Effects of water from Nakhodka Bay (Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan) on the early development of the Sea UrchinStrongylocentrotus intermedius

Our studies show that seawater from different sites in Nakhodka Bay has a deleterious effect on the development of the sea urchinStrongylocentrotus intermedius. As development proceeded to the pluteus I stage, the percentage of abnormal larvae maintained in water from Nakhodka, Novitskogo, and Vrangelya Bights increased markedly (66.7±2.2, 67.1±2.6, and 54.6±1.8%, respectively). These larvae developed more slowly, were smaller, and differed from those in the control in the intensity of color of their echinochrome granules. In water from Nakhodka and Novitskogo bights, larval survival rates were lower than in the control. This suggests that the water of Nakhodka Bay is heavily polluted, especially in its harbor areas.     

Analysis and assessment of heavy metals pollution in soils around a Pb and Zn smelter in Baoji City,Northwest China

Soil heavy metal pollution from mining activities is potentially harmful to human health through the food chain. In this study, a total of 43 soil samples were collected from a depth of 0–20 cm from fields close to a Pb and Zn smelter. The samples were used to: 1) analyze the pollution level of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cr, and Cu) and spatial distribution pattern; 2) evaluate the degree of accumulation and enrichment, potential ecological risk, and human health risk; and 3) perform source apportionment in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province of China. The results showed that the concentration ranged from 43.67 to 189.55, 131.43 to 239.53, 74.77 to 112.25, and 24.69 to 37.71 mg·kg^?1 for Pb, Zn, Cr, and Cu, respectively, and the mean concentration for Pb, Zn, Cr, and Cu was 129.46, 192.85, 91.98 and 31.67 mg·kg^?1, respectively. The concentrations were greater than the Shaanxi Province background values, while they were lower than the second-level limits of Environmental Quality Standard for Soils of China (EQSS). The spatial distribution of heavy metal contents showed a banded in soil except Cu. The spatial distribution pattern and pollution assessment indexes (I_geo, EF) indicated that the investigated metals had been accumulated in the study areas, and implied significant influences from anthropogenic activities, local meteorological situation, and soil properties. The ecological risk assessment showed that the risks were relatively low (RI<150). Compared with the exposure risk for adults, that for children was significantly greater. The ingestion of heavy metals in the soils by humans was the main exposure pathway compared with the dermal exposure. There may be a risk of noncarcinogenic adverse health effects (HQ < 1, 0.377 ≤ HI≤1.553) on children, but the adults were unlikely to experience obvious adverse health effects (HQ < 1, HI < 1). The carcinogenic risk of Cr for adults and children was at an unacceptable level. The carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks were in the order of children > adults. The correlation analysis showed that Pb, Cr, and Cu have identical anthropogenic and natural sources, while Zn has another identical source. This study could provide a basis for the sustainable management of this region by reducing metal inputs and to protect soils from long-term heavy metal accumulation.     

Divergent growth of Norway spruce on Babia Góra Mountain in the western Carpathians

Growth divergence – i.e. the expression of divergent growth trends of neighboring trees – has certain implications for dendrochronological research, for instance in the context of climate reconstructions but also in terms of estimating net ecosystem productivity. Thus, understanding the underlying mechanisms is essential to extend our fundamental dendroecological knowledge. In this context, the Picea genus plays an important role since several of its species were reported to exhibit growth divergence. Here, we investigate a well sampled Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) data set for growth divergence comprising ring-width and Blue Intensity measurements from seven sites on Babia Góra Mountain, at the border between Poland and Slovakia. By means of Principal Component Gradient Analysis, inter-series correlations, and climate growth relationships, we are able to show that I) Norway spruce on Babia Góra expressed growth divergence since the 1970s, II) the definition of groups increased the strength of population signals and the stability of climate-growth relationships, and III) Blue Intensity appeared as a more robust proxy for environmental conditions. We discuss soil heterogeneity, genetics, and air pollution as possible underlying mechanisms, thereby indicating further research avenues to obtain a better understanding of growth divergence.     

Temporal and spatial trends in heavy metal concentrations in the marine mussel Mytilus edulis from the Western Scheldt estuary (The Netherlands)

Since the first North Sea Conference (1984, Bremen), all countries bordering the North Sea made commitments to reduce discharge of hazardous substances into the North Sea. From Belgium and The Netherlands, large reductions (upto 90) in heavy metal emissions from land-based sources have been reported between 1985 and 2000. Recently, some studies in the Western Scheldt estuary (WS) have shown that total metal concentration in the water, sediments and suspended particles have decreased compared to levels in the 70s. However, data on aquatic organisms is still very limited and it is therefore difficult to confirm whether the reductions in pollution input and generally improving water quality in the WS have a corresponding impact on the levels of heavy metals in aquatic organisms. The current study measured metal concentrations in the soft tissues of mussels, Mytilus edulis (known to be good indicators of environmental metal pollution) during the period 1996–2002. Spatial (salinity and pollution gradients), temporal and seasonal variations were also studied. Results showed a down-stream decreasing trend for the metals studied (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) during all sampling campaigns. There was also a significant seasonal effect on tissue metal concentrations, with a peak observed around spring in both WS and the nearby less polluted Eastern Scheldt (ES). On temporal trends, a clear drop of metals in mussels was observed in the early 80s coinciding with the start of the efforts to reduce chemical pollution input into the North Sea. Since those early reductions, metal concentrations in mussels generally remained unchanged upto mid 90s. However, in recent times metal concentration in mussels have increased significantly, for example Cd in 2002 was almost 10 times the values in 1983 and similar to levels seen during the peak in the 70s. Other metals also increased in the 90s also reaching levels seen in the 70s. As there is no indication of recent increase in metal input into the estuary, we suggest that increased metal concentrations observed in mussels in recent years especially in the upper estuary are most likely a result of changes in physical and chemical speciation and metal bioavailability. Such changes may be caused by changes in some water quality parameters in the estuary (i.e. increased dissolved oxygen, concentration of organic matter), resulting in conditions that favour releases of sediment-bound metals into the water column. The relationship between metal content and season showed very similar annual profiles in the polluted WS and less polluted ES. Thus, seasonal variations in metal concentrations appear to be largely controlled by biological processes, while total body burdens are dependent on environmental levels and bioavailability.     

Contrasting population changes in sympatric penguin species in association with climate warming

Climate warming and associated sea ice reductions in Antarctica have modified habitat conditions for some species. These include the congeneric Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins, which now demonstrate remarkable population responses to regional warming. However, inconsistencies in the direction of population changes between species at different study sites complicate the understanding of causal processes. Here, we show that at the South Orkney Islands where the three species breed sympatrically, the less ice‐adapted gentoo penguins increased significantly in numbers over the last 26 years, whereas chinstrap and Adélie penguins both declined. These trends occurred in parallel with regional long‐term warming and significant reduction in sea ice extent. Periodical warm events, with teleconnections to the tropical Pacific, caused cycles in sea ice leading to reduced prey biomass, and simultaneous interannual population decreases in the three penguin species. With the loss of sea ice, Adélie penguins were less buffered against the environment, their numbers fluctuated greatly and their population response was strong and linear. Chinstrap penguins, considered to be better adapted to ice‐free conditions, were affected by discrete events of locally increased ice cover, but showed less variable, nonlinear responses to sea ice loss. Gentoo penguins were temporarily affected by negative anomalies in regional sea ice, but persistent sea ice reductions were likely to increase their available niche, which is likely to be substantially segregated from that of their more abundant congeners. Thus, the regional consequences of global climate perturbations on the sea ice phenology affect the marine ecosystem, with repercussions for penguin food supply and competition for resources. Ultimately, variability in penguin populations with warming reflects the local balance between penguin adaptation to ice conditions and trophic‐mediated changes cascading from global climate forcing.     

Spectrographic analysis of laryngeal air sac resonance in rhesus monkey.

Laryngeal air sacs are circular out-pocketings, located in the hyoid bone with their ostium in the midline of the anterior part of the larynx. From previous cadaver studies of the rhesus monkey it was deduced that the function of the air sac is to act as a resonating chamber. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis. Recordings were made of three rhesus monkeys before and after surgical removal of the air sac. Spectrographic analysis of the monkeys' vocalizations indicated that differences in formant frequency characteristics between pre-and post-surgical recordings were negligible. This finding suggests that the laryngeal air sac does not play an important role in the resonant properties of the monkeys' vocal tracts.     

The effects of chemical pollution on the bioturbation potential of estuarine intertidal mudflats

Bioturbation by benthic infauna has important implications for the fate of contaminants as well as for changes to the sediment structure, chemistry and transport characteristics. There is an extensive literature dealing with the influence of sedimentary variables on the structure and function of infaunal marine and estuarine organisms but less is known of the converse, the influence of biota on sedimentary structure. Although some work has been carried out regarding spatial and temporal patterns of bioturbation, little attention has been given to the effects of pollution. The paper gives a framework of animal sediment relationships in an intertidal environment and discusses the general role of macrofauna in structuring and modifying sedimentary features. A brief outline of the various techniques used for quantifying the degree of bioturbation is given and some of these techniques have then been used to demonstrate the effect of a petrochemical discharge on the bioturbation potential of intertidal communities in the Humber estuary, eastern England. These studies indicate an increase in bioturbation with increasing distance from the source of pollution, not only because of differences in abundance, animal size and depth of activity but also because of the difference in species composition between the communities. As a means of interpreting the responses, the species present have been broadly classified in terms of their feeding strategy and sediment modification potential. The paper concludes by discussing the potential impact, in terms of effect on sediment transport, of selectively removing the different guilds (by pollution). Received: 8 February 1999 / Received in revised form: 10 May 1999 / Accepted: 14 May 1999     

New method for determination of fecal sterols in urine using non-chlorinated solvents

A new method has been developed to determine a number of sterols in urine using non-chlorinated solvents, namely methyl tert.-butyl ether and methanol (the MTB method). The method involves liquid–liquid extraction, saponification, reextraction, silylation and final identification and quantification by GC–FID. The sterols determined were coprostanol, epicoprostanol, cholesterol and dihydrocholesterol. 5α-Cholestane was used as internal standard. The limit of detection for the sterols in this experiment was 2 μg l⁻¹ urine. Recovery of coprostanol over the range 5–100 μg l⁻¹ urine by this method was between 80 and 92%.     

Association of the colistin resistance gene mcr-1 with faecal pollution in water environments in Hanoi,Vietnam

Colistin is one of the antibiotics of last resort for human health. However, the dissemination of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene mcr-1 is of great concern globally. In the One Health framework, the environment is an important component for managing antimicrobial resistance. However, little information is available concerning the prevalence of mcr-1 in water environments. We aimed to reveal the prevalence of mcr-1 in different water environments in Hanoi, Vietnam. Quantitative PCR was applied to detect mcr-1 in four urban drainages receiving untreated domestic wastewater, three rivers, five lakes and two groundwater samples. Urban drainages contained higher concentrations of mcr-1, suggesting that urban residents carry the gene. The class 1 integron-integrase gene was identified as a good surrogate of antibiotic resistance genes including mcr-1. A significant correlation was found between the levels of mcr-1 and the human-specific cross-assembly phage, which is an indicator of human faecal pollution. These results indicated that the primary source of mcr-1 in urban water environments is human faeces, which is consistent with the fact that most domestic wastewater is untreated in Hanoi. The control of untreated wastewater is critical for alleviating the spread of mcr-1 in water environments in Vietnam.