Population and peopling in the Mediterranean world

The Mediterranean region, formed with parts of Africa, Asia and Europe, is unique in our planet. It has received the passage and settlement of various hominid migrations from the Pleistocene and the three main races have met there since remote ages. Its archeology and history are better known than those in other regions of the world. The area, with a fairly uniform climate, was unified for several centuries, under Roman Empire which restricted the access to outside populations, favouring relationships among inside ones. Genetic evidence suggets that most of the evolutionary history of humans is quite recent and interwined. A paradigm can be found in Mediterranean populations. The understanding on what happened in this region will be decisive to know the evolution of the entire human species. An overall genetic study on the whole Mediterranean region, with its European part as its Asian and African ones has not been carried out yet and such work should be drawn up soon.     

Roadfill Revegetation in Semiarid Mediterranean Environments. Part II: Topsoiling, Species Selection, and Hydroseeding

Erosion is one of the main problems in roadfill restoration. Revegetation is widely used as a method to reduce erosion rates, and it is often carried out through hydroseeding. In semiarid Mediterranean conditions, this approach to revegetation often produces poor results due to climatic limitations. We evaluated whether (1) spreading topsoil and (2) hydroseeding with local rather than commercial species mixtures could improve the vegetative cover of roadfills. The study was carried out in 24 plots over a 20‐month period. At the end of the study, vegetation cover was higher in topsoiled plots (38.8%) than in nontopsoiled plots (21.5%). Locally selected species produced higher vegetative cover (61.1%) than did standard commercial species (52.2%). After 20 months, the erosion index was not different among any treatment probably due to the low sensitivity of this variable. These results suggest that amendment of soils through the addition of topsoil is an important technique in roadfill revegetation in Mediterranean environments. Additionally, hydroseeding with local species will produce better vegetative cover on roadfills than does hydroseeding with available commercial species.     

The Nature of Shifting Cultivation: Stories of Harmony, Degradation, and Redemption

Shifting cultivation is identified as a major cause of tropical deforestation. Sources that recount such impacts routinely employ an Eden-lost narrative structure that represents shifting cultivators as having their relatively harmonious human-environment relationships disrupted by various forces. While such disruptions lead to land degradation, official development institutions via research into alternatives to such agriculture offer redemption, or the return to relative ecological harmony. This Edenic narrative vehicle allows shifting cultivators to be represented as primitives in need of modernization, yet it also more commonly allows a sympathetic representation as holders of valuable, albeit threatened, indigenous knowledge that can be applied to the development of solutions. However, embedded within both hostile and sympathetic accounts from both scientific and policy sources are cultural images that persist as a legacy of colonialist assumptions of social evolution and cultural hierarchy.     

Low-Temperature Microbial Degradation of Oil Products Differing in the Extent of Condensation

Out of the 30 strains capable of oil degradation at 4–6°C, four were selected by their ability to degrade 40% of the oil substrate present in the growth medium: Rhodococcus spp. DS-07 and DS-21 and Pseudomonas spp. DS-09 and DS-22. We studied the activity of these strains as degraders of oil products of various condensation degrees (crude oil, masut, petroleum oils, benzene resins and ethanol–benzene resins) at 4–6°C. The maximum degrees of degradation of masut and ethanol–benzene resins were observed in Pseudomonas spp. DS-22 (17.2% and 5.2%, respectively). The maximum degradation of petroleum oils and benzene resins was observed in Rhodococcus spp. DS-07 (40% and 16.6%, respectively). These strains provide a basis for developing biodegrader preparations applicable to the bioremediation of oil-polluted sites under the conditions of a cold climate.     

Invertase Development in Storage Tissue 4Beta vulgaris; its Nature, Extent, and Location

The development of invertase activity in storage tissue disksof Beta vulgaris during ageing under aseptic conditions hasbeen studied. The invertase is formed initially in the cellwall and subsequently appears in the cytoplasm. In disks upto 1.0 mm thick, invertase is formed throughout the tissue,but in thicker disks only limited activity appears in the interior.In disks up to 1.0 mm thick, treatment with ethyl acetate priorto enzyme assay increases the measured activity by rendering‘inaccessible’ soluble invertase available to sucrosein the assay medium. In thicker disks, pretreatment with ethylacetate also increases the measured invertase activity by facilitatingsucrose penetration to the centre of the tissue. Osmotic shockaffects invertase activity in the same manner as ethyl acetatetreatment. The significance of these results is discussed inrelation to the induction and development of invertase activityin the disk and in the cell.     

微生物在水环境污染物降解中的应用

每年有大量来自工业、农业、养殖业和城市污水处理厂的废水被排入到水环境中,因此,地球上的水环境面临大量来自生活废水、工农业废水、非法排放的废水及其它废水的污染物质(如抗生素、杀虫剂,除草剂、烃等)的严重挑战,特别是近年来随着集约化养殖的发展,废水污染问题日益突出,并且随着分析手段的进步,能够检测到被排入水环境中的化学污染物质也越来越多,这些化学污染物对水环境中的生物产生有害影响.但是,微生物在污染控制上具有许多重要的作用.因此,本文对微生物在水环境污染物降解中的应用进行了评论.结果表明微生物主要是应用在水产养殖水中,而在其它的水体系(如河、湖、海)的应用较少.     

微生物在水环境污染物降解中的应用

每年有大量来自工业、农业、养殖业和城市污水处理厂的废水被排入到水环境中, 因此, 地球上的水环境面临大量来自生活废水、工农业废水、非法排放的废水及其它废水的污染物质(如抗生素、杀虫剂、除草剂、烃等)的严重挑战, 特别是近年来随着集约化养殖的发展, 废水污染问题日益突出, 并且随着分析手段的进步, 能够检测到被排入水环境中的化学污染物质也越来越多, 这些化学污染物对水环境中的生物产生有害影响。但是, 微生物在污染控制上具有许多重要的作用。因此, 本文对微生物在水环境污染物降解中的应用进行了评论。结果表明微生物主要是应用在水产养殖水中, 而在其它的水体系(如河、湖、海)的应用较少。     

微生物在水环境污染物降解中的应用（英文稿）

每年有大量来自工业、农业、养殖业和城市污水处理厂的废水被排入到水环境中, 因此, 地球上的水环境面临大量来自生活废水、工农业废水、非法排放的废水及其它废水的污染物质(如抗生素、杀虫剂、除草剂、烃等)的严重挑战, 特别是近年来随着集约化养殖的发展, 废水污染问题日益突出, 并且随着分析手段的进步, 能够检测到被排入水环境中的化学污染物质也越来越多, 这些化学污染物对水环境中的生物产生有害影响。但是, 微生物在污染控制上具有许多重要的作用。因此, 本文对微生物在水环境污染物降解中的应用进行了评论。结果表明微生物主要是应用在水产养殖水中, 而在其它的水体系(如河、湖、海)的应用较少。     

Provinciality of the Mediterranean lower Jurassic brachiopod fauna: Causes and plate-tectonic implications

The composition of 23 “NW European” and “Mediterranean” Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian) brachiopod faunas is compared at the species level. On the basis of this quantitative approach, the two “provinces” can be delimited more sharply than by earlier qualitative studies. In the author's opinion the most reasonable cause of the provinciality is as follows: in the Middle Triassic a segment of the European shelf became rifted, detached and drifted toward the open Tethys ocean. Being isolated, the brachiopods of this province could produce evolutionary lineages different from the European ones. If the presence of this contiguous and separate Triassic—Jurassic microcontinent characterized by Mediterranean brachiopod faunas is assumed, this factor should be borne in mind in the reconstructions concerning the closure of the Tethys (= Alpine orogeny).     

From Marine Metacommunities to Meta-ecosystems: Examining the Nature,Scale and Significance of Resource Flows in Benthic Marine Environments

Ecosystems - The metacommunity framework has been readily applied to coastal benthic marine environments to examine how larval dispersal affects the dynamics of patchily distributed communities....     

Modeling Microbially Induced Carbon Degradation in Redox-Stratified Subsurface Environments: Concepts and Open Questions

The degradation of organic matter, including organic contaminants, in subsurface environments is controlled by the abundances and functional capabilities of the resident microorganisms. As a consequence, modeling approaches simulating the fate of organics and related changes in redox conditions have to account for the effects of microbial activity on the degradation kinetics, as well as for the spatial and temporal distributions of the chemical species (e.g., terminal electron acceptors, nutrients or toxic substances) that control microbial activity. The present paper reviews the principal modeling approaches that are used to simulate the degradation of organic matter in water-saturated porous media. Special attention is devoted to modeling the bioavailability of chemical substrates of microbial reactions, and the sequential occurrence of terminal electron accepting pathways. While the various model approaches found in the literature are capable of reproducing field data sets from various environmental settings, they are rarely compared in terms of performance and predictive ability. Most approaches incorporate simplifications or empirical rate laws, which limit their range of application. Thus, there remains a need for further development of more general, process-based modeling concepts to represent microbially mediated reactive processes.     

Road Slope Revegetation in Semiarid Mediterranean Environments. Part I: Seed Dispersal and Spontaneous Colonization

The importance of neighboring vegetation as a seed reservoir for spontaneous colonization of adjacent road slopes was analyzed in a semiarid region of east Spain. Two independent methodological approaches were used to examine the relative contribution of seed from neighboring vegetation and the efficiency of different seed dispersal strategies in plant colonization. We first used a randomization test to compare floristic similarity between road slopes, neighboring flora, and local flora (the regional species pool found in the same climate and soil conditions as the road slopes). Second, we compared seed dispersal mechanisms of road slope vegetation with those of the surrounding area using frequency analysis. Species composition of road slopes was more similar to that of the flora of adjacent surrounding areas than expected by chance. Anemochorous (wind‐dispersed) plants were over‐represented in road slopes 8 years after road slopes were built. We concluded that seed dispersal from neighboring vegetation is an important factor in the vegetative colonization of road slopes. However, this initial species pool was also strongly shaped by the harsh environmental conditions of roadcuts and southern aspect. These results have important implications in road slope restoration because they suggest that naturally vegetated areas should be maintained adjacent to road slopes to enhance seed immigration from species adapted to local site conditions, which will accelerate the successional process. The application of this single reclamation strategy and mixed strategies that combine the use of natural colonization and soil amendment for road slope restoration in Mediterranean environmental conditions is discussed.     

Transformation and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Size: Extent of Degradation on Entry Varies with Size of Donor

The fate of label introduced as donor deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) into competent cells of Diplococcus pneumoniae was determined immediately after entry at 25 C, as a function of the size of the donor DNA. Part of the label is found to be acid soluble, part has been incorporated into chromosomal DNA, apparently through reincorporation of degraded donor DNA, and part is found in single strands of length smaller than that of the input donor DNA strands. The last fraction apparently constitutes the precursor for integration of intact donor genetic markers and is referred to as the intact fraction. For large donor DNA the intact fraction contains over 80% of the total intracellular label, but the median strand length has been reduced to 2.2 x 10(6) daltons. For small donor molecules (1 x 10(5) to 6 x 10(5) daltons per strand) the fraction intact increases with donor size from 10 to 50% of the total intracellular label, and the median strand length of this fraction is half that of the donor strands. By combining these results with earlier data on the size dependence of the yield of transformants per unit of total intracellular donor label, we have calculated the probability that a marker in the intact fraction will be integrated, as a function of the length of the donor strand after entry. This probability has a linear dependence on strand length for activities below 40% of maximum, and extrapolates to zero activity at 77,000 daltons per strand.     

The Nature and Extent of Mutational Pleiotropy in Gene Expression of Male Drosophila serrata

The nature and extent of mutational pleiotropy remain largely unknown, despite the central role that pleiotropy plays in many areas of biology, including human disease, agricultural production, and evolution. Here, we investigate the variation in 11,604 gene expression traits among 41 mutation accumulation (MA) lines of Drosophila serrata. We first confirmed that these expression phenotypes were heritable, detecting genetic variation in 96% of them in an outbred, natural population of D. serrata. Among the MA lines, 3385 (29%) of expression traits were variable, with a mean mutational heritability of 0.0005. In most traits, variation was generated by mutations of relatively small phenotypic effect; putative mutations with effects of greater than one phenotypic standard deviation were observed for only 8% of traits. With most (71%) traits unaffected by any mutation, our data provide no support for universal pleiotropy. We further characterized mutational pleiotropy in the 3385 variable traits, using sets of 5, randomly assigned, traits. Covariance among traits chosen at random with respect to their biological function is expected only if pleiotropy is extensive. Taking an analytical approach in which the variance unique to each trait in the random 5-trait sets was partitioned from variance shared among traits, we detected significant (at 5% false discovery rate) mutational covariance in 21% of sets. This frequency of statistically supported covariance implied that at least some mutations must pleiotropically affect a substantial number of traits (>70; 0.6% of all measured traits).     

Interspecies Acetate Transfer Influences the Extent of Anaerobic Benzoate Degradation by Syntrophic Consortia

Benzoate degradation by an anaerobic, syntrophic bacterium, strain SB, in coculture with Desulfovibrio sp. strain G-11 reached a threshold value which depended on the amount of acetate added and ranged from about 2.5 to 29.9 (mu)M. Increasing acetate concentrations also uncompetitively inhibited benzoate degradation. The apparent V(infmax) and apparent K(infm) for benzoate degradation decreased with increasing acetate concentration, but the benzoate degradation capacities (V(infmax)/K(infm)) of cell suspensions remained comparable. The addition of an acetate-using bacterium to cocultures after the threshold was reached resulted in the degradation of benzoate to below the detection limit. Mathematical simulations showed that the benzoate threshold was not predicted by the inhibitory effect of acetate on benzoate degradation kinetics. With nitrate instead of sulfate as the terminal electron acceptor, no benzoate threshold was observed in the presence of 20 mM acetate even though the kinetics of benzoate degradation were slower with nitrate rather than sulfate as the electron acceptor. When strain SB was grown with Desulfovibrio sp. strain DG2 that had a fourfold-lower V(infmax) for hydrogen use than strain G-11, the V(infmax) for benzoate degradation was 37-fold lower than that of strain SB-G-11 cocultures. The Gibb's free energy for benzoate degradation was less negative in cell suspensions with a threshold than in suspensions without a threshold. These studies showed that the threshold was not a function of the inhibition of benzoate degradation by acetate or the toxicity of the undissociated form of acetate. Rather, a critical or minimal Gibb's free energy may exist where thermodynamic constraints preclude further benzoate degradation.     

Rediscovering Nature in Everyday Settings: Or How to Create Healthy Environments and Healthy People

It is estimated that half of the world’s population now live in urban environments. Urban living necessitates a removal from nature, yet evidence indicates that contact with nature is beneficial for human health. In fact, everyday urban places, such as where people live, study, and work, provide opportunities to bring nature back into cities to contribute to positive, healthy environments for people and to foster the human–nature connection. The inclusion of more nature in cities could have additional environmental benefits, such as habitat provision and improving the environmental performance of built environments. In the context of climate change, outcomes such as these assume further importance. This article explores how common urban places can foster links between people and nature, and generate positive health and well-being outcomes. We achieve this by exploring nature in the everyday settings of schools and residential housing.     

Assessment of Fluoride in Three Selected Polluted Environments along the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea: Effects on Local Populations

Fluoride ion (F^?) is a relevant component of concern due to its potential toxicity for humankind. This study clarifies the status of F^? for human health in three polluted regions along the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea coast, and determining its contents in seawater and different fish tissues (muscle, skin, brain, and bone). Fluoride ion concentrations in different fish tissues had a descending trend of brain > skin > muscle > bone with averages of 26.8 ± 26.0, 24.8 ± 6.5, 12.7 ± 2.3, and 9.0 ± 1.6 μg F^?/g wet wt, respectively. The bioconcentration factor for fluoride ion in different fish tissues was determined and multivariate analyses were conducted. The human health hazard assessment from fish consumption and seawater contact using hazard quotient (HQ) and ingestion and dermal absorption dose of whole body for different ages of females and males as well as the specified body parts (legs, arms, and hands) were calculated. Although the calculated daily intake values for ingestion of fish in the present study were lower than some established tolerable daily intake values, their hazard quotients were within 1 ≥ HQ < 10 and may reflect a possible fluoride adverse effect on human health from the consumption of the gathered fish species.