The Fallout from Fireworks: Perchlorate in Total Deposition

Recent studies have shown that natural perchlorate may be an important component to the general population exposure. These studies indicate that natural perchlorate is likely deposited by atmospheric deposition. Perchlorate concentration of total (dry + wet) deposition is relatively unstudied yet these measurements will aid in understanding natural levels in the environment. We sampled total deposition monthly at six sites in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY from November 30, 2005 until July 5, 2007. The mean perchlorate concentration is 0.21?±?0.04 (standard error) μg L^?1 with a maximum value of 2.78 μg L^?1 _. Here we show up to an 18-fold increase above the mean concentration in July 2006 and July 2007 samples. It appears that this increase in perchlorate in total deposition is associated with Fourth of July fireworks.     

Water productivity in rainfed systems: overview of challenges and analysis of opportunities in water scarcity prone savannahs

Addressing the Millennium Development Goals on food and poverty over the coming decade puts enormous pressure on the world’s finite freshwater resources. Without water productivity (WP) gains, the additional freshwater in agriculture will amount to 5,600 km³ year⁻¹ in 2050. This is three times the current global irrigation use. This paper focuses on the underlying processes and future opportunities of WP gains in water scarcity prone and poverty stricken savannah regions of the world. The paper studies the consumptive (green) WP dynamics rainfed farming systems, and shows that the often assumed linear relationship between evapotranspiration (ET) and yield (Y) does not translate into constant WP over a wide range of yields. Similarly, crop transpiration (T) and Y show non-linearity under on-farm and low yield conditions. This non-linearity is validated against several on-farm research experiments in semi-arid rainfed farming systems. With integrated soil and water management, focusing on dry spell mitigation and soil fertility can potentially more than double on-farm yields, while simultaneously improve green (ET) WP and productive green (T) WP. Through the adoption of appropriate soil and water management in semi-arid smallholder farming systems, crop yields improve and result in improved livelihoods and WP gains.     

Environmental and economic impacts of reducing total phosphorous runoff in an agricultural watershed

The economy of northwest Arkansas relies greatly upon livestock and poultry production. The supply of production by-products is increasingly coming under scrutiny as an important source of water pollution in the region. This study uses stochastic dominance techniques to evaluate, environmentally and economically, a range of ten best management practice scenarios to lessen water pollution in the Lincoln Lake watershed. The goal is to generate rankings that could be useful for supporting producers’ and watershed managers’ selection of management practices to reduce total phosphorous losses in runoff. Specifically, this study compares scenarios in terms of net return risk reduction for bermudagrass hay producers.The results showed that environmental and economic rankings differ from each other. Although all scenarios analyzed were effective in reducing total phosphorous losses when compared to a baseline, six of them also decreased net returns. This suggests that including some best management practices may lead to increased net return risk. However, some scenarios were identified that may increase net returns, reduce total phosphorous losses and do not differ considerably from producers’ current management practices.The previous results suggested that the joint environmental-economic impact was important when considering scenarios and that producers’ risk attitudes and best management practices’ economic impacts should be accounted for when selecting scenarios. Producers and watershed managers can weigh trade-offs between total phosphorous losses reduction and net returns variability when making water conservation decisions.     

Development and evaluation of a pastoral simulation model that predicts dairy cattle performance based on animal genotype and environmental sensitivity information

A dairy cattle simulation model for pastoral systems that considers how dairy cow genotypes respond to different environments is described. The dairy cow is represented by five modules for maintenance, pregnancy, growth, body energy reserves and lactation with the influence of environmental factors on processes included within each module. Feed intake is predicted based on the requirements for maintenance, growth and pregnancy, and the dairy cow’s potential for yields of milk, fat and protein and body fat change in a given environment. The effects of various temporary environmental factors such as cow body condition score, climate, feed quality and the stage of pregnancy are all considered when predicting yields of milk, fat and protein, energy and dry matter intake. The model was evaluated using information from a prior experimental study with 1990s Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle of North American/European or New Zealand origin managed in a pasture-based system in early to peak lactation. The model was able to predict, to a high degree of accuracy, mean values for yields of milk, fat and protein, and concentrations of fat and protein. However for individual cows, feed intake and live weight change were less reliably predicted. The major source of error was a lack of simulated variation, rather than any systematic bias. The major advance of the model is its ability to predict performance from genetic and environmental sensitivity information for particular breeds, and its ability to predict feed intake and yields of milk, fat and protein concurrently.     

Livestock keeper perceptions of four indigenous cattle breeds in tsetse infested areas of Ethiopia

Four cattle breeds indigenous to western and south-western Ethiopia - Abigar, Gurage, Horro and Sheko - were included in a study of the perceptions of smallholder cattle keepers regarding cattle management, production levels and constraints for production. A semi-structured questionnaire was used and 60 cattle keepers from each of the four areas were interviewed. Diseases were reported as the main constraint to cattle production by a majority of livestock keepers in all areas except in the Sheko area, where over-stocking was the main constraint. Among diseases, trypanosomosis was the main livestock disease according to more than half of Gurage, Horro and Sheko keepers, whereas anthrax was most important in the Abigar area. Gurage had highest age at first calving, longest calving interval and also the lowest milk production, whereas Sheko and Abigar had the most favorable characteristics both for milk production (600–700 kg) and fertility (age at first mating 3–3.5 years and above 8 calves/cow). Cattle keepers in the Sheko area reported relatively less problems with cattle diseases compared to the other areas, especially regarding trypanosomosis. Abigar showed a different disease pattern than the other breeds and may also have advantages as regards trypanotolerance.     

Generation and characterisation of colchicine-induced autotetraploid Lavandula angustifolia

Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) is a small woody perennial grown for essential oil, which is steam distilled from flowers. To potentially improve size of flowers and oil yield we produced and characterised autotetraploid plants. L. angustifolia seed germinated in the presence of the mitotic spindle inhibitor colchicine at concentrations of 125 mg l⁻¹ or less resulted in plants carrying sports with larger flowers. Propagation of two sports gave rise to putative polyploid cultivars C3/2 and C6/24. Direct chromosome counts in root tip cells of seedlings from four common cultivars of L. angustifolia and the seed lot from which C3/2 and C6/24 were derived was 50 whereas C3/2 and C6/24 had greater than 90 chromosomes indicating they were autotetraploid. Ploidy level assessed by flow cytometry (FCM) of nuclei showed that 12 cultivars of L. angustifolia had similar nuclear DNA content whereas C3/2 and C6/24 had double the amount of DNA confirming autotetraploidy. The genome size (1C-value) of a diploid L. angustifolia cultivar was estimated by FCM to be 0.90 (±0.07) pg. Morphological characteristics were measured in autotetraploid and control plants. Autotetraploids had thicker peduncles, larger flowers and larger seeds than diploids. Scanning electron microscopy revealed peltate glandular trichomes were larger in the tetraploids relative to diploids. Both tetraploid and diploid cultivars had complex non-glandular trichomes on leaves and sepals and two different types of capitate glandular trichomes were identified on leaves. Autotetraploid lavenders represent useful germplasm both for commercial oil production and future breeding.     

Biofilm development within a larval rearing tank of the tropical rock lobster, Panulirus ornatus

The role of bacterial biofilms in disease processes is becoming increasingly recognised in both clinical and environmental settings. Biofilm development within a rearing tank of the tropical rock lobster Panulirus ornatus was studied to evaluate if the biofilm is a reservoir for potentially pathogenic bacteria that cause mass larval mortalities. Within a 5000 L larval rearing tank, fiberglass microscope slides were systematically distributed during a standard rearing attempt to assess biofilm development. Culture-based counts for two media types, TCBS and Marine Agar (MA), demonstrated increased bacterial densities until days 11 and 13 respectively. For both media types, a drop in the plate counts was followed by a subsequent increase towards the end of the experiment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed that cell densities decreased between days 13 and 17, most likely due to sloughing of the biofilm into the water column. SEM images revealed distinct changes in dominant morphologies reflecting a succession of bacterial populations. A dynamic succession of microbial species during biofilm development was also demonstrated using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profiling of bacterial 16S rRNA genes in combination with statistical ordination analysis. Prominent changes in the DGGE profiles coincided with the decrease in bacterial numbers observed by SEM and plating on MA between days 13 and 17. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) identified -Proteobacteria as being numerically abundant in the biofilm. This was supported by results from DGGE analysis, which retrieved only sequences affiliated with - and γ-Proteobacteria. DGGE bands affiliated with Vibrio became dominant towards the end of the larval run (days 21 to 24). A Vibrio harveyi strain isolated from the biofilm late in the larval rearing trial (day 24) demonstrated increased larval mortality in small scale phyllosoma survival studies. The detection of Vibrionaceae at the end of the larval trial coincided with mass phyllosoma mortality and show that the biofilm is a reservoir for potentially pathogenic bacteria.