Marennine,Promising Blue Pigments from a Widespread Haslea Diatom Species Complex

In diatoms, the main photosynthetic pigments are chlorophylls a and c, fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin. The marine pennate diatom Haslea ostrearia has long been known for producing, in addition to these generic pigments, a water-soluble blue pigment, marennine. This pigment, responsible for the greening of oysters in western France, presents different biological activities: allelopathic, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and growth-inhibiting. A method to extract and purify marennine has been developed, but its chemical structure could hitherto not be resolved. For decades, H. ostrearia was the only organism known to produce marennine, and can be found worldwide. Our knowledge about H. ostrearia-like diatom biodiversity has recently been extended with the discovery of several new species of blue diatoms, the recently described H. karadagensis, H. silbo sp. inedit. and H. provincialis sp. inedit. These blue diatoms produce different marennine-like pigments, which belong to the same chemical family and present similar biological activities. Aside from being a potential source of natural blue pigments, H. ostrearia-like diatoms thus present a commercial potential for aquaculture, cosmetics, food and health industries.     

Defoliation by processionary moth significantly reduces tree growth: a quantitative review

? Context

Forests are important carbon sinks, but increasing temperatures may favour increases in insect populations, resulting in greater damage to trees. This, in turn, would lead to lower levels of carbon sequestration, intensifying global warming.

? Aim

It is therefore important to predict the impact of insect defoliation on tree growth accurately. The main insect defoliators of conifers in Southern Europe and North Africa are pine and cedar processionary moths (Lepidoptera, Thaumetopoeidae).

? Method

We conducted a meta-analysis based on 45 study cases, to estimate the effect of processionary moth defoliation on tree growth.

? Result

Overall, processionary moth defoliation had a significant impact on tree growth, regardless of the tree and moth species considered. Mean relative tree growth loss increased with the rate of defoliation levelling out at ca. 50?%; it was significantly larger for young than for old trees.

? Conclusion

These results suggest that estimates of processionary moth defoliation could easily be incorporated into tree growth models, to predict the effect of processionary moth outbreaks on carbon sequestration in Mediterranean forests.     

Vaccination of free-living juvenile wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) against myxomatosis improved their survival

For several decades, the populations of the European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have declined, which is partly due to myxomatosis. Vaccination against this disease is expected to contribute to restoration of rabbit populations but the actual impact of myxomatosis is not well known and vaccination might have some negative effects. We analyzed the capture-mark-recapture data obtained in a 4-year field experiment (1991-1994) in a park near Paris, France wherein 300 out of 565 seronegative juvenile rabbits were vaccinated at first capture against myxomatosis with the nontransmissible Dervaximyxo SG33 vaccine. After accounting for weight at first capture, age-class (juvenile/adult), "trap-happiness" and season (spring/autumn) of the capture event, vaccinated rabbits had 1.8-fold greater odds of surviving than the unvaccinated rabbits. The average summer survival risk for vaccinated juveniles was 0.63 (+/-0.08 S.E.) whereas it was 0.48 (+/-0.08 S.E.) for unvaccinated juvenile rabbits.     

Protective socking material for cultivated mussels: a potential non-disruptive deterrent to reduce losses to diving ducks

Predation of cultivated mussels by diving ducks can threaten the viability of mussel farms. Conventional scaring tactics have had limited success at deterring ducks from feeding on cultivated mussels, because of rapid habituation and 24-h feeding cycles of some waterfowl species. We tested a socking material containing a biodegradable protective layer against predation by diving ducks on experimental blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) aquaculture sites in Prince Edward Island, Canada. We also assessed the effect of this new socking material on mussel growth and survival. Results showed that the protective socking has the potential to reduce losses to ducks, but did not perform well for all mussel seed sizes used by the industry. The protective layer also did not biodegrade fast enough, trapping a portion of mussels inside the sock, affecting growth and survival of these mussels. Improvements are needed to make this solution effective for all mussel sizes used by the industry and to make its production more cost effective.     

An Evaluation of Fresh Water Sediments Contamination: The Lachine Canal Sediments Case,Montréal,Canade. Part II: Heavy Metal Particulate Speciation Study

Over the last century, discharge of industrial effluents and municipal wastewater have contaminated the Lachine Canal sediments. This study investigated the associations between heavy metals and natural sediment constituents. X-ray Diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy and geochemical analysis revealed that the sediments consisted mainly of silt and clay size fractions composed of: feldspar, illite, kaolinite, chlorite, calcite and dolomite as well as minor amounts of Fe minerals. Organic matter and amorphous metal oxides were also identified. Each of these constituents bound heavy metals at varying degrees as assessed by a sequential chemical extraction (SCE) protocol. The associations with each geochemical phase were (in order of decreasing significance): 1) residual phase, 2) oxide phase, 3) carbonate phase, 4) organic phase and 5) exchangeable phase. According to the cation exchange capacity (CEC), carbonate and oxide content measurements, the heavy metals occupied a minor fraction of the total capacity of the sediments to retain metals by these mechanisms. The SCE results revealed that the partition patterns varied with pH. The phases associated to the carbonate and the exchangeable phases were the most sensitive to a change in pH with the residual phase being almost unchanged. The Zn and Cd were sensitive to release when the conditions drifted to acidic conditions. The partition patterns for various grain size fractions (<53 µm, 53–75 µm, 75–175 µm and <175 µm) revealed that no particular fraction accumulated a certain heavy metal. Finally, from protocols, techniques and results interpretation in this study, various engineering applications such as the technical choice of clean-up scenarios, screening of remediation techniques and the development of remediation quality criteria were proposed within the framework of the management of contaminated sediments.     

The impact of tropospheric ozone on landscape-level merchantable biomass and ecosystem carbon in Canadian forests

Studies have shown that tropospheric ozone (O₃) impacts trees in various ways, including growth reductions. To date, the landscape-level response of Canadian forests carbon (C) to O₃ exposure has not been quantified. We used a modified version of the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector and data from Aspen FACE to quantify the landscape-level impacts of different O₃ exposure modelling experiments. The main strengths of our approach consisted of using the most complete empirical data available to estimate the amount and location of forest C across Canada, as well as explicitly simulating the consequences of fire, insect, and harvest disturbances on forest C dynamics. These disturbances lead to younger forests and, considering trees sensitivity to O₃ exposure to decrease with age, thus result in higher landscape-level modelled impacts for the same O₃ levels. Despite various sources of uncertainty, our results indicate that even under a modelling experiment where O₃ increases continuously over four decades, the landscape-level impacts on the merchantable biomass and ecosystem C remain limited. Our results also suggest that the current direct impacts of O₃ on Canadian forests are likely below detection at the landscape level.     

Habitat fragmentation and structure and composition of tree populations in a agroforestry landscape (southern Québec,Canada)

A number of forests in agroforestry environments are at risk due to urban development or agricultural expansion. These forests often consist of patches of wooded areas scattered in the agricultural and urban grid, and often constitute green corridors that enable a flow between animal and plant species (migration corridors). This study evaluates the composition and structure of riparian forests in agroforestry areas that are subject to various natural and anthropogenic disturbances. This study aims to understand the dynamics of these riparian forest populations and evaluate the effects of the disturbances on the tree stands (e.g. floods, partial cutting), while taking into account their development over space and time based on a diachronic assessment from 1945 to 2010. Although these woodlands are subject to various disturbances, a fairly large diversity of tree species can be noted, and the regeneration of the saplings and small trees follows a normal growth curve (asymmetric) with a high contingency of young tree population comparable to a typical reverse-J distribution. However, lower densities are observed for riparian stands subject to frequent flooding, which could over time compromise recruitment and forest regeneration for some tree species (e.g. woody plants with weak adaptive strategies). The multivariate analyses (Redundancy Analysis and Canonical Correspondence Analysis) conducted over all the soil, environmental and forest data reveal that some variables are more strongly related to the composition of the forest populations, including pH, ground litter and soil drainage. However, these variables must still be considered as being part of a set of interacting soil conditions. Lastly, the future of these woodlands may appear uncertain because there are no government policies or measures to ensure their protection and preservation.     

An Evaluation of Fresh Water Sediments Contamination: the Lachine Canal Sediments Case,Montréal,Canada. Part I: Quality Assessment

Due to industrialization over the past 100 years, the sediments at the bottom of the Lachine Canal and Bay have become contaminated. This study investigated the heavy metal accumulation mechanisms within the Lachine Canal sediments and was carried out in three phases. Phase I is covered in the present article, while phases II and III will be discussed in a following paper. During Phase I, 28 parameters were measured on 44 sediment samples collected along the Lachine Canal and Bay. The results revealed the presence of a wide variety of both organic and inorganic contaminants. Heavy metals such as Zn < Pb < Cr < Ni < Cu < Cd (in order of decreasing abundance) in addition to organic contaminants (PAHs < MAHs < PCBs) were found in high concentrations exceeding background concentrations and various quality criteria levels. The total load of both organic and inorganic contaminants was found to be higher in the canal than in the bay zone. Correlation analysis was performed to evaluate sediment assessment values with respect to known adsorptive phases such as % clay fraction, TOC (Total Organic Carbon), and % CaCO₃. Although a positive correlation existed between % clay fraction or TOC and the total cumulative load of heavy metals, the correlation could not be assessed as conclusive. Significant correlations were obtained between Pb, Ni, and Zn and the carbonate content of the sediments. Pollution Indices (PI) were used according to the format proposed by Canadian authorities and as such were evaluated as incomplete.     

Early infections by myxoma virus of young rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) protected by maternal antibodies activate their immune system and enhance herd immunity in wild populations

The role of maternal antibodies is to protect newborns against acute early infection by pathogens. This can be achieved either by preventing any infection or by allowing attenuated infections associated with activation of the immune system, the two strategies being based on different cost/benefit ratios. We carried out an epidemiological survey of myxomatosis, which is a highly lethal infectious disease, in two distant wild populations of rabbits to describe the epidemiological pattern of the disease. Detection of specific IgM and IgG enabled us to describe the pattern of immunity. We show that maternal immunity attenuates early infection of juveniles and enables activation of their immune system. This mechanism associated with steady circulation of the myxoma virus in both populations, which induces frequent reinfections of immune rabbits, leads to the maintenance of high immunity levels within populations. Thus, myxomatosis has a low impact, with most infections being asymptomatic. This work shows that infection of young rabbits protected by maternal antibodies induces attenuated disease and activates their immune system. This may play a major role in reducing the impact of a highly lethal disease when ecological conditions enable permanent circulation of the pathogen.