Mercury levels assessment in hair of riverside inhabitants of the Tapajós River,Pará State,Amazon, Brazil: Fish consumption as a possible route of exposure

The study present evaluated the levels of mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in hair samples of people from Barreiras community, riverside inhabitants of the Tapajós River (Pará, Brazil), an area impacted by clandestine gold mining, as well as we analyzed the levels of Hg and Se (selenium) in nine fish species (carnivores and non-carnivorous) from the Tapajós River, which stand out as the main species consumed by riverside inhabitants, to evaluate a relationship between frequency of fish consumption and Hg concentration, and also to evaluate possible mechanisms of fish protection (or non-protection) to Hg exposure by Se. Furthermore we analyze the water quality to evaluate the environmental trophic state, fact responsible by creating conditions that can potentiate the effects of toxic mercury. Concentrations of Hg and MeHg were analyzed in hair samples of 141 volunteers in different age band. Of those, 84.40% of samples present values above the threshold for biological tolerance, which is 6.00 μg g⁻¹ of total Hg in hair. Total Hg, in men there was a variation of 2.07–24.93 μg g⁻¹, while for women the variation was 4.84–27.02 μg g⁻¹. Consequently, the level of MeHg in men presented a variation of 1.49–19.57 μg g⁻¹, with an average of 11.68 μg g⁻¹, while with women the variation was from 3.73 to 22.35 μg g⁻¹, with an average of 10.38 μg g⁻¹. In fish species, Hg concentrations in carnivorous species had an average of 0.66 μg g⁻¹, higher than that permitted by current legislation, ranging from 0.30 to 0.98 μg g⁻¹, while the non-carnivorous species have values below the recommended by the legislation averaging 0.09 μg g⁻¹, ranging between 0.02 and 0.44 μg g⁻¹. For Se in fish, show that among carnivores, the contents of Se ranged between 0.18 and 0.54 μg g⁻¹ with a mean of 0.34 μg g⁻¹, while for non-carnivores these values were of the order of 0.16–0.56 μg g⁻¹, with an average of 0.32 μg g⁻¹. In surface water quality variables at the sampling points all showed values in accordance with the range established by current legislation. In this regard, the results provided by this study, while not conclusive, are strong indicators that despite not having been shown the relationship between the concentration of mercury in hair and feeding habits along the Tapajós River basin communities showed that a plausible correlation exists between levels of mercury and selenium in fish. This fact may serve as a subsidy to research human health, because in the Amazon, there is still a lot to examine with regards to the full understanding of the Se cycle.     

Changes in feeding habit as caterpillars grow

Abstract.

• 1 200 of 1137 species of British microlepidoptera make a single marked change in feeding habit as they grow.
• 2 Most numerous are species that change from leaf mining to one of case bearing, spinning, tying and rolling or concealed feeding, and species that change from concealed feeding to case bearing or spinning, tying and rolling.
• 3 Although in some instances numbers of closely related species make similar changes in behaviour, most changes observed are scattered among subfamilies.
• 4 Leaf miners have considerably smaller adults than concealed feeders, which themselves are smaller than external feeders and spinners, tiers and rollers. When case bearers are excluded from the analyses, species that remain as leaf miners or concealed feeders throughout larval development are on average smaller as adults than those that start out with these feeding habits but later change.
• 5 We suggest a number of reasons why larvae might make such fundamental switches.

     

漓江大型底栖动物功能摄食类群时空分布及生态效应

基于2009年9月至2012年8月期间对漓江上中下游3个河流区段的4次采样调查,分析了漓江大型底栖动物功能摄食类群的组成与时空分布状况及其对河流生境变化的响应情况。结果表明:漓江大型底栖动物以刮食者占据绝对优势,其次依次是滤食者、收集者、捕食者和撕食者。刮食者中优势种为中华园田螺和黑龙江短沟蜷,滤食者中优势种为河蚬和纹石蚕,收集者中优势种为小蜉和摇蚊幼虫,捕食者中优势种为扁舌蛭和蜻蜓幼虫,撕食者中优势种为泥甲。根据功能摄食类群参数对河流生境以及人类活动影响的评价表明,人类居住生活对生境稳定性的影响显著大于旅游观光带来的影响,环境因子中溶解氧(DO)、pH、电导率(EC)、温度(Temp)、浊度(Tur)、化学需氧量(COD)和总氮(TN)等环境因子与漓江大型底栖动物功能摄食类群的相关性均较强。     

Diet in one group of woolly spider monkeys,or muriquis (Brachyteles arachnoides)

Data on feeding behavior in one group of muriquis (Brachyteles arachnoides) were collected during a 14 month study at Fazenda Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Muriquis devoted an average of 51% of their annual feeding time to leaves, 32% to fruits, and 11% to flowers. The high proportion of leaves in their diet is consistent with predictions from the energetics of body size. However, they devoted a greater proportion of their feeding time to patchy fruit and flower resources than was expected from comparisons with smaller, sympatric howler monkeys. Muriqui diet varied with the availability of preferred food types across sample months. Fruit and flower consumption corresponded to the availability and abundance of these food resources in the forest. Leaves contributed substantially to muriqui diet throughout the year but appeared to be eaten primarily to provide necessary protein and/or necessary bulk. Male and female diets differed only in the greater proportion of feeding time females devoted to flowers.     

Co-occurrence patterns among Australian centropagid copepods

Summary Data sets from existing limnological surveys carried out on Australian zooplankton communities are examined, and co-occurrences of species in the centropagid copepod genera Boeckella and Calamoecia are tabulated. One experiment to determine the extent of mating errors among four species of Boeckella is performed. The data are examined with respect to the hypotheses that mating errors of similar sized copepods preclude co-occurrence and that competition for resources by similar size species preclude occurrence. It is concluded that neither hypothesis is valid, instead, that co-occurrence patterns among these Australian centropagids are a function of dispersal and colonization ability, and that zooplankton species composition in Australian lakes and ponds is probably in a state of disequilibrium.