Monitoring the gravitational reflex of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor: A novel bioassay for assessing toxic effects of acaricides

We investigated the effect of several acaricides on Varroa destructor by monitoring the rhythmic expansion of the sternum, followed by a strong flexion of the legs, initiated when the mite was placed in a dorsal side-down position, as an indication of a mite’s vitality. The pulses generated by the force of the rhythmic expansions had an average duration of 3.11 s, force (amplitude) of 73 μN, and frequency of 0.228 Hz. These parameters remained constant for the first 10 h of recording, whilst significant changes occurred after 15 h. The rhythmic sternal expansion is an indication of a Varroa mite’s gravitational reflex, or attempt to return to an upright position; this reflex is observed in all invertebrates and vertebrates. The sternal expansion can be recorded for over 20 h, or for as long as the Varroa mite remains alive, and the expansion stops as soon as the mite is placed in a normal, upright position. Proper function of the chain of proprioceptors, interneurons, motorneurons, neuromuscular junctions, and muscles of Varroa is required for the initiation and maintenance of such a behavioural motor pattern. Any deleterious effect of synthetic chemicals or natural compounds (acaricides) may have a direct effect on one or more of these links, thereby disturbing or even inhibiting the reflex. Topical application of 1.81 × 10⁻³ mg/mite of amitraz completely inhibited the gravitational reflex within 60–70 min for all mites tested. The volatile acaricides formic acid (13.83 mg), thymol crystals (250 mg), and Apiguard® (1000 mg) eliminated the reflex within 10–35 min. This bioassay, based on the gravitational reflex, could be a useful tool for accurate assessment of the acaricidal action of numerous compounds under laboratory conditions, saving money and time necessary to conduct field trials.     

Marine spatial plans focusing on biodiversity conservation: The case of the Aegean Sea

1. The expansion and intensification of marine uses have severe cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems and human well-being, unless they are properly managed with an ecosystem-based management approach.
2. A systematic conservation planning approach, using marxan with zones , was applied to generate alternative marine spatial plans for the Aegean Sea. Relevant human uses were included and their cumulative impact on a wide set of key biodiversity features was considered in the analysis. Different cost scenarios were developed to gain insight on the effects of the approaches used to assess socio-economic factors, and their potential impact on spatial plans.
3. The spatial plans generated differed greatly depending on the method used to estimate opportunity costs and evaluate human activities in monetary terms.
4. The vulnerability weights (the relative vulnerability of ecological features to specific human activities and their impacts) that were estimated based on a cumulative impact assessment, allowed the assessment of each zone in contributing to the achievement of conservation targets, through a transparent planning approach.
5. Results indicate that special care should be given to how socio-economic activities, their impact on the ecosystems, and related costs are incorporated into planning.
6. The proposed approach demonstrates how EU member states may effectively comply with the new Biodiversity Strategy 2030 targets, while planning for the sustainable use of their marine resources.

     

Molasses as C source for heterotrophic bacteria production on solid fish waste

The drumfilter effluent from a recirculation aquaculture system (RAS) can be used as substrate for heterotrophic bacteria production. These bacteria can be reused as aquatic feed. In RAS drumfilter effluents are organic carbon deficient for bacteria production. This is due to nitrogen accumulation in the system water. In the present experiment, a bacteria growth reactor (3.5l) was connected to the drumfilter (filter mesh size 60 μm) outlet of a recirculation system. To counteract carbon deficiency, different supplementation levels of molasses (organic carbon) were tested (carbon fluxes of 0.0, 3.2, 5.8, 7.8, 9.7 gC molasses/l/d; C:N ratios: 3.4, 6.4, 9.4, 13.0 and 16.5). The hydraulic retention time in the bacteria reactor was 6 h. For the maximum flux, the VSS and crude protein productions were about 168 gVSS and 95 g crude protein per kg feed. The maximum conversion of nitrate and ortho-phosphate was 24 g NO₃₋N and 4 gP/kg feed. This equals a conversion of 90% of the inorganic nitrogenous waste and 98% of the ortho-phosphate-P. Furthermore the maximum substrate removal rate and the K_s for molasses were determined (1.62 gC/l/h and 0.097 gC/l respectively). The maximum specific removal rate was 0.31 gC/gVSS/h and the related half saturation constant was 0.008 gC/l. The observed growth rate reached a maximum for C fluxes higher than 8 g/l/d. The present integration of heterotrophic bacteria production in RAS represents, therefore, an innovative option to reduce waste discharge by conversion. If the bacteria are reused as feed, system's ecological sustainability increases.     

Expert knowledge for translating land cover/use maps to General Habitat Categories (GHC)

Monitoring biodiversity at the level of habitats and landscape is becoming widespread in Europe and elsewhere as countries establish international and national habitat conservation policies and monitoring systems. Earth Observation (EO) data offers a potential solution to long-term biodiversity monitoring through direct mapping of habitats or by integrating Land Cover/Use (LC/LU) maps with contextual spatial information and in situ data. Therefore, it appears necessary to develop an automatic/semi-automatic translation framework of LC/LU classes to habitat classes, but also challenging due to discrepancies in domain definitions. In the context of the FP7 BIO_SOS (www.biosos.eu) project, the authors demonstrated the feasibility of the Food and Agricultural Organization Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) taxonomy to habitat class translation. They also developed a framework to automatically translate LCCS classes into the recently proposed General Habitat Categories classification system, able to provide an exhaustive typology of habitat types, ranging from natural ecosystems to urban areas around the globe. However discrepancies in terminology, plant height criteria and basic principles between the two mapping domains inducing a number of one-to-many and many-to-many relations were identified, revealing the need of additional ecological expert knowledge to resolve the ambiguities. This paper illustrates how class phenology, class topological arrangement in the landscape, class spectral signature from multi-temporal Very High spatial Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery and plant height measurements can be used to resolve such ambiguities. Concerning plant height, this paper also compares the mapping results obtained by using accurate values extracted from LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) data and by exploiting EO data texture features (i.e. entropy) as a proxy of plant height information, when LIDAR data are not available. An application for two Natura 2000 coastal sites in Southern Italy is discussed.     

Notomelia in a piglet (Sus scrofa): Case report and review of the literature

This report describes a case of notomelia in a female piglet. The extra limb was attached at the interscapular region and was significantly undergrown. Its appendage was bifurcated with a unilateral keratinized tip. This is probably the first report of notomelia in a pig. The observations were compared with the bovine and ovine cases of notomelia reported so far.     

Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) cross-resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides

BACKGROUND: Papaver rhoeas (L.) has evolved resistance to tribenuron in winter wheat fields in northern Greece owing to multiple Pro₁₉₇ substitutions. Therefore, the cross‐resistance pattern to other sulfonylurea and non‐sulfonylurea ALS‐inhibiting herbicides of the tribenuron resistant (R) and susceptible (S) corn poppy populations was studied by using whole‐plant trials and in vitro ALS catalytic activity assays. RESULTS: The whole‐plant trials revealed that tribenuron R populations were also cross‐resistant to sulfonylureas mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron, chlorsulfuron and triasulfuron. The whole‐plant resistance factors (RFs) calculated for pyrithiobac, imazamox and florasulam ranged from 12.4 to > 88, from 1.5 to 28.3 and from 5.6 to 25.4, respectively, and were lower than the respective tribenuron RF values (137 to > 2400). The ALS activity assay showed higher resistance of the ALS enzyme to sulfonylurea herbicides (tribenuron > chlorsulfuron) and lower resistance to non‐sulfonylurea ALS‐inhibiting herbicides (pyrithiobac > florasulam ≈ imazamox). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that Pro₁₉₇ substitution by Ala, Ser, Arg or Thr in corn poppy results in a less sensitive ALS enzyme to sulfonylurea herbicides than to other ALS‐inhibiting herbicides. The continued use of sulfonylurea herbicides led to cross‐resistance to all ALS‐inhibiting herbicides, making their use impossible in corn poppy resistance management programmes. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Lipopolysaccharides from Commensal and Opportunistic Bacteria: Characterization and Response of the Immune System of the Host Sponge Suberites domuncula

Marine sponges harbor a rich bacterioflora with which they maintain close relationships. However, the way these animals make the distinction between bacteria which are consumed to meet their metabolic needs and opportunistic and commensal bacteria which are hosted is not elucidated. Among the elements participating in this discrimination, bacterial cell wall components such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) could play a role. In the present study, we investigated the LPS chemical structure of two bacteria associated with the sponge Suberites domuncula: a commensal Endozoicomonas sp. and an opportunistic Pseudoalteromonas sp. Electrophoretic patterns indicated different LPS structures for these bacteria. The immunomodulatory lipid A was isolated after mild acetic acid hydrolysis. The electrospray ionization ion-trap mass spectra revealed monophosphorylated molecules corresponding to tetra- and pentaacylated structures with common structural features between the two strains. Despite peculiar structural characteristics, none of these two LPS influenced the expression of the macrophage-expressed gene S. domuncula unlike the Escherichia coli ones. Further research will have to include a larger number of genes to understand how this animal can distinguish between LPS with resembling structures and discriminate between bacteria associated with it.     

A comparison of the fatty acid profiles of adult tissues,and newly hatched,fed and starved Lysmata amboinensis larvae

This study evaluated the lipid content and fatty acid (FA) profile of the hepatopancreas, ovaries and tail muscle of Lysmata amboinensis broodstock, as well as newly hatched larvae subjected to a period of starvation or feed from hatch to Zoea 2. The hepatopancreas had a high lipid content, confirming its role as a process and storage organ in L. amboinensis. Lipids were also a major component of ovarian dry weight, in agreement with reports on other crustaceans during maturation. The tail muscle, being a functional rather than a storage organ, contained low total lipids and was the tissue that closely resembled the FA profile of the newly hatched larvae. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) were the most abundant components of the lipid profiles in broodstock and larvae. The HUFAs docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic were preferentially retained during nutritional stress, confirming their importance for marine cleaner shrimp during early larval development. It appeared polyunsaturated fatty acid and HUFA requirements were met through the larval diet. The SFAs stearic and palmitic were abundant in adult tissues and larvae, whereas monounsaturated fatty acids may have been preferentially catabolized to meet energetic and metabolic larval requirements.     

High-resolution NMR spectroscopy with a portable single-sided sensor

We report construction of a portable nuclear magnetic resonance sensor with a single-sided open probe design. The resulting magnetic field inhomogeneity is compensated by a pulse sequence that takes advantage of parallel inhomogeneity in the applied radio frequency field. We can thereby acquire fluorine-19 spectra of liquid fluorocarbons with 8 parts per million resolution, surmounting the long-standing obstacle of obtaining chemical shift information with open probe instruments.     

Influence of biotic factors on the mechanical properties of wood,taking into account the time of harvesting

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the influence of biotic factors (fungi and insects) on the mechanical properties of wood through the effect of blue-stain, taking into account the time of harvesting and the time of stay of wood in the forest. Specifically, the resistance to axial compression and to bending (modulus of rupture (MOR)) was studied using infected specimens of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway Spruce (Picea abies) (the usual types of wood used in woodwork). The specimens were obtained from logs of Scots Pine and Norway Spruce that were harvested in three different seasons of year, namely in July 2012, November 2012 and June 2013, respectively, in the forest of Elatia-Greece, and the attack pace by biotic factors with respect to the time of logging was studied. The placement of the experimental surfaces of each type of tree was made on skid road and in the stand. Totally, 120 laboratory measurements in axial compression and 120 measurements in bending (MOR) took place. The results proved that blue-stain hardly affect the mechanical properties of both wooden species and particularly the specimens that were derived during the winter logging.