Impacts on industry of Europe's emerging chemicals policy REACh

For Europe, a new regime in chemicals regulation is about to start. After the proposal of the European Commission concerning the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACh) passed its readings in the European Parliament and some differences with the European Council of Ministers were resolved, the regulation will come into force in June 2007. This paper is focused on the question how serious the cost burdens for industry induced by REACh will be, and whether the New European Member States (NMS) which joined the European Union in May 2004 will be able to cope with the regulation. This evaluation has been done by assessing the legislative, administrative and economic framework in New Member States and by analysing real business cases in companies. The empirical showcase business impact studies are at the same time of interest for companies of EU-15 states, other European countries who may implement the regulation, and even for exporters of raw materials and chemicals outside Europe, who will also have to comply with REACh if they market in the European Community. The results give no indications that REACh adoption will bring significant drawbacks to companies in the NMS. The emerging regulation will bring challenges for individual companies, especially for small and medium-sized ones, but for the European chemical industry as a whole, there is no question that it will be able to cope with REACh burdens without losing its global competitiveness.     

Nitrogen and metals in two regions in Central Europe: Significant differences in accumulation in mosses due to land use?

The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the regional variability of nitrogen (N) and metal accumulations in terrestrial ecosystems are due to historical and recent ways of landuse. To this end, two regions of Central Europe were selected for investigation: the Weser-Ems Region (WER) and the Euro Region Nissa (ERN). They were assumed to have land use-specific accumulation profiles. Thus, the metal and N accumulations in both regions were examined by means of geostatistically based comparative moss analysis. The sampling and chemical analysis of mosses were conducted in accordance with the convenient guidelines and methods, respectively. The spatial representativity of the sampling sites was computed by means of a land classification which was calculated for Europe by means of classification trees and GIS-techniques. The differences of deposition loads were tested for statistical significance with regard to time and space. The measurement values corroborated the decline of metal accumulation observed since the beginning of the European Metals in Mosses Surveys in 1990. The metal loads of the mosses in the ERN exceeded those in the WER significantly. The opposite holds true for the N concentrations: those in the WER were significantly higher than those in the ERN. The reduction of emissions from power plants, factories and houses was strongly correlated with the decline of deposition and bioaccumulation of metals. As proved by the European Metals in Mosses Surveys, this tendency is due to successful environmental policies. But no such success could be verified by monitoring the accumulation of N in mosses.     

Reproductive success of monogamous and polygynous pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca)

One of the most interesting aspects of the mating system of pied flycatchers is the regular occurrence of polygyny. Here we present data on the reproductive success of polygynously paired pied flycatcher males compared to monogamous males based on paternity analyses through DNA fingerprinting. Males paired with two females suffered a higher loss in reproductive output per female compared to monogamous males due to (1) a greater proportion of unhatched eggs in their broods, (2) greater nestling mortality and (3) a greater probability of being cuckolded. Nevertheless, the number of fledglings was significantly greater for polygynous males. Based on the number of nestlings that returned for subsequent breeding seasons, however, the reproductive success of monogamous and polygynous males did not differ significantly. These data raise the question as to why males attempt polygyny. Received: 16 August 1999 / Received in revised form: 15 March 2000 / Accepted: 18 March 2000     

Occurrence of the semi-catadromous European eel Anguilla anguilla in the Baltic Sea

Strontium (Sr) and calcium (Ca) contents in the otoliths of yellow and silver European eels [Anguilla anguilla (L.)] collected from coastal waters of the Baltic Sea and a freshwater lake in Sweden were examined by wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry with an electron microprobe. The mean Sr/Ca ratios from elver check to otolith edge were significantly higher for the eels from coastal waters (5.39 ± 1.09‰) than for those from the lake (0.71 ± 0.89‰). The evidence indicates that European eels in the Baltic Sea do not necessarily migrate into freshwater streams during the growth phase. Received: 30 September 1999 / Accepted: 6 April 2000     

Size-related aspects of arm damage, tissue mechanics, and autotomy in the starfish Asterias rubens

 Arm damage is a widely reported but superficially investigated aspect of the biology of the starfish Asterias rubens L. In the present study, the incidence of arm damage was surveyed in populations of A.  rubens at two sites in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and three sites in Gullmarsfjorden, Sweden. The mean (±SD) incidence across all sites of individuals with basal arm damage (resulting from detachment at the basal autotomy plane) was 19.69 ± 8.86%, the incidence of those with distal arm damage (resulting from amputation at more distal levels) was 7.74 ± 10.01%. The mean incidence of arms with basal damage was 5.28 ± 4.12%, of those with distal damage 1.83 ± 2.45%. There was a significant negative correlation between size and the incidence of basal damage at all but one site, but no significant correlation between size and distal damage at any site. Mechanical tests on specimens of the aboral body wall from the basal region of the arm (which included the autotomy plane) and from a more distal region revealed that with increasing body size there was a significant increase in yield stress, ultimate stress and Young's modulus (stiffness) but no significant change in yield strain and ultimate strain. There was no significant difference between the relationships for basal and distal specimens. It is hypothesised that in larger individuals increased mechanical toughness replaces autotomy as an effective antipredator strategy. Using two methods to induce autotomy, a significant positive correlation between size and the delay between the onset of stimulation and arm detachment was found; this may represent a size-related decline in the efficiency of the autotomy mechanism through the relaxation of selection pressure. Since size is an unreliable indicator of age in A.  rubens, the trends identified herein can be interpreted only tentatively as age-associated phenomena. Received: 4 September 1999 / Accepted: 17 February 2000     

Effects of UV radiation of different wavebands on pigmentation, 15N-ammonium uptake, amino acid pools and adenylate contents of marine diatoms

Three marine diatoms Lauderia annulata Cleve, Odontella sinensis (Greville) Grunow and Thalassiosira rotula Meunier were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of different wavebands under controlled laboratory conditions (0.035 vol% CO₂, 18 °C). Several changes in the patterns of pigments in these organisms were seen depending on the waveband of UV radiation and species examined. UV-B and UV-B plus UV-A radiation led to a reduction in the overall pigment content of all three diatoms. The uptake of ¹⁵N-ammonium was less affected by 5-h UV-A (WG 320) but significantly reduced after UV-B and UV-B plus UV-A exposure. The pattern of free amino acid pools varied depending on the applied UV wavebands and the tested diatom. The main protein-bound amino acids of T. rotula decreased after 5-h UV irradiance except leucine. Contents of adenosine 5′-mono-, di-, and triphosphate (AMP, ADP and ATP) were affected differently by UV radiation; ATP values increased at the end of UV-B and UV-B plus UV-A exposure. These results have been discussed with reference to the impact of the different UV sources and the influence on the nitrogen metabolism in connection to pigments and supply with energy. Received: 13 May 1997 / Accepted: 11 October 1997     

Oligogyny by unrelated queens in the carpenter ant, Camponotus ligniperdus

Multilocus DNA fingerprinting and microsatellite analysis were used to determine the number of queens and their mating frequencies in colonies of the carpenter ant, Camponotus ligniperdus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Only 1 of 61 analyzed queens was found to be double-mated and the population-wide effective mating frequency was therefore 1.02. In the studied population, 8 of 21 mature field colonies (38%) contained worker, male, or virgin queen genotypes which were not compatible with presumed monogyny and therefore suggested oligogyny, i.e., the cooccurrence of several mutually intolerant queens within one colony. Estimated queen numbers in oligogynous colonies ranged between two and five. According to the results of the genetic analysis, most of the queens coexisting in oligogynous colonies were not closely related. Pleometrosis is very rare and queenless colonies adopt mated queens both in the laboratory and field. Therefore, the most plausible explanation for the origin of oligogynous colonies in C. ligniperdus is the adoption of unrelated queens by orphaned mature colonies. The coexistence of unrelated, but mutually intolerant queens in C. ligniperdus colonies demonstrates that oligogyny should be considered as a phenomenon distinct from polygyny. Received: 18 December 1997 / Accepted after revision: 20 June 1998     

The role of daytime cues in the development of magnetic orientation in a night-migrating bird

To assess the role of celestial rotation during daytime in the development of the magnetic compass course, pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca Pallas, Muscicapidae) were handraised in Latvia under various celestial and magnetic conditions. Tests were performed during autumn migration in the local geomagnetic field (50 000 nT, 73° inclination) in the absence of celestial cues. A group of birds that had never seen the sky showed a bimodal preference for the migratory southwest-northeast axis, whereas a second group that had been exposed to the natural sky from sunrise to sunset in the local geomagnetic field showed a unimodal preference for the seasonally appropriate southwesterly direction. A third group that had also been exposed to the daytime sky, but in the absence of magnetic compass information, also oriented bimodally along a southwest-northeast axis. These findings demonstrate that observing celestial rotation during daytime enables birds to choose the right end of the migratory axis for autumn migration at the Latvian test location. This transformation of axial behavior into appropriate migratory orientation, however, requires the birds to have simultaneous access to information on both celestial rotation and the geomagnetic field. Received: 19 September 1997 / Accepted after revision: 22 November 1997