Movement of sonically tagged bluespine unicornfish,Naso unicornis,in relation to marine reserve boundaries in Rodrigues,western Indian Ocean

• 1. The lagoon fishery of Rodrigues has considerable socio‐economic importance; however, catches have declined by 50% in recent years. The bluespine unicornfish, Naso unicornis (Forsskål 1775) is an important component of the fishery.
• 2. To begin to assess whether marine reserves might benefit this species, sonic telemetry was used to track individual fish in one of Rodrigues' four marine reserves. Seven unicornfish were caught in the Grand Bassin reserve and tagged with abdominally implanted acoustic tags.
• 3. Over a period of 57 days their locations were determined up to 21 times using a hand held hydrophone and receiver. Individual minimum convex polygon (MCP) home ranges varied from ～10 000 m² to ～274 000 m² and were not correlated with fish size. Kernel estimates of core areas (50% utilization distribution) varied from ～5000 m² to ～175 000 m². All seven fish stayed within the marine reserve and the largest home range occupied less than ～2% of the area of the marine reserve.
• 4. Fish remained on the outside edge of the lagoon on the shallow reef slope and among coral patches. These findings suggest that bluespined unicornfish biomass and numbers should increase if the Grand Bassin marine reserve is closed to fishing. Long‐term monitoring will, however, be required to demonstrate this outcome. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Testicular leiomyoma and spermatogenic failure syndrome in a seabass from broodstock

Testicular leiomyomas and gonadal dysfunctions are not commonly reported in teleost and particularly in broodstock fish. In the present work, a testicular leiomyoma related to an unusual case of spermatogenic failure syndrome, in a broodstock seabass coming from an Italian aquaculture farm, is reported. At gross pathology, the circumscribed neoplasia showed several white nodular masses, originating from the gonad, deforming the anatomo-physiological shape. From light microscopy, the presence of neoplastic tissue islands with spindle cells with a whirling pattern and the low presence of connective tissue were evident and originated from smooth muscle cells. Seminiferous tubules showed severe azoospermia with the absence of sperm cells even closer to the neoplastic area. Immunohistochemical analysis was positive for alpha-SMA, desmin and vimentin but negative for S-100, confirming a diagnosis of leiomyoma. This is the first report of spermatogenic failure syndrome associated with a testicular leiomyoma in fish from broodstock. More efforts should be made in studying broodstock fish pathologies related to fish maintenance and hormonal treatments that could economically affect aquaculture production.     

Remediation Actions by a Risk Assessment Approach: A Case Study of Mercury Contamination

The risk assessment procedure for identifying the remediation actions which may be adopted at a mercury contaminated site, when the plants are upgraded in the future, is proposed. The potentially active exposure/migration pathways in the future arrangement of the area will be due to Hg contaminated subsoil as a primary source (vapor inhalation and groundwater leaching) and to groundwater as a possible secondary source (transport to the point of compliance). The data of mercury concentration in the soil were acquired through environmental monitoring campaigns, and were processed to establish the three-dimensional distribution of contamination in subsoil, to locate sources and to define their geometrical and chemical characteristics. Speciation tests of mercury in the soil indicated that the most abundant species present were poorly leachable under the site-specific environmental conditions, confirming the coefficient distribution value obtained by the leaching tests. Analytical and numerical fate and transport modeling tools were used to locate digging zones in the contaminated subsoil, so as to reduce the possible groundwater contaminant loading and to avoid the down-gradient exceeding the concentration limit according to regulations. Remediation actions additional to civil works were required, which consists of soil digging within one contamination source, for about 22,200 m³ of soil. In order to evaluate the Hazard Index (HI) for human receptors due to Hg vapor inhalation, the air concentration of volatile mercury at the exposure point was estimated, based on direct measurements carried out at the site. Simulation gave HI values below 1 for all tested scenarios, suggesting that public health is protected without any additional actions to the already scheduled plant upgrading and digging for groundwater protection.     

Weed tolerance in soybean: a direct selection system

Weed competition can severely reduce soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) yields, particularly in organic systems. An efficient screening and breeding approach is needed to increase breeding progress for weed tolerance. This study sought to (i) establish a system for direct selection of competitive genotypes, (ii) evaluate genotypic differences in weed tolerance among six early‐maturing genotypes and (iii) assess the contribution of selected morphological traits to weed tolerance. A direct selection system providing two different levels of weed competition through all development stages of a soybean crop was developed, using mixtures of selected crop species as sown competitors. Two resulting mixtures induced intermediate (<30%) and strong (>50%) yield reduction, respectively. This selection system can be applied in screening and breeding programmes to facilitate breeding for weed tolerance. No significant difference in weed tolerance was detected between six soybean genotypes of maturity groups 000 to 00. Morphological traits that might influence competitive ability, for example light absorption, leaf area and lateral shoots, were assessed, and their potential for indirect selection for weed tolerance is discussed.     

Development and validation of a spectrophotometric method for quantification of total glucosinolates in cruciferous vegetables

Given their putative role in chemoprevention, validated methods are needed for quantification of total glucosinolates. Based on the colorimetric reaction of ferricyanide with 1-thioglucose, released by alkaline hydrolysis of glucosinolates, we developed a simple and sensitive method for spectrophotometric quantification of total glucosinolates in cruciferous vegetables. Lyophilized and ground vegetables are extracted with 80% boiling methanol. Extracted glucosinolates are isolated using a strong anion exchange column and then hydrolyzed with 2 N NaOH to release 1-thioglucose. Ferricyanide is added, and the decrease in absorbance is measured at 420 nm, with final values adjusted for background. Recovery of internal standard (sinigrin) was 107%. Intra- and interassay coefficients of variation were 5.4% and 15.8%, respectively. Dose response was linear with sinigrin and amount of plant material extracted (R(2) ≥ 0.99). Using sinigrin, the lower limit of quantification was 0.6 mg. This straightforward method may be an alternative to time-consuming and costly chromatographic methods.     

Main odorants in Jura flor-sherry wines. Relative contributions of sotolon, abhexon, and theaspirane-derived compounds

The aromatic profile of Jura flor-sherry wines (also called "yellow wines") has been little studied. Only acetaldehyde, diethoxy-1,1-ethane, and sotolon have been described as key odorants. In the present work, three wines (vintages 2002 and 2003) were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) aroma extract dilution analysis. The goal was to assess the relative impact of varietal, fermentation, and oak-barrel compounds by using two complementary extraction procedures. No grape terpenoids were found after the long barrel aging (6 years and 3 months). On the other hand, two candy/fruity esters issued from yeast exhibited high flavor dilution factor (FD) values: ethyl isobutyrate (64-1024) and ethyl isovalerate (128-1024). As expected, many oak-related odorants were found in the XAD 2 flavor extracts, mainly homofuraneol [2-ethyl-4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone] (cotton candy, FD = 16-256) and cis-β-methyloctalactone (butter, woody, FD = 256). Most probably issued from oxidation of the grape constituent theaspirane, an exceptional grenadine odor was perceived by GC-O up to dilution 64-1024. Chemical oxidation experiments and GC-high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) allowed us to identify it as 4-hydroxy-7,8-dihydro-β-ionone (RI(CPsil5CB) = 1373), a hydrolysis-derived product of dihydrodehydro-β-ionone. With an extraction dedicated to hydrophilic compounds, the key role of sotolon was confirmed (112-387 μg/kg; FD = 256-1024). This procedure enabled us to also evidence its ethyl analogue, abhexon (31-74 μg/kg; FD = 64-256).     

Characterization of Palytoxin Binding to HaCaT Cells Using a Monoclonal Anti-Palytoxin Antibody

Palytoxin (PLTX) is the reference compound for a group of potent marine biotoxins, for which the molecular target is Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase. Indeed, ouabain (OUA), a potent blocker of the pump, is used to inhibit some PLTX effects in vitro. However, in an effort to explain incomplete inhibition of PLTX cytotoxicity, some studies suggest the possibility of two different binding sites on Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase. Hence, this study was performed to characterize PLTX binding to intact HaCaT keratinocytes and to investigate the ability of OUA to compete for this binding. PLTX binding to HaCaT cells was demonstrated by immunocytochemical analysis after 10 min exposure. An anti-PLTX monoclonal antibody-based ELISA showed that the binding was saturable and reversible, with a K_d of 3 × 10⁻¹⁰ M. However, kinetic experiments revealed that PLTX binding dissociation was incomplete, suggesting an additional, OUA-insensitive, PLTX binding site. Competitive experiments suggested that OUA acts as a negative allosteric modulator against high PLTX concentrations (0.3–1.0 × 10⁻⁷ M) and possibly as a non-competitive antagonist against low PLTX concentrations (0.1–3.0 × 10⁻⁹ M). Antagonism was supported by PLTX cytotoxicity inhibition at OUA concentrations that displaced PLTX binding (1 × 10⁻⁵ M). However, this inhibition was incomplete, supporting the existence of both OUA-sensitive and -insensitive PLTX binding sites.     

An overview of forest loss and restoration in the Brazilian Amazon

New Forests - Forest restoration is a strategy to reverse forest loss and degradation. We overviewed deforestation in the period 1975–2018 in the Brazilian Amazon and the projects,...     

Some alien birds have as severe an impact as the most effectual alien mammals in Europe

Invasive alien species cause considerable economic and environmental damage. Nevertheless which species should be targeted first and exact control strategies are controversial matters. As no categorization of the impact of alien bird species is available so far, we adopted an impact scoring system for mammals to birds and scored the impact of the alien birds established in Europe. We investigated 26 established alien birds in Europe and compiled all known impact data for these species. The species with highest environmental impact were the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) and ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis). The most severe impact on economy was exerted again by the Canada goose. Also the ring-necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri) and monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) had high impact in this category. Combining these potential impact data with the current distribution generates a list of alien birds with highest actual impact. These two values can be used to prioritise preventive and control measures. In comparison to birds, mammals in general have higher potential and actual impact in Europe, but some bird species reach impact values as high as some of the worst mammal species. Still, these bird species - in contrast to mammals with high impact - are hardly targeted by control programmes. This study shows that there is no scientific reason for this. With the here presented scoring system we offer a decision tool to practitioners which supports them in finding an appropriate reaction to invasive birds.