Convenient large-scale purification of yessotoxin from Protoceratium reticulatum culture and isolation of a novel furanoyessotoxin

Yessotoxins from a large-scale culture (226 L) of Protoceratium reticulatum strain CAWD129 were harvested by filtration followed by solid-phase extraction. The extract was purified by column chromatography over basic alumina and reverse-phase flash chromatography to afford pure yessotoxin (193 mg). Isolation of yessotoxin was greatly facilitated by selection of a strain which did not produce analogues that interfered with yessotoxin isolation. In addition to yessotoxin, numerous minor yessotoxins were detected by LC-MS in other fractions. From one of these, an early eluting minor analogue with the same molecular weight as yessotoxin and a similar mass spectrometric fragmentation pattern was isolated. This analogue was identified by NMR and mass spectrometry as a novel yessotoxin analogue containing a furan ring in the side chain. This finding reveals biosynthetic flexibility of the yessotoxin pathway in P. reticulatum and confirms earlier findings of production of many minor yessotoxin analogues by this alga. Production of these analogues appeared to be a constitutive trait of P. reticulatum CAWD129.     

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soils from European High Mountain Areas

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in 70 soils distributed in mountain areas such as Montseny (300?C1,700 m), Pyrenees (1,500?C2,900 m), Alps (1,100?C2,500 m), and Tatras (1,400?C1,960 m). Average total PAH concentrations, excluding retene and perylene, were about 400 ng/g in the Pyrenees and 1,300?C1,600 ng/g in the other mountain ranges. No correlations between PAH concentrations and total organic carbon were observed. Retene was the major PAH in the Pyrenean soils of lower altitude. No altitudinal dependence was found between soil PAH concentrations and elevation for the whole dataset. However, in the Tatra soils a statistically significant correlation with altitude was observed involving higher concentrations at higher altitude. This correlation was due to the statistically significant altitudinal dependence of the more volatile PAHs. Another observed altitudinal trend concerned the benz[a]anthracene/(benz[a]anthracene + chrysene + triphenylene) and the benzo[a]pyrene/(benzo[a]pyrene + benzo[e]pyrene) ratios that exhibited a decrease in the more chemically labile compounds, benz[a]anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene, respectively, in the soils located at higher altitude. This observation is consistent with the expected higher photooxidation at higher mountain altitude.     

The conservation of the endangered Mediterranean common dolphin (Delphinus delphis): Current knowledge and research priorities

1. Preservation of endangered species is now recognized as a relevant component of regional and global conservation actions achieved through the maintenance of the remaining populations in a favourable conservation status. The Mediterranean common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is listed as an Endangered subpopulation in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, with declining numbers in some of the areas where it has been studied for numerous years. Prey depletion, fisheries bycatch, pollution, health risks, and climate change are among the recognized threats that the species is facing in the region.
2. The existing national, regional, and international legislation pertinent to Mediterranean countries should aid greater science–policy–management integration and support innovative research and monitoring towards effective conservation. The challenges inherent in studying the pelagic D. delphis should not preclude the use of long-term, year-round, multiplatform surveys, side by side with the latest molecular tools, which aid our understanding of its populations' genetic diversity, resistance to diseases, and resilience in a semi-enclosed fast-changing sea.
3. Addressing the multiplicity of problems confronting the species requires collaborative effort at all levels to share and merge resources, data, and expertise more efficiently. In this review, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on the Mediterranean common dolphin, the main threats, and knowledge gaps that are priorities for addressing its conservation, while providing clear recommendations for effectively safeguarding the species and its habitat at both local and regional levels.

     

Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) interaction with fish farms in the Gulf of Ambracia,western Greece

1. Marine aquaculture, and its fast-growing development, has the potential for wider environmental, ecosystem, and biodiversity impacts. This study assesses the impact of fish farming on a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population within the Gulf of Ambracia (western Greece) between 2007 and 2018. Two different study areas were defined in order to investigate differences on occurrence, abundance, behaviour, and seasonal fluctuations between them: a ‘control area’, in the north-western side of the Gulf; and a ‘fish farm area’, in the south west, where the highest density of fish farm cages is found.
2. A total of 169 daily surveys were dedicated to the control area and 74 days were dedicated to the fish farm area, yielding 104 and 37 sightings, respectively. Both the probability of detecting dolphins (U = 6,763.000, P = 0.002) and the group sizes (U = 578.000, P < 0.001) were smaller around fish farms.
3. Seasonality analyses were restricted to 2007–2008, as this was the period with year-round effort. Results revealed that dolphins were more frequently seen around fish farms in the winter (Kruskal–Wallis test, P = 0.036).
4. From the 40 identified individuals that were re-sighted at least 10 times during the study period, 21 used the fish farm area less than expected according to sampling effort, and 10 of them were never observed in that area (binomial test, P < 0.05).
5. The results revealed an impact of fish farms on the distribution of bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Ambracia. This information should be taken into consideration when defining ecosystem-based management measures within the management plan, which is currently in preparation for this Natura 2000 site.

     

Does gender matter in valuation studies? Evidence from three forestry applications

This work presents evidence from three different valuation studieson the influence of gender in the formation of forestry-relatedvalues. Previous studies examined gender differences withoutexplicitly considering their interaction with other explanatoryvariables. Three separate studies dealing with forest-relatedgoods and services, revealed statistically significant differencesin peoples' preferences, especially between older women andolder men, and older and younger women. In these studies, althoughthere was no overall difference in preferences attributableto gender, there were significant differences related to ageand income, in combination with gender.     

Effect of allele combinations at Ppd-1 loci on durum wheat grain filling at contrasting latitudes

Flowering time is the most critical developmental stage in wheat, as it determines environmental conditions during grain filling. Thirty-five spring durum genotypes carrying all known allele variants at Ppd-1 loci were evaluated in fully irrigated field experiments for three years at latitudes of 41°N (Spain), 27°N (northern Mexico) and 19°N (southern Mexico). Relationships between weight of central grains of main spikes (W) and thermal time from flowering to maturity were described by a logistic equation. Differences in flowering time between the allele combination causing the earliest (GS100/Ppd-B1a) and the latest (Ppd-A1b/Ppd-B1a) flowering were 7, 20 and 18 days in Spain, northern Mexico and southern Mexico, respectively. Flowering delay drastically reduced the mean grain filling rate (R) and W at all sites. At autumn-sowing sites, an increase of 1°C in mean temperature during the first half of the grain filling period decreased W by 5.2 mg per grain. At these sites, W was strongly dependent on R. At the spring-sowing site (southern Mexico), W depended on both R and grain filling duration. Our results suggest that incorporating the allele combinations GS100/Ppd-B1a and GS105/Ppd-B1a (alleles conferring photoperiod insensitivity) in newly released varieties can reduce the negative effects of climate change on grain filling at the studied latitudes.     

Assessing wild bees in perennial bioenergy landscapes: effects of bioenergy crop composition,landscape configuration,and bioenergy crop area

Context

Wild bee populations are currently under threat, which has led to recent efforts to increase pollinator habitat in North America. Simultaneously, U.S. federal energy policies are beginning to encourage perennial bioenergy cropping (PBC) systems, which have the potential to support native bees.

Objectives

Our objective was to explore the potentially interactive effects of crop composition, total PBC area, and PBC patches in different landscape configurations.

Methods

Using a spatially-explicit modeling approach, the Lonsdorf model, we simulated the impacts of three perennial bioenergy crops (PBC: willow, switchgrass, and prairie), three scenarios with different total PBC area (11.7, 23.5 and 28.8% of agricultural land converted to PBC) and two types of landscape configurations (PBC in clustered landscape patterns that represent realistic future configurations or in dispersed neutral landscape models) on a nest abundance index in an Illinois landscape.

Results

Our modeling results suggest that crop composition and PBC area are particularly important for bee nest abundance, whereas landscape configuration is associated with bee nest abundance at the local scale but less so at the regional scale.

Conclusions

Strategies to enhance wild bee habitat should therefore emphasize the crop composition and amount of PBC.

     

Contrasting time-scale effects of land-use legacy on species richness,diversity and composition in Mediterranean scrubland communities

Context

It is known that land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes affect plant community assembly for decades. However, both the short- and the long-term effects of contrasting LULC change pathways on this assembly are seldom explored.

Objectives

To assess how LULC change pathways affect woody plant community parameters (i.e. species richness, diversity and evenness) and species’ presence and abundance, compared with environmental factors and neutral processes.

Methods

The study was performed in Mediterranean limestone scrublands in NE Spain. Cover of each woody species was recorded in 150 scrubland plots belonging to five LULC change pathways along the past century, identified using land-cover maps and fieldwork. For each plot, total woody and herbaceous vegetation cover, local environmental variables and geographical position were recorded. Effects of these pathways and factors on plant community parameters and on species presence and abundance were assessed, considering spatial effects potentially associated to neutral processes.

Results

Species richness and diversity were associated with LULC change pathways and elevation, while evenness was only associated with this last. Pathways and environmental variables explained similar variance in both species’ presence and cover. In general, while community parameters were affected by recent-past (1956) use, species presence and abundance were associated with far-past (pre-1900) cropping. No relevant spatial effect was detected for any studied factor.

Conclusions

Historical LULC changes and current environmental factors drive local-scale community assembly in Mediterranean scrublands to an equal extent, while contrasting time-scale effects are found at community and species level. Neutral, dispersal-based processes are found to be non-relevant.