Biofiltering efficiency in removal of dissolved nutrients by three species of estuarine macroalgae cultivated with sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) waste waters 2. Ammonium

Three estuarine macroalgae (Ulva rotundata,Enteromorpha intestinalis, Gracilariagracilis) of economic potential were cultivated in the laboratory toassess their biofiltering capacities for ammonium in waste effluents from a seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) cultivation tank. The studywasdeveloped to investigate the functioning of N nutrition of the three species.Atlow water flow (< 2 volumes d^–1) the three species strippedefficiently the ammonium dissolved in the waste water from the fish tank, withaminimum biofiltering efficiency estimate of 61% in unstarved cultures ofG. gracilis at a water flow of 2 volumesd^–1. Maximum velocity for ammonium uptake (89.0 molNH₄ ⁺ g^–1 dry wth^–1) was found in U. rotundata,whereas G. gracilis showed the highest affinity for thisnutrient. The net ammonium uptake rate was significantly affected by the waterflow, being greatest at the highest flow assayed (2 volumesd^–1). Variations of tissue N and C:N ratios during aflow-through experiment suggested that N was not limiting macroalgal growth.However, when ammonium was supplied at a flow rate of 0.5 volumesd^–1, specially in a three-stage design, the marked reductionintissue N and the biomass C:N:P ratios suggested a more general nutrientdeficiency. A significant correlation was found between growth rates and the Nbiomass gained in the cultures. The three-stage design under low water flow(0.5volumes d^–1) showed that the highest ammonium uptake rates (upto 80.9 mol NH₄ ⁺ g^–1 dry wtd^–1 in U. rotundata) were found inthe first stage, with decreasing rates in the following ones. As a result, lowincrements or even losses of total N biomass in these stages were found,suggesting that ammonium was excreted from the algae. We conclude that thesespecies present a potential ability to biofilter the ammonium dissolved inwastewater from a D. labrax cultivation tank, suggesting thatscaling up the biofiltration designs, future practises using these macroalgaemay be implemented in the local fish farms, resulting in both environmental andeconomical advantages.     

Ecological design applied

Over the past three decades ecological design has been applied to an increasingly diverse range of technologies and innovative solutions for the management of resources. Ecological technologies have been created for the food sector, waste conversion industries, architecture and landscape design, and to the field of environmental protection and restoration. The five case studies presented here represent applications of ecological design in five areas: sewage treatment, the restoration of a polluted body of water, the treatment of high strength industrial waste in lagoons, the integration of ecological systems with architecture, and an agriculturally based Eco-Park. Case #1 is an Advanced Ecologically Engineered System (AEES) for the treatment of sewage in Vermont, a cold climate. The facility treated 300 m³ per day (79,250 gallons per day) of sewage to advanced or tertiary wastewater standards, including during the winter months. A number of commercial byproducts were developed as part of the treatment process. Case #2 involved the treatment of a pond contaminated with 295 m³ per day (77,930 gallons per day) of toxic leachate from an adjacent landfill. A floating Restorer was built to treat the polluted pond. The Restorer was powered by wind and solar based energy sources. Over the past decade the pond has improved. There has been a positive oxygen regime throughout the water column, bottom sediments have been digested and the quality of the sediment chemistry has improved.The biodiversity of the macrobenthos of the pond has increased as a result of the improved conditions. Case #3 involved the treatment of 37,850 m³ per day (1 million gallons per day) of high strength waste from a poultry processing plant utilizing a dozen AEES Restorers. The technology has resulted in a 74% drop in energy requirements for treatment and has dramatically reduced the need for sludge removal. Currently, sludge degradation is proceeding faster than sludge accumulation. Case #4 includes several examples of buildings that utilize ecologically engineered systems to treat, recycle and permit the reuse of wastewater. The new Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College is a recent example of this trend. Case #5 describes the work that is leading to the creation of an urban, agriculturally based, Eco-Park in Burlington, Vermont. Waste heat from a nearby power station will provide year round climate control in a structure developed for food processing businesses, including a brewery, and for the onsite growth of diverse foods in integrated systems. We also describe a project to amplify the value of waste organic materials through biological conversion to high value products such as fish, flowers, mushrooms, soils amendments, and livestock and fish feeds. An ecologically designed fish culture facility will be an integral part of the Eco-Park complex. The project is intended to demonstrate the economic viability of integrative design in an urban setting and to address the important issue of locally based food production.     

黄土丘陵区县南沟流域生态恢复的生态经济耦合过程及可持续性分析

生态恢复不但是自然和技术过程,更重要的是经济过程,生态经济耦合是生态恢复成败及能否持续的关键。综合应用经济学、能值和生态足迹分析工具,系统研究了黄土丘陵区县南沟流域生态恢复过程中的生态经济系统演变过程及其特征,旨在探索生态可持续的经济社会发展机制。结果表明,2000—2005年流域产业结构及其多样性显著改善,生产力显著提高并跨越低水平进入高水平发展阶段,农民的生活状况已经由温饱逐步迈向小康水平。基于能值的生态经济耦合分析结果显示2002～2005年流域环境负载率（ELR）下降,持续性指数（ESI）增加。生态足迹结果显示流域2000年和2005年的生态盈余分别为0．03hm^2和0．239hm^2,新指标万元产值生态足迹（EFprod）分别为53．5hm^2／万$和33．6hm^2／万$,生态压力指数（EFPI）分别为0．980和0．838,流域处于弱可持续状态。上述结果显示生态恢复提高了流域资源利用和转换效率,环境负载率下降,人类经济活动对生态生产性有效空间的占用减少,可持续性提高。研究结果表明生态恢复是黄土丘陵区实现生态经济良性耦合、协调发展的基本途径。     

Mitochondrial NAD+-linked State 3 respiration and complex-I activity are compromised in the cerebral cortex of 3-nitropropionic acid-induced rat model of Huntington's disease

Mitochondrial complex-I dysfunction has been observed in patients of Huntington's disease (HD). We assessed whether such a defect is present in the 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP) model of HD. Rats treated with 3-NP (10–20 mg/kg i.p., for 4 days) exhibited weight loss, gait abnormalities, and striatal lesions with increased glial fibrillary acidic protein immunostaining on fifth and ninth days, while increase in striatal dopamine and loss of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity were observed on fifth day following treatment. We report for the first time a dose-dependent reduction in complex-I activity in the cerebral cortex when analyzed spectrophotometrically and by blue native-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis following 3-NP treatment. The citrate synthase normalized activities of mitochondrial complex-I, -II, -(I + III) and -IV were decreased in the cortex of 3-NP treated rats. In addition, succinate driven State 3 respiration was also significantly inhibited in vivo and in the isolated mitochondria. These findings taken together with the observation of a significant decrease in vivo but not in vitro of State 3 respiration with NAD⁺-linked substrates, suggest complex-I dysfunction in addition to irreversible inhibition of complex-II and succinate dehydrogenase activity as a contributing factor in 3-NP-induced cortico-striatal lesion.     

不同生态条件下华抗草78水稻对杂草的干扰控制作用

对不同水稻叶龄、水层深度、水稻密度和保水时间条件下水稻对杂草控制效果进行研究.结果表明,具有化感特性的水稻品系华抗草78对稗草、鳢肠、异型莎草等杂草的抑制率显著优于无化感特性品种Lemont;华抗草78对0～1.5叶期稗草和0～0.3叶期异型莎草的控制效果优于1.5～2.4叶期稗草和0.8～2.0叶期异型莎草;移栽时叶龄与栽插密度互作有利于提高华抗草78对杂草的防效,并明显高于移栽时叶龄分别与水层深度和保水时间互作效应.适当提高水稻移栽时的叶龄、增加移栽密度可显著提高华抗草78对供试杂草的抑制率.     

Seasonal and Lunar Variation in the Emergence Time of a Population of Uca lactea annulipes (Milne-Edwards, 1837) at a Shore in Kuwait

This study monitored the endogenous emergence time of the fiddler crab Uca lactea annulipes (Milne-Edwards, 1837) in the field, for the first time, at an intertidal shore in Kuwait, from 1997 to 2001. The results revealed a significant cyclic change in the median emergence time as the season progressed from winter, through spring and summer, to autumn (.44, 1.29, 3.12, and 1.1?h prior to the dead-low tide, respectively). The data also revealed a significant shift in the median emergence time according to moon phase (2.27?h at new moon versus 2.56?h at full moon prior to the dead-low tide). (Author correspondence: l.almusawi@ropme.org)     

Tension versus ecological zones in a two-locus system

Previous theories show that tension and ecological zones are indistinguishable in terms of gene frequency clines. Here I analytically show that these two types of zones can be distinguished in terms of genetic statistics other than gene frequency. A two-locus cline model is examined with the assumptions of random mating, weak selection, no drift, no mutation, and multiplicative viabilities. The genetic statistics for distinguishing the two types of zones are the deviations of one- or two-locus genotypic frequencies from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) or from random association of gametes (RAG), and the deviations of additive and dominance variances from the values at HWE. These deviations have a discontinuous distribution in space and different extents of interruptions in the ecological zone with a sharp boundary, but exhibit a continuous distribution in the tension zone. Linkage disequilibrium enhances the difference between the deviations from HWE and from RAG for any two-locus genotypic frequency.     

Cell-mediated immunosenescence in birds

The phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) skin test response, used to assess cell-mediated immunity, is known to vary with many social and energetic factors, but the effects of age have received little attention. We found that the PHA response of immature birds was lower than those of the youngest breeding adults and were decreased in adults. Whenever possible, age should be included as a covariate when the PHA skin test is used to assess immunocompetence in ecological immunology. The rate of decline in PHA response differed between species and was inversely correlated with survival. The decrease in the PHA response averaged 57% over an average 80% of the maximum life span, but the absolute rate varied with species lifespan such that the short-lived species showed a greater loss per year than the long-lived species. This link between declining immune function and survival may reflect differences in resource partitioning between species, and suggests that selection may act on investment in immune function to influence maximum life span.     

Recurrent seascape units identify key ecological processes along the western Antarctic Peninsula

The western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a bellwether of global climate change and natural laboratory for identifying interactions between climate and ecosystems. The Palmer Long‐Term Ecological Research (LTER) project has collected data on key ecological and environmental processes along the WAP since 1993. To better understand how key ecological parameters are changing across space and time, we developed a novel seascape classification approach based on in situ temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a, nitrate + nitrite, phosphate, and silicate. We anticipate that this approach will be broadly applicable to other geographical areas. Through the application of self‐organizing maps (SOMs), we identified eight recurrent seascape units (SUs) in these data. These SUs have strong fidelity to known regional water masses but with an additional layer of biogeochemical detail, allowing us to identify multiple distinct nutrient profiles in several water masses. To identify the temporal and spatial distribution of these SUs, we mapped them across the Palmer LTER sampling grid via objective mapping of the original parameters. Analysis of the abundance and distribution of SUs since 1993 suggests two year types characterized by the partitioning of chlorophyll a into SUs with different spatial characteristics. By developing generalized linear models for correlated, time‐lagged external drivers, we conclude that early spring sea ice conditions exert a strong influence on the distribution of chlorophyll a and nutrients along the WAP, but not necessarily the total chlorophyll a inventory. Because the distribution and density of phytoplankton biomass can have an impact on biomass transfer to the upper trophic levels, these results highlight anticipated links between the WAP marine ecosystem and climate.     

Les forêts sacrées de Guinée : entre écologie et conservation

Guinea has very little ecological data available regarding its sacred forests. This study shows the important conservation role of these forests in a local context of strong human impacts. We present four representative case studies from the Sudano-Guinean zone in Upper Guinea. Our phytoecological inventories recorded a total of 431 species, 312 genera, and 87 families including 242 species, 187 genera, and 64 families in the forests. Twelve plant groups have been identified, including five in forests and seven in the surrounding vegetation. Geomorphology, texture, soil hydromorphism, microclimate, and human impacts are significant in explaining the spatial distribution of plant groups. The study reveals that in these Sudano-Guinean savannas, vegetation is dominated by micro-phanerophytes. The Guinean-Congolese flora is better represented in gallery forests.