Long-term changes in ecosystem health of two Hudson Valley watersheds, New York, USA, 1936–2001

We examined long-term ecological change in two Hudson River tributaries, the Wappinger and Fishkill Creek watersheds in Dutchess County, New York State. Fish data spanning 65 years (1936, 1988, 1992, and 2001) and shorter term macroinvertebrate data (1988, 2001) were used to assess the influence of land use practices. Between 1988 and 2001, macroinvertebrate index Biotic Assessment Profile (BAP) improved by 113–165% in the Fishkill Creek watershed, and fish Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) improved by 117–140%. Fish IBI and fish species richness were significantly different (p < 0.01) between the watersheds, with Wappinger Creek in better condition. Long-term fish IBI scores showed degradation in both watersheds since the 1930s. Changes in species composition suggest community homogenization on par with overall changes in the fish fauna of New York. Most notable were increases in tolerant species and declines in intolerant or moderately tolerant species. Whereas Fishkill Creek IBIs showed decline in 1988 relative to 1936, followed by improvement, Wappinger Creek declined monotonically in environmental quality. Development has intensified in both watersheds, but Fishkill Creek is improving while Wappinger Creek watershed is undergoing less mitigated degradation. We find that older, semi-quantitative data can be used to construct environmental quality indicators, and can be of great use for measuring long-term change.     

The Alexander Fleming Museum

This article describes a visit to the museum, where Penicillin was discovered in 1928, which would be of particular interest to future medical students     

Invertebrates and urban runoff in a small northern stream,Edmonton, Alberta,Canada

The invertebrate fauna of a small northern stream was examined within Edmonton, Alberta. Many invertebrates that were common upstream of the city were absent or rare within the city. In contrast, some tubificids and chironomids were very abundant within the city. Diversity and richness (number of taxa) of the fauna were much lower within Edmonton than upstream, while the total density was much higher within the city. These changes in the urban invertebrate fauna were apparently caused by the discharge of organic materials and silt from storm sewer runoff.Chemical analysis of routinely-collected water samples did not show significant differences between urban and non-urban sites. This was probably due to the sporadic nature of storm sewer runoff. Peak levels of contaminants in the stream were usually missed because of the routine nature of sampling. Aquatic invertebrates, which exhibit long-term responses to sporadic runoff incidents, provided a better indication of stream water quality than did routine chemical monitoring.     

Relation between environmental variables and aquatic megafauna in a first order stream of the Atlantic Forest, southern Brazil

The study was done in a first order stream in the southern portion of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest. Samples of the aquatic megafauna (amphibians, crustaceans and fishes) were taken with the aim of describing spatial (longitudinal) and temporal (seasonal) patterns in species composition and abundance. Thirty four structural and limnological variables at macro and mesoscales from three sampling reaches were analysed. The spatio-temporal analysis of species richness and diversity indicated a gradient in which values increased in an upstream–downstream direction, independently of the season of the year. The results showed a strong influence of structural environmental variables on community structure. Furthermore, they revealed a hierarchical relation between macroscale and mesoscale variables and their influence on community abundance and composition in the various spatio-temporal sampling units analysed. The spatial distribution of species richness and diversity in the Carvão creek was strongly influenced by the presence of waterfalls, being progressively richer and more diverse downstream. Waterfalls seem to function as selective filters more than as absolute barriers, presenting different efficiencies for different species.     

Effects of stream restoration and wastewater treatment plant effluent on fish communities in urban streams

1. Fish community characteristics, resource availability and resource use were assessed in three headwater urban streams in Piedmont North Carolina, U.S.A. Three site types were examined on each stream; two urban (restored and unrestored) and a forested site downstream of urbanisation, which was impacted by effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Stream basal resources, aquatic macroinvertebrates, terrestrial macroinvertebrates and fish were collected at each site. 2. The WWTPs affected isotope signatures in the biota. Basal resource, aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish δ¹⁵N showed significant enrichments in the downstream sites, although δ¹³C signatures were not greatly influenced by the WWTP. Fish were clearly deriving a significant part of their nutrition from sewage effluent‐derived sources. There was a trend towards lower richness and abundance of fish at sewage‐influenced sites compared with urban restored sites, although the difference was not significant. 3. Restored stream sites had significantly higher fish richness and a trend towards greater abundance compared with unrestored sites. Although significant differences did not exist between urban restored and unrestored areas for aquatic and terrestrial macroinvertebrate abundances and biotic indices of stream health, there appeared to be a trend towards improvements in restored sites for these parameters. Additional surveys of these sites on a regular basis, along with maintenance of restored features are vital to understanding and maximising restoration effectiveness. 4. A pattern of enriched δ¹³C in fish in restored and unrestored streams in conjunction with enriched δ¹³C of terrestrial invertebrates at these sites suggests that these terrestrial subsidies are important to the fish, a conclusion also supported by isotope cross plots. Furthermore, enriched δ¹³C observed for terrestrial invertebrates is consistent with some utilisation of the invasive C4 plants that occur in the urban riparian areas.     

An analysis of changes in the invertebrate community along a southern New Zealand montane stream

Changes in benthic community structure at four sites along a flood-prone montane stream continuum in the South Island of New Zealand were analysed using rank correlation (Kendall's Tau and Spearman's r_s) and a community similarity index (S_c) developed initially for stream pollution assessment. Species richness was highest in a forested headwater stream, which is attributed to its relatively greater physical stability and habitat heterogeneity. Community similarity decreased with distance apart, and pairs of open and forested sites showed the greatest similarity. Species composition and relative abundance along the continuum changed least in the numerically dominant Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera, groups in which several species had broad habitat requirements. In contrast, a number of dipteran and trichopteran species had more restricted distributions. The more specialised niche requirements of some species in these orders are attributed to their generally small size, their ability to spin silk, and their holometabolous development. Physical rather than biological factors appeared to limit the distributions of most invertebrates, and there was little evidence of ecological segregation by either food resource partitioning or differences in life history patterns amongst many closely related species. Theories that stream communities are well ordered entities maximising the efficiency of energy utilisation cannot realistically be applied to such unstable stream systems.     

Larval Chironomidae (Diptera) of the Big Thicket streams

Eighty-seven species of chironomid larvae were collected from streams in the Big Thicket area of southeast Texas. Samples of leaf debris, wood debris, and sand were taken from the streams and the larvae occupying the substrates were analyzed. Four subfamilies were represented including Tanypodinae (12 species), Diamesinae (2 species), Orthocladiinae (30 species), and Chironominae (43 species). Dominant species included Lopescladius sp., Polypedilum ? convictum, Polypedilum ? halterale, Cladotanytarsus sp. group A, Rheotanytarsus sp., and Tanytarsus sp. 2. A brief account of the habitat and the distribution of each species encountered during this study is given.     

New concept of contaminant removal from swine wastewater by a biological treatment process

Pollution from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are the most serious pollution source in China now, and swine wastewater contains high concentrations of nutrients such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand 5 (BOD5), ammonium, and emergent contaminants related to public health. Biological processes are the most popular treatment methods for COD and ammonium removal. Considering the low operation cost, easy maintenance and high removal rate of contaminants in recent years, nitrogen removal via nitrite and real-time control processes using oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and/or pH as parameters to control the aerobic and anaerobic cycles of a system has received much attention for animal wastewater treatment. During the biological treatment process, the emergent contaminants such as estrogen, antibiotics, and disinfec-tion reagents have been the focus of research recently, and degradation bacteria and resistance bacteria have also been extracted from activated sludge. The microbial analysis technique is also advancement in the field of biodegrada-tion bacteria and resistance bacteria. All of these advance-ments in research serve to improve wastewater treatment and decrease environmental hazards, especially for using manure as a fertilizer source for crop production.     

Ecology of a saline stream: community responses to spatial gradients of environmental conditions

Spatial changes in structural and functional characteristics of fish and macroinvertebrate communities in eastern Kentucky were investigated in a drainage system chronically exposed to high levels of chloride salts from nearby oilfield operations. Salinity levels at biological monitoring stations ranged from 0.12–31.3‰. Lotic regions with salinities greater than 10‰ were dominated by larvae of the dipterans Ephydra and Culicoides. In regions with salinities less than 10‰ species richness increased more or less linearly with decreasing levels of chloride salts. Ephemeropterans appeared to be one of the major invertebrate groups least tolerant of elevated NaCl levels and were absent in regions with salinities greater than 2‰ Availability of food resources, such as periphyton and particulate organic matter, did not appear to be grossly altered in disturbed regions, and it is suggested that the observed distribution of macroinvertebrate fauna was largely in response to taxonomic differences in salt tolerance. Fish seemed to be more tolerant of highly saline conditions, and several species were observed in regions experiencing salinities as high as 15‰. Accordingly, assemblages of fish taxa along the salinity gradient may have been influenced by trophic factors, such as spatial limitations in availability of invertebrate prey.     

The effect of rice seeding rate and fish stocking on the floodwater ecology of the rice field in direct-seeded,concurrent rice-fish systems

Concurrent, rice-fish systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, are characterized by a rice field surrounded by a trench. Rice is direct seeded and fish are reared in polyculture. The most common species for polyculture are silver barb Barbodes gonionotus (Bleeker), common carp Cyprinus carpio L. and Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.). In a 1996–97 rice-fish experiment, the effects of (1) absence or presence of such a polyculture, and (2) different rice-seeding rates (100 and 300 kg pre-germinated rice per ha) on the field floodwater ecology were studied. Fish obtained from local nurseries were stocked in six out of 12 rice-fish plots at the Co Do experimental rice-fish station (10°10 N and 105°20 E). Silver barb, common carp and Nile tilapia were stocked in polyculture at densities of 3150, 310 and 550 fish ha^–1, respectively. About 50% of the observed variation in the floodwater could be attributed to the fish stocked and to rice-seeding rate. The above-ground dry weight of the rice plants increased in the presence of fish and by an increase in rice-seeding rate. Greater shading by denser plants resulted in changes in variables related to aquatic primary production, including the amount of chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen concentration and pH. The presence of fish quadrupled the ammonium concentration, but decreased that of ortho-phosphate. Though fish increased the ammonium concentration, this did not result in a higher aquatic photosynthesis. Light, not ammonium, was the most limiting factor. However, increased ammonium concentrations in the presence of fish did have a positive effect on the density of Euglenophyta and the amount of chlorophyll-a, though only at the lower rice-seeding rate. At the higher rice-seeding rate, light seemed to be lacking. At the lower rice-seeding rate, fish also had a significant effect on the Cladocera–Rotifera ratio. Rotifera numbers increased as fish stimulated phytoplankton. We also demonstrated that fish most probably do not reduce ammonia volatilization losses. The lower rice-seeding rate seemed better for fish production than the higher rate: at the lower rate, dissolved oxygen concentrations were higher throughout the rice cycle. In addition, the amount of chlorophyll-a and the density of Euglenophyta were higher at the lower rice-seeding rate. Finally, we could show that even at high rice-seeding rates, fish had an impact on the aquatic environment. Fish access to the field is not hindered by dense rice stands.     

The effect of rice-seeding rate and fish stocking on the floodwater ecology of the trench of a concurrent,direct-seeded rice-fish system

Concurrent rice-fish systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, are characterized by a rice field surrounded by a trench (on average 1000 m², covering 15–20% of the field surface). Rice is direct seeded and fish are reared in polyculture. The most common species for polyculture are silver barb Barbodes gonionotus (Bleeker), common carp Cyprinus carpio L. and Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.). In a 1996–1997 dry season experiment, the effects of (1) absence or presence of a fish polyculture, and (2) two different rice-seeding rates (100 and 300 kg pre-germinated rice per ha) on the trench floodwater ecology were studied. Fish were stocked in six out of twelve rice-fish plots at the Co Do experimental rice-fish station (10° 10 N and 105° 20 E). Silver barb, common carp and Nile tilapia were stocked in polyculture at densities of 3150, 310 and 550 fish/ha, respectively. Several hydrological and biological parameters of the trench floodwater were measured. About 65% of the observed variation in the trench floodwater could be attributed to the fishes stocked and changes in rice-seeding rate. The presence of a fish polyculture increased the water turbidity of the trench floodwater, mainly through suspension of mineral and organic material through fish perturbation. At the lower rice-seeding rate, this resulted in a lower primary production. Photosynthetic activity, dissolved oxygen am and pm showed significant decreases, but only at the lower rice-seeding rate in the presence of fish. Fish polyculture presence resulted in lower ortho-phosphate concentrations, higher phytoplankton communities and higher Protozoa numbers, most probably due to a higher availability of nutrients through fish defecation and perturbation. The rice-seeding rate had a significant impact on pH am, pH pm and temperature pm readings. The survival rate for Nile tilapia and the gross production for Nile tilapia and common carp was higher at the lower rice seeding rate, most probably due to a better aquatic environment of the field. In terms of fish production, the trench floodwater environment was better than the field floodwater. The trench is a very important part of the rice-fish system. It serves as a refuge and supplies reasonable amounts of phytoplankton and zooplankton to the fish.     

A Genetic Crossword

Simple models clarify lung and thorax structure and function for 14-19-year-olds     

Biota of the St. Marys River: habitat evaluation and environmental assessment

The St. Marys River provides vital habitat for many species of plants, invertebrates, fish, and birds. It is also subject to many at times conflicting uses, including recreational boating, sport and subsistence fishing, municipal and industrial withdrawals and inputs, as well as commercial ship traffic and hydroelectric power generation.In 1984, the United States and Canada jointly initiated the Upper Great Lakes Connecting Channels Study to identify and quantify the impacts of contaminants on these channels and their biota and to develop recommendations for more effective pollution control and surveillance programs. Results of the study in the St. Marys River showed that water entering the river from Lake Superior is of excellent quality. Industrial and municipal discharges in the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario area have resulted in heavily contaminated sediments and a severely impaired benthic invertebrate community in this area and downstream; however, no major impacts on fish have been demonstrated. Nevertheless, major impacts of man on fish spawning and rearing habitats and on benthic and fish productivity have resulted from the alteration of channels, construction of navigation locks, and regulation of flow in the St. Marys Rapids. Increases in the productivity of such raptors as osprey during the 1980s suggest a reduction in organochlorine contaminants levels in their diet; however, the increasing numbers of gulls with low concentrations of PCBs, p,p-DDE and other organochlorines in their eggs may adversely affect gull young or their predators.