Nitro musks, nitro musk amino metabolites and polycyclic musks in sewage sludges. Quantitative determination by HRGC-ion-trap-MS/MS and mass spectral characterization of the amino metabolites

Nitro- and polycyclic musks were quantified in sewage sludge samples from different catchment areas using high-resolution gas chromatography (HRGC) and ion-trap MS/MS. Collision induced dissociation (CID) turned out to be a useful tool for quantification of the analytes. Negative chemical ionization (NCI) quadrupole MS in the selected ion mode (SIM) showed similar sensitivities compared to ion trap MS/MS. Among the nitro musks, musk ketone (MK) and musk xylene (MX) were the main compounds in predominantly domestic sewage sludges, found at low microgram/kg dry matter (d.m.) whereas polycyclic musks were present in domestic as well as in industrial sludges up to 12 mg/kg d.m. Galaxolide (HHCB) and Tonalide (AHTN) were the major polycyclic musks found in the sludges. Amino metabolites of the nitro musks, amino musk xylene (AMA), amino musk moskene (AMM) and amino musk ketone (AMK) were detected for the first time in sewage sludges, and reached partly higher concentrations compared to the parent compounds.     

"Droughts have Different Tails": Response to Crises in Mukogodo Division, North Central Kenya, 1950s-1980s

In this essay I discuss the response to crises of Maasai speaking pastoralists in Mukogodo Division, North Central Kenya. I begin with the reminder that the Maasai term currently translated as "drought", olamei, refers primarily to any situation of want of which meteorological drought is only one possible cause. It is therefore preferable to speak of crises, rather than of "droughts". 1 then review the crises which have affected Mukogodo pastoralism since the turn of the century in a wider socioeconomic and political perspective. I then show how the crises of 1981 and 1984 have led to a process of stratification, which locks the poorer half of the population into an unviable and residual "labour reserve pastoralism" with declining chances of recovery.     

Detecting Insect Pollinator Declines on Regional and Global Scales

Recently there has been considerable concern about declines in bee communities in agricultural and natural habitats. The value of pollination to agriculture, provided primarily by bees, is >$200 billion/year worldwide, and in natural ecosystems it is thought to be even greater. However, no monitoring program exists to accurately detect declines in abundance of insect pollinators; thus, it is difficult to quantify the status of bee communities or estimate the extent of declines. We used data from 11 multiyear studies of bee communities to devise a program to monitor pollinators at regional, national, or international scales. In these studies, 7 different methods for sampling bees were used and bees were sampled on 3 different continents. We estimated that a monitoring program with 200–250 sampling locations each sampled twice over 5 years would provide sufficient power to detect small (2–5%) annual declines in the number of species and in total abundance and would cost U.S.$2,000,000. To detect declines as small as 1% annually over the same period would require >300 sampling locations. Given the role of pollinators in food security and ecosystem function, we recommend establishment of integrated regional and international monitoring programs to detect changes in pollinator communities. Detección de Declinaciones de Insectos Polinizadores a Escalas Regional y Global     

Temporal, spatial, and body size effects on growth rates of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Northwest Atlantic

In response to a call from the US National Research Council for research programs to combine their data to improve sea turtle population assessments, we analyzed somatic growth data for Northwest Atlantic (NWA) loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from 10 research programs. We assessed growth dynamics over wide ranges of geography (9–33°N latitude), time (1978–2012), and body size (35.4–103.3 cm carapace length). Generalized additive models revealed significant spatial and temporal variation in growth rates and a significant decline in growth rates with increasing body size. Growth was more rapid in waters south of the USA (<24°N) than in USA waters. Growth dynamics in southern waters in the NWA need more study because sample size was small. Within USA waters, the significant spatial effect in growth rates of immature loggerheads did not exhibit a consistent latitudinal trend. Growth rates declined significantly from 1997 through 2007 and then leveled off or increased. During this same interval, annual nest counts in Florida declined by 43 % (Witherington et al. in Ecol Appl 19:30–54, 2009) before rebounding. Whether these simultaneous declines reflect responses in productivity to a common environmental change should be explored to determine whether somatic growth rates can help interpret population trends based on annual counts of nests or nesting females. Because of the significant spatial and temporal variation in growth rates, population models of NWA loggerheads should avoid employing growth data from restricted spatial or temporal coverage to calculate demographic metrics such as age at sexual maturity.