Within-thallus variation in polyphenolic content and antifouling activity in Sargassum vulgare

The brown seaweed Sargassum vulgare C. Agardh abounds along the southeast coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, creating unique habitats, and its polyphenols play an important ecological role as antifouling agents. In order to understand more precisely this defensive strategy of S. vulgare, we collected this macroalga at Ilha de Itacuruçá in May and October 2009. Thalli were separated according to tissue type: pneumatocysts, receptacles, leaflets, and axis. Phenolic extracts from each specific part of the plant were obtained and the associated antifouling activity was tested in order to assess whether a tissue specialisation/antifouling activity pattern exists. Preliminary separation process was carried out on a phenolic extract to separate the polyphenols from the remaining compounds. Such fractionation allowed us to study the involvement of strictly phenolic compounds in antifouling activity. Within-thallus variation in both phenolic content and antifouling activity were highlighted, and seasonal variation in both those characters was also observed. For both experiments, pneumatocyst and leaflet phenolic extracts were the most active against the attachment of Perna perna, but no correlation was observed between phenolic concentration and antifouling activity. On the contrary, the extract containing only phenolic compounds was twice less active than the extract from which 80 % of the polyphenols were removed. These results led us to hypothesise that polar compounds other than polyphenols are involved in the antifouling activity.     

Toxicity impacts in the environmental footprint method: calculation principles

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - The EU environmental footprint (EF) is a life cycle assessment (LCA)-based method which aims at assessing the environmental impacts of...     

The effect of compact formulations on the environmental profile of northern european granular laundry detergents

Regular (1988) and compact granular (1992, 1998) laundry detergents were compared on the basis of two distinct, complementary approaches: Environmental Risk Assessment and Life-Cycle Assessment. The results are presented in this paper and an accompanying paper in this volume (Part II: Life-Cycle Assessment). Exposure data from The Netherlands and Sweden were used for this retrospective analysis. The time period studied (1988–1998) spans many innovations in laundry detergents, one of which was the introduction of compact detergents. The aquatic risk assessment resulted in risk quotients below 1 for all detergent ingredients in both countries over the period studied. Furthermore, it showed that risk quotients decrease two to five-fold between 1988 and 1998 in each country due to the introduction of compact detergents. Slightly lower risk quotients were observed in Sweden, when compared to The Netherlands, attributable to the lower water hardness resulting in lower detergent usage per wash cycle in that country. If water hardnesses were equal, the outcome of the product risk assessments would also be the same in the two countries.     

Highly Variable Densities and a Decline in Critically Endangered Golden-Crowned Sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli) Abundance from 2008–2018

International Journal of Primatology - Animal abundance is determined by a number of factors, including vegetation structure, food availability and quality, human activities, predation risk, and...     

The distribution of scleractinian corals in the Bay of Biscay, NE Atlantic

Studies on the distribution of scleractinian corals in the Bay of Biscay were relatively numerous during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. Yet, recent reports are scattered, sometimes unpublished, and therefore knowledge about the current coral occurrence in the area is limited. This study aims at compiling the available historical and more recently collected information on the occurrence of scleractinian corals in the Bay of Biscay. Data from two recent cruises are included and compared with previous explored coral sites from as early as 1830 up to 1995. A database of 347 records including 34 described species of scleractinians highlights that the slope of the Bay of Biscay is an important habitat for scleractinians. This could be expected due to the high topographic relief providing the necessary hard substrate and accelerated bottom current flow that corals require. Further exploration of the occurrence and ecology of corals in the area is recommended to support the conservation of cold-water coral reefs along the European margin. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.