Ecotoxicity of wastes in avoidance tests with Enchytraeus albidus,Enchytraeus crypticus and Eisenia fetida (Oligochaeta)

Contact bioassays are important for testing the ecotoxicity of solid materials. However, survival and reproduction tests are often not practical due to their duration which may last for several weeks. Avoidance tests with soil invertebrates may offer an alternative or extension to the classic test batteries due to their short duration (days rather than weeks) and due to a sensitive sub-acute endpoint (behavior). The aims of our study were: (a) to evaluate the effects of three solid industrial wastes (incineration ash, contaminated wood chips and contaminated soil) on three Oligochaeta species (enchytraeids Enchytraeus albidus, Enchytraeus crypticus and earthworm Eisenia fetida) in avoidance tests; (b) to compare the sensitivity among the species and to compare results of avoidance test to reproduction tests; (c) to elucidate if measuring the weight in the earthworm avoidance test could be reasonable additional endpoint. Avoidance mostly increased with the increasing percent of waste in the mixture showing a dose–response curve. E. fetida was the most sensitive species and E. crypticus the least one. An additional endpoint, (changes in weight after two-day exposure) was not found to be more sensitive than avoidance reaction, but it confirmed that earthworms staying in the highest concentrations of the waste mixture were affected showing apparent weight reduction. Our results indicate that avoidance tests with earthworms and enchytraeids are feasible for waste testing.     

Egg testosterone affects wattle color and trait covariation in the ring-necked pheasant

Transfer of maternal hormones to the eggs is a major source of offspring phenotypic variation. The developmental and organizational effects of egg hormones can extend into adulthood and affect behavioral and morphological traits involved in sexual and reproductive behavior, with important consequences for offspring fitness. In this study, we injected testosterone (T) in egg albumen of captive ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) eggs. We then assessed the consequences for chick growth, cell-mediated immunity, and multiple male secondary sexual traits at maturity by comparison with a control group. We also compared the covariation between traits in the two experimental groups. We found that control males had redder wattles than males from T-injected eggs, suggesting that attractiveness and reproductive success of the offspring might vary depending on maternal transfer of T to the eggs. T treatment also modified the covariation between cell-mediated immunity and wattle coloration and between the area of the wattle and the expression of another secondary sexual trait, the ear tufts. These effects are likely to translate into fitness differences among the offspring if mate acquisition depends on the simultaneous expression of several traits that are differentially affected by the same maternal contribution. Maternal effects mediated by egg hormones might affect the fitness of the offspring not only by directional modification of phenotypic traits, but also by facilitating or inhibiting their covariation. This suggests the possibility that female choice based on the relative expression of multiple secondary sexual traits exerts a pressure on how maternal transfer of androgens contributes to developmental programs.     

Storage and metabolism of radioactively labeled pyrrolizidine alkaloids by butterflies and larvae of Mechanitis polymnia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae,Ithomiinae)

Summary. Tracer feeding studies with radioactively labeled pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) were performed to attain experimental information about the specificity and mechanisms of uptake, metabolism and storage of PAs in the alkaloid sequestering ithomiine butterfly Mechanitis polymnia. Adult butterflies easily ingest the tracers offered dissolved in a saturated sugar solution. Feeding of [¹⁴C]rinderine (free base) confirmed that M. polymnia is well adapted to sequester and maintain PAs of the lycopsamine type. Approximately 80% of the ingested radioactivity can be recovered in methanol extracts of the butterflies over a period of at least 6 hours. Labeled rinderine is efficiently N-oxidized and transformed into a metabolite of still unknown structure. These two metabolites are formed in almost equal amounts and account for more than 90% of total radioactivity. After four hours the toxic free base is only detectable in traces. Radioactively labeled senecioylretronecine (free base), a PA that often accompanies PAs of the lycopsamine type in plants, is metabolized in a different manner. The toxic free base disappeared as fast as the tertiary rinderine, but the final products which accumulated in a stable ratio after 12 hours were mainly two polar metabolites of unknown structure; senecioylretronecine N-oxide accounts for less than 10% of total PAs. Labeled senecionine a macrocyclic PA, which never has been found in wild caught M. polymnia is only slowly N-oxidized. In females ca 50% of the ingested senecionine is still present as free base after 24 hours, whereas under the same conditions in males this percentage is only ca 20%. This difference in N-oxidation was the only significant sex-specific difference observed in various experiments. Larvae of M. polymnia which feed on Solanum tabacifolium, a plant that does not contain PAs, are able to sequester and partly N-oxidize labeled senecioylretronecine and senecionine. However, the storage is not very efficient; with the two tracers less than 5% of radioactivity remained in the bodies after 24 hours. Received 19 October 1999; accepted 24 November 1999     

Factors affecting photooxidation of oil constituents in the marine environment. I. Photochemical transformations of dimethylnaphthalenes in an aqueous environment in the presence and absence of oil

Photooxidation studies of 1,3-, 1,4-, 1,8- and 2,3-dimethylnaphthalene (DMN) suspended in and layered on seawater and distilled water have been performed in the presence and absence of crude Ekofisk oil, methylene blue and dibenzothiophene. With the exception of 2,3-DMN which was very insensitive to the reaction conditions, the course of reaction was, generally, influenced by the structure of the substrate, the salinity of the water, the oil and the presence of sulfur-containing compounds. In the absence of oil the photooxidation was fairly inefficient and took place exclusively in benzylic positions. In the presence of oil oxidation of the naphthalene moiety predominated due to abundant formation of singlet oxygen.     

Effects of particulate explosives on estimating contamination at a historical explosives testing area.

A historical explosives testing area harbored contamination as unevenly distributed solid particles within a contaminant-stained soil matrix. Particles larger than 3 mm diameter accounted for 96.4% of the explosives contamination. Independent sampling and analysis methods showed significant differences in contaminant estimations due to particulate explosives. We present a solvent-based sample averaging method designed to solve spatial heterogeneity problems resulting from the presence of contaminant particles.     

Poliovirus and Other Enteroviruses from Environmental Surveillance in Italy, 2009–2015

Within the initiatives for poliomyelitis eradication by WHO, Italy activated an environmental surveillance (ES) in 2005. ES complements clinical Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance for possible polio cases, detects poliovirus circulation in environmental sewage, and is used to monitor transmission in communities. In addition to polioviruses, the analyses comprised: (i) the monitoring of the presence of non-polio enteroviruses in sewage samples and (ii) the temporal and geographical distribution of the detected viruses. From 2009 to 2015, 2880 sewage samples were collected from eight cities participating in the surveillance. Overall, 1479 samples resulted positive for enteroviruses. No wild-type polioviruses were found, although four Sabin-like polioviruses were detected. The low degree of mutation found in the genomes of these four isolates suggests that these viruses have had a limited circulation in the population. All non-polio enteroviruses belonged to species B and the most frequent serotype was CV-B5, followed by CV-B4, E-11, E-6, E-7, CV-B3, and CV-B2. Variations in the frequency of different serotypes were also observed in different seasons and/or Italian areas. Environmental surveillance in Italy, as part of the ‘WHO global polio eradication program’, is a powerful tool to augment the polio surveillance and to investigate the silent circulation or the re-emergence of enteroviruses in the population.     

Large-Scale Survey of Human Enteroviruses in Wastewater Treatment Plants of a Metropolitan Area of Southern Italy

Human enteroviruses (HEVs) occur in high concentrations in wastewater and can contaminate receiving environmental waters, constituting a major cause of acute waterborne disease worldwide. In this study, we investigated the relative abundance, occurrence, and seasonal distribution of polio and other enteroviruses at three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Naples, Southern Italy, from January 2010 to December 2014. Influent and effluent samples from the three WWTPs were collected monthly. One hundred and sixty-one of the 731 wastewater samples collected (22.0%) before and after water treatment were CPE positive on RD cells; while no samples were positive on L20B cells from any WWTPs. Among the 140 non-polio enterovirus isolated from inlet sewage, 69.3% were Coxsackieviruses type B and 30.7% were Echoviruses. Among these, CVB3 and CVB5 were most prevalent, followed by CVB4 and Echo6. The twenty-one samples tested after treatment contained 6 CVB4, 5 CVB3, 3 Echo11, and 2 Echo6; while other serotypes were isolated less frequently. Data on viral detection in treated effluents of WWTPs confirmed the potential environmental contamination by HEVs and could be useful to establish standards for policies on wastewater management.     

Assessing health risk from benzene pollution in an urban area

A health hazard, specifically the leukaemia risk, is evaluatedfrom different sources of benzene exposure with relation to apopulation living in an urban area of Italy. The population exposure is calculated for a reference year by sexand lyfestyle, with respect to smokers and non smokers. Potentialhealth risk is therefore quantified by means of mathematicalmodels and the relative significance of the different sources is described. The results of the analysis are useful for the identification ofappropriate risk reduction strategies to minimize exposure, inparticular when resulting from lifestyle and personal activities.