地表自然过程排汞研究进展及展望

地表自然过程排汞包括了自然源排汞过程和先前排放的汞沉降到地表后的再排放过程.已有证据显示,地表自然过程向大气的排汞量可能远大于人为活动直接向大气的排汞量.准确确定自然过程汞的释放通量,不仅对正确评价目前减少人为活动向大气排汞对全球环境汞污染的影响程度具有重要的意义,而且可为全球大气汞的减排政策的制定提供重要科学理论依据.本综述通过对国内外地表自然排放源相关文献的调研分析发现:由于缺少可靠的观测技术、对地表与大气间汞交换过程和机理的准确认识及大气汞沉降对地表自然排汞过程影响的认识还不清楚,因此目前还难以准确估算地表自然过程向大气的排汞量.近年来,随着技术手段的进步,已具备了开展地表自然排汞及先前排汞沉降后的再释放过程、机理和通量研究的可行性.地表自然过程排汞的研究将是汞的生物地球化学循环演化研究领域的前沿之一.     

Metabolism of ethanol in vitro produces a compound which induces sister-chromatid exchanges in human peripheral lymphocytes in vitro: acetaldehyde not ethanol is mutagenic

Ethanol (EtOH) in the presence of the EtOH-metabolizing enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) leads to the induction of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in human peripheral lymphocytes in vitro. Acetaldehyde (AA) induces SCEs, whose frequencies are lowered in the presence of the AA-metabolizing enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). EtOH in the presence of ADH produces more SCEs than EtOH in the presence of ADH and ALDH. These data are interpreted to show that not ethanol itself, but its first metabolite acetaldehyde is mutagenic.     

Estuarine morphometry governs optically active substances, K d(PAR) and beam attenuation: assessments from a tropical ria and a temperate coastal plain estuary

Data on optical properties such as diffuse attenuation coefficient K _d(PAR), beam attenuation coefficient (c _p) and the optically active constituents (OACs) CDOM, Chl-a and suspended particulate matter were obtained in a Danish temperate coastal plain estuary (56°N) and a Vietnamese tropical ria (12°N) at high discharges. The major difference was the spatial distribution of the optical properties against distance, best described by significant power functions in the ria, compared to significant linear functions in the coastal plain. It was hypothesized that estuarine morphometry could explain this spatial distribution. Partition and multiple regression analyses showed that Chl-a governed K _d(PAR) and beam attenuation coefficient in both estuaries. Significant, high correlations were obtained by multiple regression analyses in the estimation of K _d(PAR) and beam attenuation coefficients in the two estuaries using OACs as input parameters. It is concluded that there are no large differences in OAC concentrations between the two estuaries. The spatial distributions of OACs and optical properties were significantly different and governed by the estuary morphometry, i.e. a power distribution in the tropical ria and a linear function in the temperate coastal plain estuary, and applicable to similar estuary types.     

Evolutionary morphology of the hemolymph vascular system in hermit and king crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomala)

The morphological transformation of hermit crabs into crab‐like king crabs in the evolution of decapod crustaceans represents a remarkable case of carcinization or evolutionary shaping into a crab‐like form. In this study, we focus on internal organs such as the hemolymph vascular system and adjacent anatomical structures of several Recent hermit crab (Paguridae) and king crab (Lithodidae) species. There are various correspondences in the morphology of the arterial systems in the dorsal cephalothorax of the two taxa, especially with regard to the anterior aorta, anterior lateral arteries, and hepatic arteries. In the pleon, the posterior aorta in both taxa displays a proximal bifurcation and follows an asymmetrical course. The ventral vessel system, on the other hand, which mainly supplies the limbs, differs significantly between the taxa, with pagurids displaying the plesiomorphic condition. The pattern of the ventral vessel system in Lithodidae is influenced by morphological transformations of integumental structures during carcinization. One of these transformations was the broadening of the sternites, which resulted in a widening of the space between the endosternites. In addition, changes in the morphology of the endophragmal skeleton in Lithodidae led to an increase in the potential for intraspecific variability and interspecific variation in the arterial branching pattern. J. Morphol., 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Taxonomic Reference Libraries for Environmental Barcoding: A Best Practice Example from Diatom Research

DNA barcoding uses a short fragment of a DNA sequence to identify a taxon. After obtaining the target sequence it is compared to reference sequences stored in a database to assign an organism name to it. The quality of data in the reference database is the key to the success of the analysis. In the here presented study, multiple types of data have been combined and critically examined in order to create best practice guidelines for taxonomic reference libraries for environmental barcoding. 70 unialgal diatom strains from Berlin waters have been established and cultured to obtain morphological and molecular data. The strains were sequenced for 18S V4 rDNA (the pre-Barcode for protists) as well as rbcL data, and identified by microscopy. LM and for some strains also SEM pictures were taken and physical vouchers deposited at the BGBM. 37 freshwater taxa from 15 naviculoid diatom genera were identified. Four taxa from the genera Amphora, Mayamaea, Planothidium and Stauroneis are described here as new. Names, molecular, morphological and habitat data as well as additional images of living cells are also available electronically in the AlgaTerra Information System. All reference sequences (or reference barcodes) presented here are linked to voucher specimens in order to provide a complete chain of evidence back to the formal taxonomic literature.     

Developmental patterns during direct somatic embryogenesis in protoplast cultures of european larch (Larix decidua Mill.)

Summary Protoplasts isolated from embryogenic suspension cultures of European larch (Larix decidua Mill.) were cultured in thin alginate layers using a nylon mesh to enable a monitoring of the development of single cells. The patterns of cell division and differentiation are characterized and compared with zygotic embryogenesis to which homologies can only be drawn to some extent when the protoplasts grow in an auxinfree environment. Already at 2.5 M both 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid or indole-3-acetic acid cause vacuolation and elongation of individual cells, thus disturbing the process of somatic embryogenesis which generally lacks the precise quantitative patterns occurring in vivo. Prior to the formation of an embryo, a proembryonal mass develops. Oligonucleated products of spontaneous protoplast fusions are able to cellularize even without preceding karyokinesis and perform a normal embryogenic program.Abbreviations BAP N⁶-benzylaminopurine - 2,4-D 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid - IAA indole-3-acetic acid - MES 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid - PEM proembryonal mass