Proposal of Indicators to Assess Urban Sustainability in Brazil

The research related here focuses on municipal situations where problems of sustainability may be defined and tackled on the basis of bottom-up management procedures with the participation of organized society. The aim is to build management models that may be implemented with reasonable administrative effort and cost. Implementation pursues the target of approaching a sustainable situation in the municipality. Environmental parameters for an ideal municipality with undefined geographical location are presented. For each parameter, a set of indicators is developed that can measure the prospect of sustainability. The indicators are defined in terms of numbers or literal concepts according to the possibility of measurement. Examples of management models are presented, which are able to approach the situation defined as sustainable by the indicators. The basic management tool is the learning curve of targeted communities, which is experimentally developed and applied. The indicators are grouped according to their range of applicability.     

Effects of a glyphosate-based herbicide on mate location in a wolf spider that inhabits agroecosystems

Chemical communication is important to many arthropod species but the potential exists for anthropogenic chemicals to disrupt information flow. Although glyphosate-based herbicides are not acutely toxic to arthropods, little is known regarding their effects on natural chemical communication pathways. The wolf spider, Pardosamilvina, is abundant in agroecosystems where herbicides are regularly applied and uses air- and substrate-borne chemical signals extensively during mating. The aim of this study was to examine effects of a commercial formulation of a glyphosate-based herbicide on the ability of males to find females. In the field, virgin females, when hidden inside pitfall traps with herbicide, attracted fewer males than females with water. Likewise females in traps with a ring of herbicide surrounding the opening were less likely to attract males than those in traps surrounded by water. We explored the reaction of males to any airborne component of the herbicide in a laboratory two-choice olfactometer experiment. When no female pheromones were present, males were equally likely to select herbicide or water treated corridors and they all moved through the apparatus at similar speeds. When female pheromones were present, the males that selected control corridors moved more slowly than those that selected herbicide and, if we control for the initial decision time, more males selected the control corridors over the herbicide. These data suggest that glyphosate-based herbicides are “info-disruptors” that alter the ability of males to detect and/or react fully to female signals.     

The interethnic differences of the human serum paraoxonase polymorphism analysed by a quantitative and a qualitative method †

The polymorphism of the human serum paraoxonase¹ was analyzed by two distinguished methods in six different ethnic groups (Caucasians, Mongoloids, Negroids), using (1) the Computer Method² and (2) the Carro‐Ciampi Method³‘⁴. Analysis of the response of the enzyme activities to salts resulting in low and high activity ratios.

Comparison of the results:

In Caucasians we distinguished three phenotypes by the Computer method. The polymorphism was governed by two alleles. The Hardy‐Weinberg rule for a two‐allele model was valid. Individuals belonging to the homozygotic group with low activity had a low activity ratio (Carro‐Ciampi method). With both methods a frequency between 57% and 61% was observed for this group. Individuals with medium and high activity had a high activity ratio.

In Negroids and Mongoloids samples we found (by the Computer method) a low activity group (Ghanaians 9.6%, Jamaicans 13.6%, Indonesians 6.7%, Koreans 19.6%). The Hardy‐Weinberg rule for a two‐ or three‐allele model was not valid. Individuals belonging to the low activity group had a low activity ratio, all individuals with higher activity a high activity ratio (Carro‐Ciampi method).

Our results suggest that the members of the low activity group in the three races are homozygote for an identical allele.     

A field intercomparison and fundamental characterization of various dust samplers with a reference sampler

The European Economic Community Council Directive 80/779/EEC describes air quality limit values and guide values for sulfur dioxide and suspended particulates. However, article 10, paragraph 1 does not define well enough the reference method required, amongst others, for the gravimetric measurement of suspended particulates. It is explicity stated in article 10, paragraph 5 of the directive, that "the commission shall, in selected locations in the member states and in cooperation with the latter, carry out studies on the sampling...of suspended particulates. These studies shall be designed in particular to promote the harmonization of methods of sampling and analysis of these pollutants." Therefore, in a joint research program the Umweltbundesamt (grant #104 02263), the commission of European Communities (grant #84-B-6642-11-017-11-N) and the U.S. EPA (grant #2-432U-3580) funded the development of a reference dust sampler by the Fraunhofer-Institute of Toxicology and Aerosol Research (FhlTA, in Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany) in order: to study the particle size distribution of ambient air aerosol at a number of selected sites; to compare the results obtained with the reference dust sampler with those of particle samplers operated in Europe and the United States; to verify the applicability of wind tunnel results to sampling behaviour in the free atmosphere.     

Importance of cholinesterase kinetic parameters in environmental monitoring using estuarine fish

The aim of the present study was to determine the kinetic parameters and cholinesterase (ChE) activity in two teleost fish, the white mouth croaker Micropogonias furnieri (Scianidae) and the Madamango sea catfish Cathorops spixii (Ariidae), to verify their suitability as sentinel species of aquatic pollution by anticholinergic compounds. Individuals of each species were captured in one reference and one polluted site in the Southern Brazilian coast. Brain tissue was used as enzyme source. Inhibition kinetic parameters indicated that ChE from C. spixii collected at the reference site showed more affinity (Ka) for eserine that from those collected at the polluted site. The opposite was observed for the carbamylation constants (Kc). Thus, similar inhibition constants (Ki) were observed. M. furnieri brain showed an extremely low sensitivity to in vitro inhibition by eserine, indicating that it is not a suitable biomarker to be employed in environmental monitoring of anticholinergic compounds. Results from the present study also point to the need for considering kinetic analysis when cholinesterase activity is employed as a biomarker.     

Interactions between algae (Selenastrum capricornutum) and pesticides: implications for managing constructed wetlands for pesticide removal

This laboratory study examined the interactions between an algal species found in wetlands (Selenastrum capricornutum) and two agricultural pesticides (atrazine and lindane). Pesticide additions had a positive effect on the chlorophyll a concentrations of the treatments. The presence of algae decreased the aqueous persistence of both pesticides. It is speculated that the algae either provided sites for pesticide sorption or facilitated pesticide degradation.     

Influence of salinity on eggs,sperm and larvae of low-vertebral herring reproducing in the coastal waters of the Soviet Union

Clupea harengus pallasi deposit their eggs in the coastal zone, which is the most dynamic part of the sea in respect to its regime. Salimity is one of the most variable factors on the spawning grounds. Observations were made in the seas of the European North and Far East, and in experiments where salinities varied from 0 to 70. Study of the influence of salinity on the development of sea herring eggs is of interest for several reasons. Firstly, salinity fluctuation patterns differ in different parts of a given habitat. In each area inhabited, salinity boundaries exist within which eggs can develop normally. Secondly, the levels of limiting salinities on spawning grounds differ noticeably in different seas. Hence, attention was paid to population-specific differences in the responses of eggs to salinity. Finally, detailed knowledge on the responses of sexual cells to low-salinity conditions helps to elucidate the ecological situation in areas with reduced salinity, and the reproductive potential of the population considered. Sexual cells of numerous populations of Pacific herring are capable of fertilization over a wide range of salinities. Fertilizability in low salinities and, partially, also in high salinities, reveals a population specificity. The responses of the eggs ofC. harengus pallasi to reduced salinities differ from those ofC. harengus harengus. Osmotic resistance of eggs to low salinities is considerably higher in the first-mentioned subspecies. Under salinity stress, eggs reveal individual differences which are not seen under optimum conditions of salinity. In all populations studied, responses to salinity change during embryology.