Relative sensitivity of one freshwater and two marine acute toxicity tests as determined by testing 30 offshore E & P chemicals

Acute toxicity of 30 offshore E & P (Exploration and Production) chemicals was measured using the three standard test organisms Daphnia magna (freshwater cladoceran), Acartia tonsa (marine copepod) and Skeletonema costatum (marine diatom alga). Test chemicals included 20 water-soluble and 10 (partially) non-soluble products. For 22 out of the 30 chemicals, the difference in sensitivity between the three tests varied within one order of magnitude. A very good correlation was found between the two marine tests (r = 0.96, P < 0.01, n = 30), and a correlation coefficient of r = 0.78 (P < 0.01, n = 30) was found between D. magna and both A. tonsa and S. costatum, individually. When the comparison of D. magna and A. tonsa sensitivity was based only on the water-soluble chemicals, a significantly higher correlation was obtained (r = 0.84, n = 20), indicating that the sample preparation method used for the (partially) non-soluble chemicals (the water accommodated fraction (WAF) method) induces additional variation between tests performed with different test media. (Partially) non-soluble chemicals are characterised by phase separation or precipitation at the concentrations used for testing. In a WAF-based test, each test concentration/exposure level is prepared separately, and following mixing and separation, only the water phase is used for testing. Toxicity is related to the amount of substance originally added to the mixing vessels. For 25 of the 30 chemicals, D. magna was found to be less sensitive than the marine copepod by a factor >2. The generally higher sensitivity of the marine toxicity tests compared to the Daphnia test emphasise the importance of using marine data for environmental hazard classification as well as for environmental risk assessment purposes.     

Interactions of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Weather Calling for an Integrated Approach to Assessment, Forecasting, and Communication of Air Quality

This article reviews interactions and health impacts of physical, chemical, and biological weather. Interactions and synergistic effects between the three types of weather call for integrated assessment, forecasting, and communication of air quality. Today’s air quality legislation falls short of addressing air quality degradation by biological weather, despite increasing evidence for the feasibility of both mitigation and adaptation policy options. In comparison with the existing capabilities for physical and chemical weather, the monitoring of biological weather is lacking stable operational agreements and resources. Furthermore, integrated effects of physical, chemical, and biological weather suggest a critical review of air quality management practices. Additional research is required to improve the coupled modeling of physical, chemical, and biological weather as well as the assessment and communication of integrated air quality. Findings from several recent COST Actions underline the importance of an increased dialog between scientists from the fields of meteorology, air quality, aerobiology, health, and policy makers.     

Supporting conservationists’ mental health through better working conditions

Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, and both aspects have potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated workplace protective and risk factors. A better understanding might help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job satisfaction, productivity, and engagement, while reducing costs from staff turnover, absenteeism, and presenteeism. We surveyed 2311 conservation professionals working in 122 countries through an internet survey shared via mailing lists, social media, and other channels. We asked them about experiences of psychological distress, working conditions, and personal characteristics. Over half were from and worked in Europe and North America, and most had a university-level education, were in desk-based academic and practitioner roles, and responded in English. Heavy workload, job demands, and organizational instability were linked to higher distress, but job stability and satisfaction with one's contributions to conservation were associated with lower distress. Respondents with low dispositional and conservation-specific optimism, poor physical health, and limited social support, women, and early-career professionals were most at risk of distress in our sample. Our results flag important risk factors that employers could consider, although further research is needed among groups underrepresented in our sample. Drawing on evidence-based occupational health interventions, we suggest measures that could promote better working conditions and thus may improve conservationists’ mental health and abilities to protect nature.     

Molecular characterization of symbiotic algae (Symbiodinium spp.) in soritid foraminifera (Sorites orbiculus) and a scleractinian coral (Orbicella annularis) from St John,US Virgin Islands

The exchange of Symbiodinium symbionts among scleractinian and soritid hosts could facilitate acclimatization to changing conditions by establishing novel symbiotic unions better tuned to prevailing conditions. In this study, we compare the communities of Symbiodinium spp. in neighboring populations of Orbicella annularis and Sorites orbiculus from St. John, US Virgin Islands, using operational taxonomic unit (OTU) clustering of cloned internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2) rDNA sequences. We tested for partitioning of Symbiodinium OTUs by host and depth within and between two sites to explore the potential for symbiont exchange between hosts and light-dependent microhabitat specialization. An apparent lack of overlap in Symbiodinium communities (13 OTUs representing 7 clades) hosted by O. annularis and S. orbiculus suggests that exchange among these hosts does not occur. A low number of novel clade G ITS-2 sequences were found in one O. annularis and one S. orbiculus. A phylogenetic analysis of these sequences revealed them to be sub-clade G2 Symbiodinium, which are most commonly hosted by excavating clionid sponges. A permutational MANOVA revealed within host differences in the partitioning of Symbiodinium OTUs by site but not depth. This finding highlights the potential roles of either dissimilar environmental conditions between sites, or at least partial separation between populations, in determining the types of Symbiodinium contained in different hosts on a spatial scale of a few kilometers.