Temperature dependence on the pesticide sampling rate of polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS)

Laboratory experiments were performed to determine the sampling rates of pesticides for the polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) used in Japan. The concentrations of pesticides in aquatic environments were estimated from the accumulated amounts of pesticide on POCIS, and the effect of water temperature on the pesticide sampling rates was evaluated. The sampling rates of 48 pesticides at 18, 24, and 30 °C were obtained, and this study confirmed that increasing trend of sampling rates was resulted with increasing water temperature for many pesticides.     

Phylogenetic relationships of the garter snakes based on DNA sequence and allozyme variation

We estimated phylogenetic relationships among 26 species of garter snakes (genus Thamnophis ) using allozyme and mitochondrial cytochrome b gene nucleotide sequence variation. Parsimony analyses of the two data sets give substantially different estimates of phylogeny. Several lines of evidence indicate that much of this conflict is due to error associated with the restricted number of characters in each data set. Such sampling error may be reduced by combining all the characters; we therefore present an estimate of phylogeny based on parsimony analysis of all the data combined. All our analyses support several conclusions in conflict with previous views: a very distant relationship between T.errans and T. elegans , non-monophyly of the elegans group (even excluding T: errans ), and nesting of the form validus (previously considered a member of the genus Nerodia ) within Thamnophis.
The combined analysis gives an almost fully resolved tree. However, bootstrapping indicates only weak support for many clades in this tree. Furthermore, paraphyly of the assemblages of cytochrome b gene lineages within T. elegans and T. radix indicate the potential for discordance between the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and species phylogenies through the sorting of ancestral mtDNA polymorphisms. These problems suggest the need for assaying additional characters, especially ones likely to be independent of those used in the present study.     

Recommendations for the routine sampling of diatoms for water quality assessments in Europe

Many methods for using diatoms for routine monitoring of water quality have been developed in Europe and, in some countries, these are being used to enforce environmental legislation. In order to facilitate their wider use, particularly with respect to European Union legislation, steps are being taken to harmonize methodology. In this paper, the principles and practice of sampling are described in relation to the main habitat types encountered in Europe. Although details of methods and sampling programmes have to be tailored to particular circumstances and the overall objectives of the monitoring, a number of generalizations can be made. Where available, rocks and other hard surfaces are the preferred substrates and methods for sampling these are described. If such substrata are not available, then introduced ('artificial') substrata have many applications. Various types of introduced substrata can be used successfully, so long as some basic precautions are described. Other types of substrata such as macrophytes and macroalgae may also be useful under certain circumstances, although there is less consensus in the literature on the most appropriate methods, and of the validity of comparisons between indices computed from epiphytic and epilithic communities. When designing surveys, it is recommended that as far as possible, extremes of non-water quality factors (e.g. shade, current speed, etc) are avoided, unless these are characteristic of the system under investigation. Detailed guidelines for sampling epilithon are described. Along with the recommendations for sampling other substrata, it is hoped that these provide a framework that can be adapted to most river types in Europe. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Total root length as estimated from small sub-samples

A method is proposed for estimating the total length of a root system from sub-samples. This method is based on the measurement of the length and diameter of small pieces of roots, and on the measurements of the bulk density of root sub-samples. It is assumed that roots are cylinders with a given bulk density. The length and diameter of small root pieces are measured by image analysis. A weighted quadratic mean (W.Q.M.) root diameter is then calculated and used in estimating the root length. This W.Q.M. diameter is defined as the real mean diameter of an equivalent single root with the same length and volume as the tested root system. The accuracy of prediction is demonstrated for one theoretical root system. The standard deviation of estimation can be calculated using sampling simulations.     

Evaluation of sticky light traps for sampling mosquito larvae

Very simply constructed aquatic sticky light traps employing a chemical solution emitting a bright light attracted large numbers of all larval instars, but few pupae of Aedes cantans in trials in England. During April numbers of larvae per trap ranged from 73±14.2 to 163±19.9, whereas dipping with a ladle yielded only 6.9±5.5 to 11.8±7.7 larvae/dip. The traps were also effective in sampling larvae of Culiseta morsitans and in Sierra Leone larvae of Aedes aegypti. It was concluded that sticky light traps could be valuable in sampling relative numbers of mosquito larvae and merited further evaluation.

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Résumé Des pièges adhésifs lumineux faciles à réaliser sont construits pour les captures des larves de moustiques. Ils sont formés de paires de boîtes de Pétri en plastique contenant une solution émettrice de lumière provenant de bâtons lumineux chimiques Cyalume^®. Chaque piège est recouvert d'une feuille de plastique de 16×16 cm enduite d'une substance qui reste adhésive sous l'eau. Les larves de moustiques attirées vers la source lumineuse viennent se coller à la feuille adhésive.Ces pièges ont été utilisés avec succès en Angleterre pour l'échantillonnage de tous les stades larvaires d'Aedes cantans, mais pas avec le même efficacité pour les nymphes. Des tests plus restreints ont montré que la technique était également utilisable pour les larves de Culiseta morsitans. Les nombres moyens d'A. cantans capturés pendant une piode de 12 h (73±14,2–163±19,9) étaient supérieux à ceux obtenus en plongeant une louche (6,9±5,5–11,8±7,7). En utilisant les pièges adhésifs lumineux, les captures moyennes de C. morsitans étaient également supérieures (12,6±4,7–35,8±8,9) contre (5,7±6,1–8,9±7,8) avec la méthode de la louche.En Sierra Leone, des stades larvaires immatures d'A. aegypti se développant dans des containers de stockage d'eau ont également pu être capturés à l'aide de ces pièges.Bien qu'une évaluation plus poussée soit encore nécessaire, il ne fait aucun doute que ces pièges adhésifs lumineux aient un intérêt considérable pour l'échantillonnage larvaire dans les sites inaccessibles, tels que les trous d'arbres ou les trous de crabes, où les méthodes d'échantillonage classiques sont souvent d'un emploi difficile.

     

Microbial metabolomics: past,present and future methodologies

Microbial metabolomics has received much attention in recent years mainly because it supports and complements a wide range of microbial research areas from new drug discovery efforts to metabolic engineering. Broadly, the term metabolomics refers to the comprehensive (qualitative and quantitative) analysis of the complete set of all low molecular weight metabolites present in and around growing cells at a given time during their growth or production cycle. This review focuses on the past, current and future development of various experimental protocols in the rapid developing area of metabolomics in the ongoing quest to reliably quantify microbial metabolites formed under defined physiological conditions. These developments range from rapid sample collection, instant quenching of microbial metabolic activity, extraction of the relevant intracellular metabolites as well as quantification of these metabolites using enzyme based and or modern high tech hyphenated analytical protocols, mainly chromatographic techniques coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MSⁿ, GC-MSⁿ, CE-MSⁿ), where n indicates the number of tandem mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).     

海南石梅湾青皮林最小取样面积与物种多样性研究

石梅湾海岸青皮(Vatica hainanensis)林是海南独特的雨林群落之一。本文选用8种“种-面积渐近线”对该群落的最小取样面积进行了拟合研究。结果表明,其中5条曲线的R^2大于0．97,拟合状况很好,但所得出的最小取样面积各不相同。进一步经过“重要值-面积曲线”的群落特征分析,确认群落的最小取样面积只有800m^2。石梅湾青皮林最小取样面积比海南其他类型雨林、滇南热带雨林、东南亚热带雨林以及非洲雨林都要小。通过对1000m^2样地的物种多样性分析,结果表明：在垂直结构上,石梅湾青皮林B层乔木的Gleason指数大于A层乔木,和海南山地雨林的情况不同。海岸青皮林为物种多样性不高的单优林,群落的物种多样性、均匀度远小于海南其他类型的山地雨林与混合青皮林;在海岸青皮林群落内,青皮的相对密度、相对优势度、重要值大大高于其他物种。此研究表明：海南热带雨林同样存在物种多样性不高、单优特征显著的顶极群落;海南海岸青皮林是迄今为止热带雨林取样面积最小的森林类型。     

Kinin generation from exogenous kininogens at the surface of retinoic acid-differentiated human neuroblastoma IMR-32 cells after stimulation with interferon-γ

Bradykinin-related peptides, kinins, ubiquitously occur in the nervous system and together with other pro-inflammatory mediators contribute to pathological states of that tissue such as edema and chronic pain. In the current work we characterized the kinin-forming system of neuronal cells obtained by differentiation of human neuroblastoma cell line IMR-32 with retinoic acid. These cells were shown to concentrate exogenous kinin precursors, kininogens, on the surface, release kinins from kininogens and subsequently convert kinins to their des-Arg metabolites. Significantly higher amounts of kinins and des-Arg-kinins were produced after cell stimulation with interferon-γ, a potent pro-inflammatory mediator involved in many neurological disorders. The expression of the major tissue kininogenase (the human kallikrein 1) and the major cell membrane-bound kininase (the carboxypeptidase M) also increased after cell stimulation with interferon-γ, suggesting the involvement of these enzymes in the kinin production and degradation, respectively. Interferon-γ was also able to up-regulate the expression of two known subtypes of kinin receptors. On the protein level, the changes were only observed in the expression of the des-Arg-kinin-specific type 1 receptor which functions in the propagation of the inflammatory state. Taken together, these results suggest a novel way for local kinin and des-Arg-kinin generation in the nervous tissue during pathological states accompanied by interferon-γ release.