase reporter gene under the control of AR. There was no direct effect of alpha-HCH on AR but both isomers significantly suppressed the activity of AR in co-exposure with the natural ligand dihydrotestosterone in a concentration-dependent manner. One of the enantiomers appeared to be more active at lower concentration, which was also supported by the molecular modeling calculations with AR that showed a slight difference in estimated free energy of binding and inhibition constant between two enantiomers. Although studies with other pesticides demonstrated strong enantioselective differences in toxicity, the present research shows rather minor differences in modulations of AR by both alpha-HCH enantiomers. For the first time, enantioselective effects of alpha-HCH were demonstrated and the results suggest interaction with multiple regulatory events controlling the AR activity. Full elucidation of the toxicity mechanism will require further research.     

Trends in background levels of persistent organic pollutants at Kosetice observatory, Czech Republic.1) Part I. Ambient air and wet deposition 1996-2005

Kosetice observatory is a facility of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, which is a part of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) network. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs: PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, PAHs) have been monitored in all environmental matrices using the integrated monitoring approach. Generally, the atmospheric levels of POPs in this Central European background station (mean values: 0.115 ng m(-3) for SigmaPCBs, 0.040 ng m(-3) for SigmaDDTs, 0.077 ng m(-3) for SigmaHCHs, and 17 ng m(-3) for SigmaPAHs) are significantly higher than those in other EMEP stations localized mostly in Northern and Western Europe. Long-term trends of POP concentrations in the ambient air and wet deposition are presented in this article and they show a slow decline in the last decade for most of the investigated compounds. Temporally increased levels of certain chemicals were associated with some local climatic (floods) or socio-economic (fuel prices) factors.     

Toxicity of wood leachate to algae Desmodesmus subspicatus and plant Lemna minor

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Wood is one of the extensively used goods on the earth due to its large accessibility and usage in a wide range of human life. When woods are exposed...     

Spontaneous revegetation vs. forestry reclamation in post-mining sand pits

Vegetation development of sites restored by two different methods, spontaneous revegetation and forestry reclamation, was compared in four sand pit mining complexes located in the southern part of the Czech Republic, central Europe. The space-for-time substitution method was applied to collect vegetation records in 13 differently aged and sufficiently large sites with known history. The restoration method, age (time since site abandonment/reclamation), groundwater table, slope, and aspect in all sampled plots were recorded in addition to the visual estimation of percentage cover of all present vascular plant species. Multivariate methods and GLM were used for the data elaboration. Restoration method was the major factor influencing species pattern. Both spontaneously revegetated and forestry reclaimed sites developed towards forest on a comparable timescale. Although the sites did not significantly differ in species richness (160 species in spontaneously revegetated vs. 111 in forestry reclaimed sites), spontaneously revegetated sites tended to be more diverse with more species of conservation potential (10 Red List species in spontaneous sites vs. 4 Red List species in forestry reclaimed sites). These results support the use of spontaneous revegetation as an effective and low-cost method of sand pit restoration and may contribute to implementation of this method in practice.     

Sources of organochlorine pesticides in air in an urban Mediterranean environment: volatilisation from soil

Organochlorine pesticide (OCP) cycling was studied in the area of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, over 3 days in summer with high temporal (4 h-means) and spatial (3 sites distanced 3-6 km) resolutions. Elevated levels of DDX compounds (i.e. o,p'- and p,p'-isomers of DDT, DDE and DDD, 44-74 pg m(-3) at the urban sites and 27 pg m(-3) as a background level), HCH (α-, β- and γ-isomers, 52-70 vs. 147 pg m(-3)), HCB (34-48 vs. <0.1 pg m(-3)) and pentachlorobenzene (6.8-9.9 vs. 6.0 pg m(-3)) were found. The variation of OCP levels at the two urban sites was not in phase, except for most DDX compounds. This was related to background levels, which for HCH were higher than in the urban area. Vertical profiles between samples collected from 1.1 and 2.3 m (part of the time 0.6 and 2.3 m) above a soil, which was only moderately contaminated by OCPs (0.12 ng g(-1) HCH, 0.11 ng g(-1) DDX, 0.44 ng g(-1) HCB) were analysed. Volatilisation from the ground caused negative vertical concentration gradients of HCH isomers (day and night), but not for HCB (except for 1 day-time sample) and DDX compounds (except p,p'-DDD, day-time, sporadically). The concentration in air and the vertical concentration gradient of the HCH isomers varied with air temperature (day-time maxima), while the variation of the HCB concentration was inversely related to air temperature and was determined by mixing (night-time maxima). α- and β-HCH were volatilised from soil throughout the three days, even during periods of cooling. Fugacity calculations, based on the absorption in soil organic matter as the process determining retention in soil, underestimated the volatilisation of β-HCH and p,p'-DDD. It is concluded that the representativeness of point measurements of OCPs in urban areas is limited by the spatial variability of soil contamination.     

Waste brick dust as a prospective eco-friendly alternative component of artificial soils for ecotoxicological studies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Current artificial soils for ecotoxicological studies contain non-renewable materials that must be mined, and their production and processing consume...