Pollution,habitat loss,fishing, and climate change as critical threats to penguins

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means to mitigate these threats. Our review has relevance to other taxonomic groups in the southern hemisphere and in northern latitudes, where human impacts are greater. Our review was based on an expert assessment and literature review of all 18 penguin species; 49 scientists contributed to the process. For each penguin species, we considered their range and distribution, population trends, and main anthropogenic threats over the past approximately 250 years. These threats were harvesting adults for oil, skin, and feathers and as bait for crab and rock lobster fisheries; harvesting of eggs; terrestrial habitat degradation; marine pollution; fisheries bycatch and resource competition; environmental variability and climate change; and toxic algal poisoning and disease. Habitat loss, pollution, and fishing, all factors humans can readily mitigate, remain the primary threats for penguin species. Their future resilience to further climate change impacts will almost certainly depend on addressing current threats to existing habitat degradation on land and at sea. We suggest protection of breeding habitat, linked to the designation of appropriately scaled marine reserves, including in the High Seas, will be critical for the future conservation of penguins. However, large‐scale conservation zones are not always practical or politically feasible and other ecosystem‐based management methods that include spatial zoning, bycatch mitigation, and robust harvest control must be developed to maintain marine biodiversity and ensure that ecosystem functioning is maintained across a variety of scales. Contaminación, Pérdida de Hábitat, Pesca y Cambio Climático como Amenazas Críticas para los Pingüinos     

The effect of anaerobic digestion and storage on indicator microorganisms in swine and dairy manure

The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the influence of anaerobic digestion and storage on indicator microorganisms in swine and dairy excreta. Samples were collected every 90 days for 15 months at eight farms, four pig, and four dairy farms, four of them having a biogas plant. Moreover, to evaluate storage effects on samples, 20 l of manure and slurry taken at each farm (digested manure only in farms with a biogas plant) were stored in a controlled climatic chamber at 18 °C, for 6 months. The bacterial load and the chemical-physical characteristics of excreta were evaluated at each sampling time, stored slurry, and manure were sampled and analyzed every 2 months. A high variability of the concentration of bacteria in the different excreta types was observed during the experiment, mainly depending on the type and time of treatment. No sample revealed either the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 or of Salmonella, usually linked to the temporary rearing of infected animals in facilities. Anaerobic digestion and storage affected in a significant way the reduction of indicator bacteria like lactobacilli, coliforms, and streptococci. Anaerobic digestion lowered coliforms in pig slurry (? 2.80 log, P < 0.05), streptococci in dairy manure (? 2.44 log, P < 0.001) and in pig slurry (? 1.43 log, P < 0.05), and lactobacilli in pig slurry (? 3.03 log, P < 0.05). Storage lowered coliforms and the other indicators counts, in particular in fresh wastes, while clostridia did not show a reduction in concentration.     

通过残留水再利用绿化干旱城市:智利北部的多学科项目

本文描述了智利北部的一个项目,其目的是促进处于普遍缺水及土壤和水中含盐量高条件下的干旱地区适当绿地和花园的发展.现场研究试验了选定的本地和引入的观赏植物的适合性.植物生长、水和土壤质量、海洋飞沫、气候、废水处理以及灌溉作业问题等是专门研究和探讨的课题.     

云南红河流域的水土流失与重点防治

红河流域植被覆盖度低，水土流失严重。重点防治水土流失，须立足于生物措施，推广“两效快速”树种和采用“漏斗覆膜”等技术；有条件开垦耕地的，可采用逐年梯带化等技术，并应由政府责成有关部门加以宣传和组织实施，科技机构带头示范，做出样板。     

Cytogenetic results from the U.S. collaborative study on CVS

Cytogenetic data are presented for 11 473 chorionic villus sampling (CVS) procedures from nine centres in the U.S. NICHD collaborative study. A successful cytogenetic diagnosis was obtained in 99.7 per cent of cases, with data obtained from the direct method only (26 per cent), culture method only (42 per cent), or a combination of both (32 per cent). A total of 1.1 per cent of patients had a second CVS or amniocentesis procedure for reasons related to the cytogenetic diagnostic procedure, including laboratory failures (27 cases), maternal cell contamination (4 cases), or mosaic or ambiguous cytogenetic results (98 cases). There were no diagnostic errors involving trisomies for chromosomes 21, 18, and 13. For sex chromosome aneuploidies, one patient terminated her pregnancy on the basis of non-mosaic 47,XXX in the direct method prior to the availability of results from cultured cells. Subsequent analysis of the CVS cultures and fetal tissues showed only normal female cells. Other false-positive predictions involving non-mosaic aneuploidies (n = 13) were observed in the direct or culture method, but these cases involved rare aneuploidies: four cases of tetraploidy, two cases of trisomy 7, and one case each of trisomies 3, 8, 11, 15, 16,20, and 22. This indicates that rare aneuploidies observed in the direct or culture method should be subjected to follow-up by amniocentesis. Two cases of unbalanced structural abnormalities detected in the direct method were not confirmed in cultured CVS or amniotic fluid. In addition, one structural rearrangement was misinterpreted as unbalanced from the direct method, leading to pregnancy termination prior to results from cultured cells showing a balanced, inherited translocation. False-negative results (n = 8) were observed only in the direct method, including one non-mosaic fetal abnormality (trisomy 18) detected by the culture method and seven cases of fetal mosaicism (all detected by the culture method). Mosaicism was observed in 0.8 per cent of all cases, while pseudomosaicism (including single trisomic cells) was observed in 1.6 per cent of cases. Mosaicism was observed with equal frequency in the direct and culture methods, but was confirmed as fetal mosaicism more often in cases from the culture method (24 per cent) than in cases from the direct method (10 per cent). The overall rate of maternal cell contamination was 1.8 per cent for the culture method, but there was only one case of incorrect sex prediction due to complete maternal cell contamination which resulted in the birth of a normal male. The rate of maternal cell contamination was significantly higher in samples obtained by the transcervical sampling method (2. 16 per cent) than in samples obtained by the transabdominal method (0.79 per cent). From these data, it is clear that the culture method has a higher degree of diagnostic accuracy than the direct method, which should not be used as the sole diagnostic technique. The direct method can be a useful adjunct to the culture method, in which maternal cell contamination can lead to incorrect sex prediction and potentially to false-negative diagnostic results.     

伊逊河流域总磷污染来源解析

2017—2018年TP成为滦河一级支流伊逊河流域的主要污染因子,部分国控断面水质主要以GB 3838—2002《地表水环境质量标准》Ⅳ类、Ⅴ类为主.为开展伊逊河TP污染定量识别研究,在2017年和2018年伊逊河流域水体TP污染时空特征分析的基础上,从流域磷铁矿工业污染、城镇生活污水、雨水径流、河道内源释放以及农业非点源等方面开展TP污染研究.结果表明:①伊逊河流域上游至下游TP污染程度呈加剧恶化趋势,上游唐三营控制单元污染较轻,下游李台控制单元TP污染最重;丰水期TP污染较重,枯/平水期污染较轻;从年度看,2017年TP污染严重,2018年年均ρ（TP）下降了50.00%.②2017年、2018年伊逊河流域TP污染来源差异显著,2017年磷输入主要来自于磷铁矿工业污染,占比为33.46%;选矿企业整改后,2018年磷输入主要来源变为畜禽养殖和城镇生活污染,二者占比合计为59.91%.针对伊逊河流域TP污染特征,提出伊逊河流域TP污染控制建议:加强选矿企业环境监管,进一步完善监管体系;加强流域水土流失治理,实施矿山披绿;大力实施绿色农业工程,加强畜禽养殖布局优化.      

Correction to: Human behavior and Homo-mammal interactions at the first European peopling: new evidence from the Pirro Nord site (Apricena,Southern Italy)

The Science of Nature - Female-only colour polymorphism is rare in birds, but occurs in brood parasitic cuckoos (Cuculidae). Obligate brood parasites leave incubation and parental care to other...     

Coal rejects — a wasted resource?

The paper outlines potential uses for coal washery rejects. It considers in detail the use of fluidized-bed combustion as a means of lessening rejects disposal problems, as a method of recovering energy for drying, steam raising and electricity production and as a source of ash as a substitute for natural aggregate. Considerable technical information is now available on the use of fluidized beds for these purposes and the paper concludes that it is appropriate to consider a more detailed, site-specific, evaluation.     

Effects of diver frequentation on Mediterranean sublittoral populations of the bryozoan Pentapora fascialis

The erect, foliaceous bryozoan Pentapora fascialis was selected as an indicator of the abrasive effects of heavy diving activity in Mediterranean coralligenous communities. A comparative survey of bryozoan populations at diver-frequented and unfrequented sites was undertaken in the Medes Islands Protected Area (NW Mediterranean) in 1992. Density, colony diameter, and colony height of P. fascialis populations were significantly lower and colony position was more cryptic at frequented sites than at unfrequented sites. Human frequentation may affect not only the structure of P. fascialis populations, but also that of the coralligenous community as a whole.