Treatment of the early life stages of scallop (Pecten maximus) with antimicrobial agents; searching for an alternative to chloramphenicol

High mortality rates are often observed in rearing the early stages of the great scallop, Pecten maximus. The addition of antibacterial agents has been necessary to improve larval survival. However, as one antibacterial agent, chloramphenicol, is banned in Norway and Europe the aim of this study is to investigate alternative antibacterial agents. The therapeutic agents investigated in this study were florfenicol, oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid, neomycin and Pyceze. The mean minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined for oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid and Pyceze against bacteria isolated from scallop larvae. Two types of treatment regime were investigated on an intermediate scale (20 L). One regime involved continuous exposure of scallop larvae to the therapeutic agent while the other involved a short exposure lasting two hours. All intermediate scale treatments were performed in parallel to large-scale production (800 L) treatment with chloramphenicol. Of the therapeutants investigated, oxolinic acid was the most effective, although only at high concentrations. The short exposure of two hours was ineffective for all therapeutics.     

The efficacy of a single intraperitoneal injection of either flumequine or oxytetracycline hydrochloride in prevention of outbreaks of atypical Aeromonas salmonicida infection in goldsinny wrasse, Ctenolabrus rupestris L., following stress.

In this investigation, the efficacy of a single intraperitonealinjection of either flumequine or oxytetracycline hydrochloride to preventoutbreak of atypical Aeromonas salmonicida infection ingoldsinny wrasse, Ctenolabrus rupestris, following stresswas studied. Six groups of goldsinny wrasse, each of 50 individuals, weretreated with an intraperitoneal injection of either propylene glycol : saline(50 : 50), 200 mg kg^–1 of oxytetracycline or 50mg kg^–1 of flumequine dissolved in propyleneglycol : saline (50 : 50). Three days following medication the fish in allgroups were stressed by an intraperitoneal injection of prednisolone acetate(0.05 ml) and a rise in seawater temperature from 9 to 11°C. Mortality was observed daily for 21 days. Flumequine wasthe more effective with a mean cumulative mortality of 5% compared tooxytetracycline with 54%. The mean cumulative mortality in the unmedicatedcontrol groups was 84%. Bacterial examination of kidneys from dead fishconfirmed the presence of atypical A. salmonicida as theprobable cause of death. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values forflumequine and oxytetracycline against the isolated A.salmonicida were determined to 0.13 gml^–1, and 2.0 g ml^–1,respectively.     

Accumulation of aluminum on atlantic salmon eggs during the incubation period

Groups of rainbow trout Onchorhyncus mykiss eggs were incubated in duplicate trays with PVC screens and the original aluminum screens. During the incubation period, aluminum bound to sediments was deposited on the eggs and in the whole hatching system.

The pH of the inlet water to the hatching system with PVC screen was experimentally lowered by adding sulphuric acid. Buffering of the outlet water was observed at pH lower than 5, and at pH 4·5 and lower, an increased aluminum concentration in the outlet water was recorded.

These experiments show that aluminum accumulated on eggs and in the hatching system during periods with neutral water represents a serious threat to the survival of eggs and fry of salmonids if pH drops below 5·0, even for a few hours. In sensitive lakes and rivers, pH drops below 5·0 are common during heavy rain or during the snow melting period.     

Using colour image analysis for quantitative assessment of powdery mildew on cucumber

Summary Visual assessment, black & white image analysis and colour image analysis of the severity of powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca fuliginea) infection on leaves of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) were compared. The extent of infection with powdery mildew was expressed as the number of spores per cm². Statistical treatment of the data showed colour image analysis to be superior to the other two methods of evaluation. Major veins, light reflections and variations in the colour of leaves can degrade the accuracy of colour image analysis somewhat. These problems are, however, surmountable. Colour image analysis qualifies as a valuable new tool for accurate, objective, reproducible and detailed quantitative assessment of disease on leaves of plants.Abbreviations H hue - I intensity - IA image analysis - PM powdery mildew - S saturation     

Forms and plant-availability of sulfur in cattle and pig slurry

The contribution of animal slurry to the supply of S to plants was studied. The total-S content of cattle and pig slurry was significantly correlated to DM and nitrogen content and was composed of sulfide, sulfate and C-bonded S. During 42 weeks of storage sulfate concentrations decreased and sulfide and C-bonded S concentrations increased. In a pot experiment plant-availability of S in slurry was found to be low, 5 to 7% of total-S.     

Identifying, understanding, and describing spatial processes in agricultural landscapes — four case studies

To evaluate the quality of the ecosystem and for making resources and land management decisions landscapes have to be assessed quantitatively. For a better understanding of landscape processes and their characterization, the analysis of the inherent variability is a major factor. Four case studies in which problems associated with landscape analysis are discussed. Spatial processes remain a main focus, as their analysis provides information on the relation between relevant state variables in agricultural landscapes. Variogram analysis showed that mineral soil nitrogen (N_min) sampled in a field at different scales, domains, and times is an instationary spatial process. Spatial association of grain yield, soil index and remotely sensed vegetation index may not be identifiable from kriged contour maps as local coincidence may be obscured behind classified areas. Crop yield in subsequent years and remotely sensed information are not related if a unique response is assumed. An alternative data stratification procedure is described here for the identification of different response functions in agricultural ecosystems. Processes of crop yield and underlying variables are described in autoregressive state-space models. This technique incorporates both deterministic and stochastic relations between different variables and is based on relative changes in space.     

Heterogeneity of bacterial populations and pesticide degradation potentials in the unsaturated zone of loamy and sandy soils

Soil microbial processes play an important role in relation to pesticide pollution of groundwater, and may be strongly influenced by hydrological and geochemical properties. The consequences of such heterogeneous environments on bacterial biomass, enzymatic activities, carbon utilisation patterns, and pesticide mineralisation potentials in the unsaturated zone of a sandy loam and a coarse sandy soil profile were studied. In sandy loam soil profiles the number of bacteria decreased from 10⁹ cells g^-1 in the surface layers to about 10⁷ cells g^-1 at 1.5-5 m depth. Simultaneously, the hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate and arylsulfatase activity decreased to below the detection limit at about 1.5 m depth, and carbon utilisation patterns showed that bacterial populations from surface soil were significantly different from those from 4 m depth. Bacterial biomass and activity in macropore soil tended to be slightly higher than in matrix soil, and the carbon utilisation patterns of bacterial populations extracted from macropore soil and from matrix soil seemed to be different. Maximally 3% of ¹⁴C-labelled mecoprop and isoproturon was mineralised in soil from the 1-1.5 m depth, and less than 1.5% was mineralised in soil from the 3.5-4 m depth. The macropore soil tended to have a higher degradation potential than the matrix soil. The total number of bacteria in the coarse sandy soil profile decreased from about 10⁸ in the plough layer to 10⁷ cells g^-1 at 0.4-2 m. The enzymatic activities and the degradation potentials of ¹⁴C-labelled mecoprop and isoproturon were significantly correlated (r² >0.79) and showed a distinct decrease at about 0.4 m. In addition to the depth variability, a horizontal heterogeneity in this soil was observed as horizons or compartments that differed in colour, i.e. with different chemical composition and concentrations of Fe and organic matter. Counts of viable bacteria and measurements of fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis and arylsulfatase activity confirmed a high variability of microbial biomass and activity in the sandy soil profile.     

Biodegradation of Monoethanolamine,Ethylene Glycol and Triethylene Glycol in Laboratory Bioreactors

The release of alkanolamines and glycols into the subsurface soils poses a potential hazard to the environment through impacted soil and groundwater. This study investigated aerobic and anaerobic biodegradability of monoethanolamine (MEA), ethylene glycol (MEG) and triethylene glycol (TEG). Significant levels of MEA (31 000 mg/kg), MEG (500 mg/kg) and TEG (2100 mg/kg) were successfully aerobically biodegraded in bioreactors. The aerobic slurry experiments suggested initial phosphate (P) limitation, as biodegradation rates increased by one order of magnitude after phosphate addition. Anaerobic decay of MEA, MEG and TEG was unaffected by P-addition. MEA, MEG and TEG degradation products such as acetate, ethanol and ammonium at about 75 000 mg/kg, 8100 mg/kg and 8800 mg/kg degraded completely and did not prevent aerobic biodegradation. This study confirms proposed biodegradation pathways of MEA, MEG, TEG and their breakdown products in natural soil and groundwater using indigenous microbes. Levels of contamination studied here are significantly higher than previously reported.     

A molecular phylogeny for bats illuminates biogeography and the fossil record

Bats make up more than 20% of extant mammals, yet their evolutionary history is largely unknown because of a limited fossil record and conflicting or incomplete phylogenies. Here, we present a highly resolved molecular phylogeny for all extant bat families. Our results support the hypothesis that megabats are nested among four major microbat lineages, which originated in the early Eocene [52 to 50 million years ago (Mya)], coincident with a significant global rise in temperature, increase in plant diversity and abundance, and the zenith of Tertiary insect diversity. Our data suggest that bats originated in Laurasia, possibly in North America, and that three of the major microbat lineages are Laurasian in origin, whereas the fourth is Gondwanan. Combining principles of ghost lineage analysis with molecular divergence dates, we estimate that the bat fossil record underestimates (unrepresented basal branch length, UBBL) first occurrences by, on average, 73% and that the sum of missing fossil history is 61%.     

Spatial variation of tracer distribution in a structured clay field soil

Within the sensitive soils of the River Oder Basin (E Brandenburg, Germany), chloride‐tracer transport was studied with respect to soil‐surface conditions of the well structured clayey topsoil (disturbed vs. undisturbed) and irrigation mode (flooding vs. sprinkling). The spatial variation of chloride and dye distribution was sampled in a regular grid within different soil depths. Different methods were used for the analysis of spatial heterogeneity: a heterogeneity index HI derived from fitting parameters of the cumulative distribution function, semivariogram analyses to identify the spatial representativity of observations and to classify the spatial variation, and Spearman's rank correlations to examine the spatial similarity of tracer distribution across different soil depths. Soil aggregation was obvious throughout the soil profile, and macropores and fractures were preferred flow paths for the tracer. Flood irrigation resulted in more “uniform” distribution than sprinkling did. However, preferential flow was identified for all treatments, where, once established below the surface layer, flow paths led to heterogeneity indices manifesting nonuniform flow and reduced lateral mixing between macropores and soil matrix. Within the flooded plot, spatial structure of chloride concentration was moderate unlike the strongly structured variation within the sprinkled plots. For purposes to generalize and to assess regional risk of the water and solute transport within the topsoil of the River Oder Basin, spatial autocorrelation ranges of about 15 cm should be considered and included into concepts of soil protection and land‐use management, soil‐sampling strategies, or modeling approaches.